Legacy ~ Prologue
 | Legacy |
- Legacy ~ Synopsis
- Legacy ~ Prologue
The interior of the Santa Fe Station looked much the same as any Trailways Bus Terminal in the Southwestern United States, a poorly lit cavernous area tiled in a dingy black and white checkerboard pattern and festooned with overflowing trash receptacles. Scattered throughout the area was the usual gallery of rogues, small groups of sleepy eyed college students in their bell-bottoms and quasi-Native American headbands, the occasional wino complete with brown paper bag clad bottle of cheap wine raised in perpetual toast to a society that had long since ceased to acknowledge their existance. Some of the students were asleep on their backpacks, others rocking out to a cacophony of discordant sound blaring from their transistor radios, each seemingly tuned to a different station, while the winos, mercifully insulated from the chaos by vast quantities of Thunderbird and Ripple, ignored their surroundings perferring instead to converse with the voices that only they could hear.
Among these somewhat less than stellar examples of the human race, the neat, well dressed blonde stood out like a sparkling jewel among common gravel, as did the wide-eyed toddler who clung to her skirts. The blond, in her early twenties, seemed bewildered by her surroundings, her blue eyes darting fearfully from right to left as she struggled to maneuver the mound of bag and suitcases strapped precariously to a Trailways baggage cart.
The fact that the other occupants paid little attention seemed lost on the blonde as she guided baggage and child to a location where she could keep an eye on the arrivals and departure board. The curly haired todler, being at that adventurous stage, was in a perpetual state of impending escape and constant curiosity.
“What’s that man drinking, mommie?” she lisped.
The blond captured the tiny pointing finger and turned the child to face her. “Hush, honey. It isn’t nice to point at people. It’s late, aren’t you sleepy? Put your head down on mommie’s lap and take a nice nap.”
“Not, sleepy, mommie. Where daddy? Is daddy come to visit Gamma and gandpa? I miss daddy.”
“Oh, I know sweetheart. But I explained to you that daddy doesn’t want to come with us.”
“I know. Daddy miss Uncle Frank, Two Bear and Jeanette. I miss too. When we come home?”
The blond glanced around the room as if to assure herself that no one was listening to their conversation. Her eyes focused on a nearby rack of newspapers and she seemed to pale under her carefully applied makeup. “You might not want to come back home when you see all the things to do at Grandmas’.”
The little girl considered for a moment. Then she stared down at her shoes. “I don’t think Gramma likes me.”
“Oh, honey, your Grandma loves you. What would make you thing she doesn’t?”
“She tell me, ‘don’t sit like that, good girls don’t sit like that’ and ‘don’t touch’. And one time she said I was a ‘half-breed heathen’. Mommy, what’s a half-breed heathen? I know it not good ’cause she made this face when she said it, like she smell something bad. Then she called me a burden. Gamma doesn’t like me.”
“Honey,” the blonde smoothed a wayward auburn cowlick back from the child’s forehead, “your Grandma didn’t mean it. She just looses patience with you sometimes. You know you can be a handful.”
“That’s what daddy tells Uncle Frank. Why couldn’t we go by and tell Uncle Frank goodbye?
“Well, Uncle Frank is really really busy right now. You do know he’s not really your uncle, he’s just your daddy’s real good friend.”
“How long will we be gone, mommy? I want to watch Uncle Jack break the new pony.”
The blond’s smile wavered and she brushed her hand across her eyes. “I don’t know exactly how long we’ll be gone, dear. There are some really pretty horses in San Francisco. I just know you are going to love riding them. We are going to have so much fun in San Francisco, there is so much to see and do. You are just going to love it. Wait until yo see the ocean!”
” I don’t think I’m going to like the ocean.”
“Oh you will, honey, you’ll see.”
There was a popping sound from the loudspeaker overhead, the sound echoing off the grey-green painted concrete wall like a gunshot.
“Express Service to Gallup, Flagstaff, Kingman, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, now loading passengers at gate 22. All passengers for Gallup, Flagstaff, Kingman, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and points beyond, please proceed to gate 22.”
The blonde opened her pocketbook and fumbled inside for the tickets.
“I’m hungry, mommie.”
“We don’t have time now, honey. We have to get on the bus. Maybe then, mommie can get you a sandwich out of one of the machines.”
She leaned against the baggage cart and, after a moment, got it moving again. With obvious relief, she turned her cargo over to a uniformed attendant who began dumping the bags into the cargo hatch of the red and silver coach. The bus driver punched the proffered tickets and took her elbow to assist her.
“We are going to San Francisco. Will I have time to get a sandwich from one of the machines for my little girl?”
“Not a problem. We’re a little ahead of schedule. You get her settled and I’ll wait for you.”
She returned a few minutes later with a stale sandwich and a box of cookies, but the toddler had already fallen asleep, her tiny cheek pressed against window. The blond’s smile was more than a little wistful as she covered the sleeping child with her coat and settled herself in for the long tiring ride to California.
