Cody didn't wake until she felt the truck slow as Hal pulled off the Interstate onto route 287. She pulled herself up slowly and looked out the windows.
"Hullo," she said quietly, doe-eyed.
"Hello Sleeping Beauty," said Hal. "We're in Rawlins. I'm going to book a room at this motel coming up here. You want to grab McDonald's after?" Cody nodded sleepily and pushed a hand through her tousled hair.
The eastern edge of Rawlins was sparse with isolated motels rising from open scrub. Hal decided not to pull in to his usual place because he had an eighteen year-old girl with him wearing a tied-up blouse, bare stomach, and a short mini skirt with very bare legs. He glanced over at her. She was still curled up in the passenger seat in her bare feet and he decided it was better that she wait in the cab, out of sight, while he booked the room. He didn't trust the motel clerk not to be suspicious. And Hal had to admit to himself that, even though she was eighteen and legal, they made an odd-looking pair.
Hal said nothing to the motel clerk apart from "nice weather," as he booked a room with two beds and nonchalantly signed for it. He winced inwardly as he left the rig's license plate number on the registry but the clerk merely wished him a good evening as he handed over the room key. Hal still had visions of a girl on the run and police bulletins.
He returned to the cab and knocked on Cody's door. "Come out, Princess, let's get dinner."
The door swung open and Cody's eyes peeped out, like a cat's from a paper bag. "Okay," she said. An arm, with hand, extended out the door, from which dangled a pair of heeled sandals.
"Can you hold these, please?" she asked. Hal nodded and reached up for them. Cody climbed out onto the steps of the cab in her bare feet, the camera slung over her shoulder, and climbed down gingerly, on her bare toes. Hal gazed up at her, and couldn't turn away as her miniskirt floated upward in the breeze. In the dim light of the setting sun he wasn't sure what he saw as he looked up her skirt, but he was certain he saw smooth, round, bare cheeks. Her hand flashed around to guard her hem again, complicating her descent, and Hal quickly looked away, pretending to have seen nothing.
Cody hopped down onto the pavement, guarding her skirt, and let Hal close the passenger door. He turned back to give her the sandals, but she was already walking across the asphalt towards the restaurant in her bare feet.
"Princess?" he called. She stopped and turned as he held up her heels.
"Is that my new name?" she asked warily, slowly walking back to Hal and taking her shoes.
"Sorry -- I should just call you Cody, shouldn't I."
"Whichever," she said evenly. She sauntered off, still her in bare feet and holding the shoes.
Hal hung back a moment, watching her as she walked away. Her skirt twitched from side to side as she walked, and her free hand hovered around her hips, guarding her hem against the wind. She stopped. The wind ruffled her hem and he saw a hint of cheeks again as she looked over her shoulder at him with her eyebrows raised.
"Were you going to walk across the whole parking lot in your bare feet?" he asked. Cody shrugged. The setting sun silhouetted her hair. Hal lifted the camera. Cody stuck out her tongue, then stuck out her ass. Hal snapped a photo. She stood on her toes and did a little shimmy. Hal stared. The soles of her feet were dirty from the pavement.
"Keep shooting!" she called, "Or you'll lose your light!" She stayed up on the tips of her bare toes, showing her dirty soles and smiled sweetly while the breeze fluttered her hem. Hal kept snapping and she began to shimmy slowly, swaying her hips from side to side. Hal followed her slowly, snapping away, even as the breeze lifted her little skirt and she snapped it back down. When they reached the shade, and the entrance to the restaurant, Cody stopped posing and held the door for Hal.
They were halfway through the lineup when Hal looked down from the menu board and noticed people were glancing at Cody. He realized she was still holding her shoes. She stood in her bare feet on the tiled floor, one foot balanced on tiptoes. She absentmindedly twisted her ankle and rubbed her toes against the shin of her other leg. Then she reversed her stance, going up on the toes of her other foot. The bottoms of her feet were filthy.
"Cody," he whispered. She looked at him with innocent eyes. "I think you'd better put your heels on in here." Cody looked down at her shoes she was holding, as if noticing them for the first time.
"Oh," she exclaimed quietly. She leaned on Hal as she slipped them on.
As before, Cody ordered a very large serving of the sort of fast food that would kill Hal, if not enrage his doctor. He watched Cody eat, fascinated by her appetite. He also liked watching her eat because she was so oblivious to her unabashed feasting. She was not a quiet eater, nor dainty, and her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk. A couple of times she caught his stare, but held it as she kept eating. Hal looked away, embarrassed, and caught a group of boys at a nearby table taking in the site of Cody's short little skirt, her bare legs, and her shirt tied above her bare stomach. They didn't talk much -- just kept looking -- but not before checking Hal's line of sight. Hal realized they assumed he was her dad.
Hal sipped his coffee slowly as Cody finally finished and began flipping through their latest photos on the camera.
"Wow," she said softly. "That's a flippy little short skirt I'm wearing."
Hal concentrated on swallowing his coffee. "Seems okay," he said cautiously. "You didn't know until now?"
Cody's face turned red. "No. I knew it was a mini skirt. I didn't know it was a very mini skirt."
Hal laughed nervously. "A very mini skirt. It looks great on you."
An awkward silence followed. Cody giggle-snorted and covered her in mouth. "It's a mini-mini skirt," she said, nodding her head.
"But you... bought it?"
"Nope."
Hal looked at her. She looked away.
"I already told you my clothes got stolen in that shitty hostel in Chicago," she said, avoiding his gaze.
"Mmm hmm."
"It was really stupid, what I did. I crammed my camera and satchel in this tiny room locker. The shared shower was right across the hall from my room so I just took off my jeans, t-shirt and underwear, and wrapped a towel around me, and hopped across the hall in my heels. My phone was in my jeans pocket. I stuck my netbook under the pillow. I didn't lock the dorm room door. I was only in the shower ten minutes. I came back out, and my duffel bag with all my clothes, including the ones I had just taken off, were gone. They found the netbook too."
"Whaaat...."
"Yeah I know. I never thought anyone would steal my clothes. But it gets worse. I had my cash in my duffel bag. I totally forgot about that. So all my money was gone and my phone and netbook. I'm so fucking stupid."
"Jesus..."
"I know, I know. Don't say anything."
"No, I'm just shocked. What happened then?"
"I had to tiptoe down to the front desk with just the towel around me and my little heels on. It was humiliating. These people in the front room were staring at me and laughing. They probably saw whoever took my stuff. And the guy at the front desk was rude. He didn't care. He said he didn't see anything and they weren't responsible anyway."
"But you're in just a towel..."
"Yeah I am. And my heels. So I asked him what I was going to do about my clothes. Because my money is gone and I can't buy new clothes. And even if I could, I'm not going shopping wearing a towel. So he shrugs and tells me to rummage through their Lost and Found box and grab something from there. I felt like such a reject. I went through it, and there wasn't really anything. All I could find was this skirt and blouse. That was all that fit. I have to tie up the blouse because it's a bit too big."
Hal nodded his head slowly. "So these aren't even your clothes."
"Nope," she said. "After I dressed, I got my camera and my satchel from the locker and left the hostel right away. I wanted to cry so bad."
"And you started hitchhiking. You're really brave."
"I dunno. But that's the story about why I'm wearing a mini skirt. I've never worn a mini skirt."
Hal laughed. "A very mini skirt you mean."
"Yes, that's right, a mini-mini skirt," she giggled. "A little mini-mini skirt."
