"You're a very pretty girl. You know that right?" he said tapping his long fingers upon his jacket, "A very pretty girl. Too pretty to be in some backwoods place like this."
He looked up at her again while she poured him another drink from the moonshine jug. He lifted the glass and took a whiff. This was some proper moonshine he was being offered, some damn good proper moonshine at that. He swirled it a little the put the glass to his lips, and let a little slide down his throat. It warmed his insides as it made his way down, and he sighed in relief. He looked at her again. She was across the room now looking out the window. There was nothing to look at, but she just kept on looking.
"I can take you away from here, you know?" he said trying to get her attention. "I can take you to places you ain't never dreamed of, doll face." He said this sweetly paired with a flirtatious smirk and then he lit himself another cigarette. She looked at him and again, she did that innocent smile of hers, causing his to chuckle a bit.
"You don't talk much, do you? Hell, ain't it girls like you who want to ask always ask questions about what's goin' on in that outside world?"
She looked at him with her face scrunched up just a little. "I know what's goin' on out there. I got all the time in the world to learn about what's going on out there, even though it don't look that way. I got a radio, and Daddy brings home the paper, and I got me a collection of National Geographic. I know things."
She was strong willed, maybe even feisty. He liked that in a woman. He liked that a lot. "You look at the pictures, thinking you can learn that way, do ya? Hell, can a girl in these parts even read?" he asked taking another puff from his cigarettes. She looked at him real angry, and ran upstairs. He heard a bit of a ruckus then she came bustling down with an old tattered National Geographic in her hand, and put in front of her waist, arms outstretched showcasing it to him.
"For your information, I can read!" she said in a frustrated tone. Realizing she had been rude, she quickly calmed herself down, and started again. "I mean I can... but not too well. See, my Mama taught me to read up until the day she died. First, we read the bible and then we started on the National Geographic."
She settled down beside the man on the sofa. "This here's my favorite." She turned the pages so the man could see the what she was talking about. "There's an article about a place called...Yellowstone...yeah that's what it's called, and there they got a thing called a geyser and she's called Ol' Faithful. And she shoots hot boiling water from below the ground, you see. And here," she said pointing to the page, "it says it does this thing all say and all night. You ever heard of it? You ever seen it?" she asked filled with curiosity.
He took a drink and answered her earnestly. "Can't say I have, doll. See I ain't from those parts. I'm from the New York City."
With that, her mouth dropped open and he realized that this back roads girl had certainly heard of New York City.
"So, you've heard of it?" he asked. "Have you ever planned on wantin' to see it?"
With that comment, she got up from the couch and walked back up to the window, holding her National Geographic tightly to her chest.
"Daddy wouldn't like that, Mister, " is all she said.
He smashed his cigarette butt into the ashtray that sat on the coffee table in front of him. "What do you mean when you say that you're Daddy wouldn't like it?" He leaned back on the sofa crossing his arms.
"When you came a knocking at the door, I looked out the window to see who it was. I thought it was my Daddy coming home early, or maybe one of my brother's coming home sick from school. When I saw it was a nice dressed man, I thought you was a salesman. Those type come around these parts sometimes. When I opened it and you asked if we had a phone, I knew you weren't no salesman."
