A Tourist in Mayberry

Late August - Disappearances

"I have something to prove. I am intelligent, and I am going to make something of myself. I am not poor, white trash. I am important. I am brave. I am going to kick ass."

Sienna held onto dreams that included Damien when/if she changed him. No matter what, he was the father of her baby, and she was not going to let a baby or a reluctant baby daddy derail her plans. Her plan, one week before her disappearance, was to let Damien know about the baby on the way, and then they could go to her mama together and tell her the news. That would be the hard part, telling her mama and hearing her say her favorite three words - "Told you so".

At her break Sienna managed to get Damien away from his friends long enough to pull him to the back of the parking lot to talk with him alone. She barely had the words out of her mouth, "Damien, I am going to have our baby," when he slapped her so hard she stumbled and fell to one knee. He slapped her before, but mostly at parties with an audience he thought was his cheering section.

This slap in private felt personal in a way that stunned Sienna. She managed to say, "Damien," in a whisper meant to be a scream of rage before Damien drew his boot back to kick her in the side.

Sienna, not yet showing and still flexible and able to dodge, rolled out of his range and heard him say, "You whoring bitch," as she covered her head. She stilled and waited for impact, but there was nothing.

When Sienna uncovered her eyes, she saw the most amazing sight - Damien on the ground with his face planted on the gravels so hard that Damien would be picking gravel out of his face for the next two days. An old man stood over Damien. His old man shoe was firmly planted on Damien's face.

"Are you ok?" the man asked Sienna.

Sienna, in shock from the slap and the change in her plans and dreams, did what most 15-year- old girlfriends would do in her situation.

"Get your damn foot off my boyfriend before I call the cops, mister."

The man seemed in no hurry to remove his foot.

"Are you ok?" he repeated.

Sienna moved her lower jaw in a clockwise direction twice, rose to her knees, nodded once. The old man pulled her to her feet.

"Get back to your job, young lady. I'm gonna have a talk with your man."

"All right, mister, but," Sienna added for some unknown reason because she was talking to a grandpa after all, "Don't hurt him please."

When the older man was finished talking to Damien, he came back inside to speak to Sienna. He wrote his name - Matthew Jenkins - and his phone number on a napkin and gave it to Sienna.

"Call me if he bothers you again. Call me if you need help." He turned to speak to his companion, "Shiela" as he offered his hand to help her out of the booth.

Sienna watched him leave with Shiela - an older, but attractive woman in high heels. I like her shoes, thought Sienna who, though not fancy, liked bedazzled and bejeweled and sparkly things.

Sienna did not know where the old man came from. She and Damien were talking in the back secreted behind the dumpster away from customers. Sienna would be surprised to know their exchange was witnessed by more than the old man.

The witness to the old man takedown of Damien did not intervene. He looked almost bored with the one-sided confrontation as he methodically licked his vanilla cone with short darts of his tongue. When Sienna walked away, he almost did too, but he hung back and was rewarded for his patience.

The witness was an observer of people and a sometime collector of examples of human interactions, like overheard conversations. Mostly, he collected more tangible objects. As he listened with interest to the old man tell the boy how it was going to be, an idea began and grew into a plan. The witness was intrigued. Was it possible that this blue-haired teenage whore would give him something he coveted for years? After all these years of waiting and watching for the opportune moment, he was finally going to get his reward. He was delighted.

The witness had a moment's hesitation. He flashbacked to Lauren. He had not thought about her in years. He felt a pang of indigestion. Such a disappointment. The beautiful Lauren. So exquisite and yet, so not worth the trouble. He was impulsive with Lauren and maybe he was now. He was a busy man. Maybe, this idea was not worth the trouble. But, things had changed since the days of Lauren. He was in a bad place then. Almost crazy. Manic, his doctor called it.

He was better now. He was busy, but he did love a challenge. The witness decided the indigestion was probably from the onions on his hotdog. He deserved this reward that was his for the taking. He waited long enough. He wanted this prize for his collection, and he always got what he wanted.

The witness to the confrontation was a regular customer. Sienna did not know his name because she only paid as much attention as necessary for her job. She had not yet learned the number one waitress trick for tips - call the customer by name. It didn't seem to matter today though because later when the man left, he gave her an unusually generous tip, a 100 dollar bill folded up so small Sienna did not immediately recognize the amount.

"For you," he said as he cupped his hand in hers in an exchange that seemed both intimate and secretive.

Creep wants to hold my damn hand, thought Sienna as she wiped it on her stained apron.

Normally tips were split among the waitresses, but Sienna was going to need the money more than these girls, so she justified not putting the tip in with the pot. She was taking care of two now, and it looked like it would be all by herself. To survive, Sienna decided she was gonna have to be smarter than her situation.

Unfortunately, the hundred dollar bill distracted Sienna as she weighed the merits of bedazzled shoes over diapers and baby wipes. She threw the napkin with the name and phone number of Matthew Jenkins away, right along with the empty ketchup packets and the burger papers. If Sienna had saved the napkin with the promise of help, her part in this story might have been over before it began. It certainly would have been less painful.

The best tip of her life came on Sienna's last day at the Dairy Center.

One week later - no Sienna, no Damien.

Author's Tip : The Dairy Center is a real place in Mount Airy where you can get delicious hot dogs with homemade chili and maybe, the best ground steak you've ever had. If you don't know what ground steak is, you're missing out. Read all about it here: https://www.ourstate.com/make-it-a-weekend-mount-airy/