rosie came up the road.
the sun was shining.
the big storm had passed, and the county had done a halfway decent job of cleaning up after it, so there were not a lot of branches and debris on the road, just a few puddles.
two things had happened. the hobo jungle by the railroad had been pretty much blown away.
and the big news was - that the old morris house had completely collapsed, leaving a big heap of ruins - not “smoking ruins”, because the rain had soaked them pretty good - where it had stood for years.
some of the bums from the hobo jungle, and other assorted riffraff and scavengers, had flocked to the scene , trying to find some of the money old mrs morris was reputed to have hidden, or anything else they could carry away, and the sheriff had posted a couple of men to try to keep them away.
as rosie approached the three roads truck stop she saw the sheriff’s car parked outside it, and sheriff james brown standing in front of it, looking up and down the road.
“howdy, sheriff,” rosie greeted him.
“howdy, rosie.” the sheriff seemed in a better mood than usual, and he almost smiled at rosie. “what’s that you got there?”
“just a bag.” rosie had a old potato sack slung over her shoulder. it was almost empty. the sack, and the few contents - a sandwich , a couple of apples, a slice of pumpkin pie wrapped in a piece of newspaper, and a small bottle of moxie - had been bequeathed to her by her friend jenny, back at the boarding house where rosie had been given shelter from the storm.
“you wouldn’t by chance be fixing to fill up that sack up at the old morris house, would you?”
“what are you talking about, sheriff? the old morris house? old lady morris ain’t given out no handouts since samson had a haircut.”
the sheriff briefly explained that the old morris house had collapsed in the storm. “but. it’s still private property, though we ain’t sure just whose private property it is now, and we can’t have no human vultures congregating and looking for buried treasure, if you get my drift.”
“well, that’s mighty interesting,” said rosie. “but it ain’t nothing to me. i never believed any of them stories about the old lady’s money no way. i may be a fool, but i ain’t that particular type of fool.”
“well, i am glad to hear that, rosie. but if you ain’t going to the morris place, where are you going, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“just down the road.”
“just down the road? how far down the road?”
“a far piece.”
“you mean you’re leaving town? for good?”
“that’s the size of it.” rosie turned and looked down the road. “i figure it’s time to move on. that storm was a sign, it seemed to me. so i’m heading out.”
i wish some of the other bums in town would take it as a sign, thought the sheriff, but he did not say so out loud. “well, i wish you well, rosie. i hope you find a pot of gold and the peace that passeth understanding, and all that.”
“thank you, sheriff.” and rosie turned to go, but as she did, they both heard a shout from down the road the way rosie had come.
rosie and the sheriff looked back down the road and saw a figure approaching and waving,
“hey, rosie, wait up!”
it was susquehanna sal, another denizen of the blown away hobo jungle, who, like rosie, had spent the night at the boarding house.
as sal approached, she was swinging a sack similar to rosie’s and had a big smile on her face.
her smile disappeared briefly when the sheriff told her about the old morris place, and gave her the same warning about it that he had given rosie.
“i wouldn’t take nothing that wasn’t mine, sheriff,” sal protested. “ mean as that old lady was.”
“i’m glad to hear it. rosie here is leaving town, did you know that?”
“yeah, she told me.”
“how about you, you leaving town too?”
“no, where would i go?” sal turned to rosie. “but i’ll walk you as far as the old morris place. just to take a look at it.” she glanced at the sheriff. “out of curiosity, you know.”
“suit yourself,” rosie shrugged. the two of them started down the road, under the sheriff’s gaze.
sal shook her sack as they walked along. “that jenny kid, she’s the salt if the earth! she gave me a sandwich, some apples, some pie and a soda pop and she don’t even know me! and the sun is out, and it’s a great life, wouldn’t you say?”
“i guess it doesn’t take much to make some people happy,” rosie answered.
“yeah, that jenny, she’s a trump all right!”
rosie laughed. “a trump! where did you get that word?”
“i don’t know, some old movie with leslie howard or somebody. what, you think i’ve never been to a movie?”
rosie laughed again, but didn’t answer.
they walked along. the sun rose in the sky. some birds flew over their heads.
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