A young girl was trying to run away with her boyfriend, but they had a big argument and he kicked her to the curb and drove away. He literally abandoned her, many miles from home!
***
My business card reads Richard but I go by Rick. In 1979 I was 38 years old, recently divorced, living in an apartment in Oceanside, California. I was employed as an outside salesman by a medium sized company. It wasn't a major corporation, but it wasn't a Mom and Pop operation either. I guess a company with about 60 employees could be classified as medium. My job was to call on major corporations all over Southern California and persuade them to contract with the company I worked for to provide services to them. I had a company car and an expense account for hotel rooms, my meals including an occasional business lunch, and any other work related expenses. I made good money.
I had appointments booked for mid-morning and mid-afternoon on the upcoming Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in San Luis Obispo. That's also where Cal-Poly Tech is located. On my way back to my office on Monday the transmission in my company car wasn't shifting right, so the maintenance department took it down to the dealers on Tuesday morning. The mechanic had checked it and said he needed to order some part to fix it, but it would take a couple of days. My appointments had already been made but it wasn't a problem as when issues had come up before I had just used my truck. I wasn't expecting to be taking anyone out for a business lunch. It was a 2 year old ½ ton short bed Chevy. It was nice, V8-automatic with a bench seat. The company would pay me mileage for using it.
I left the office in my truck Tuesday afternoon as my destination was about 300 miles or a 5 hour drive. I had a room reserved at the Holiday Inn for four nights. The drive was uneventful and boring. My appointments all went well and I had three contracts in my briefcase by the time I finished my last one on Friday afternoon.
It was about 5:00PM so I was driving toward downtown to find some place different for dinner. It was a big boulevard that had the sidewalks set back from the curb with a strip of grass and trees between the curb and sidewalk. As I was approaching a traffic light I slowed down. It was then that I saw a young girl sitting on the grass with a large backpack beside her. She had her knees pulled up with her arms folded across them and her head resting on her arms. It struck me that something wasn't quite right.
I pulled over to the curb in front of her. My windows were down so I leaned over toward the passenger side and asked. "Miss, are you OK?" She didn't respond so I repeated myself a little louder. "Miss, are you OK?"
She slowly looked up at me and answered. "No." And lay her head back down on her arms.
I then asked. "Are you hurt?"
There was a long pause... Till she finally looked up and answered, "Not physically."
I immediately put my truck in park, shut the motor off and got out. As I was walking around the back of my truck this thought went thru my mind. If she is not hurt physically... it has to be emotionally. I walked over and squatted down in front of her.
She raised her head up and it was obvious that she had been crying. I asked. "Can I help?"
Her quiet answer was. "I don't know?"
The many questions going thru my mind were not coming up with any answers. There was one thing I needed to know, so I asked. "How old are you?"
She looked up at me again and answered. "19."
I spoke slowly and said. "My work day is done. I'm on my way downtown to have dinner. If you want to join me, dinner is on me and we can talk."
There was another pause. Till she finally asked in her soft voice. "Can I trust you?"
I stood up, pulled out my wallet and got a business card out. I put my wallet back in my hip pocket and squatted back down in front of her. I held my card out to her and said. "This card has my name on it and the name, address and phone number of the company I work for. So, now you know who I am and who I work for... put it in your pocket." I held out my hand to her as an offer to help her get up. She slowly took hold of my hand and I helped her stand up. She stuck my card in her back pocket.
I saw that she was very petite, about 5 feet tall, maybe a hundred pounds, shoulder length blond hair, blue eyes, she was wearing a pink, button up blouse, jeans and pink tennis shoes. It didn't matter that she had no makeup on, she was pretty. I picked up her backpack and put it in the back of the truck. I opened the passenger door and she slowly climbed in.
I had to ask her. "How long have you been sitting here?"
She answered. "I guess a couple of hours."
I started my truck and we pulled out into traffic heading towards downtown.
I spotted a Mexican restaurant with several cars in the parking lot so figured the food was probably good. I asked. "Do you like Mexican food?" She just nodded, still being very quiet. I parked in the lot, got out, hit the lock nob and shut the door. By the time I walked around the truck she had opened the door and gotten out. I grabbed her backpack out of the back and put it in the cab on the seat, locked the door and shut it.
(You don't leave anything in the open bed of a pickup in Southern California. If you do... it will be gone in a matter of minutes after you walk away!) We walked into the restaurant and were greeted by the hostess. I asked if she had a booth in a quiet corner somewhere.
She looked at us, trying to decide if we were a daddy/daughter out for dinner... or something else. She said. "Follow me please."
She seated us in a back corner booth away from any other patrons. I thanked her. The waitress came soon and handed us menus, and said she'd be back in a few minutes which she was. We each ordered one of the specialty plates, tacos for her and enchiladas for me, with two iced teas. I was glad we were seated across from each other so I could try to read her face. We talked a little bit about how nice the restaurant was and she relaxed a little. Our dinners came out quickly which is one of the nice things about Mexican food. It's mostly precooked so that all they have to do is dish it up.
I said to her. "If you would like to tell me a bit about yourself and what happened today, I'm a good listener."
She was hesitant but finally she relaxed a little more and started. She said. "My name is Amanda... I live with my mom in an apartment in Anaheim. We don't get along very well because she's a functional drunk. She goes to work to pay the bills but she often gets drunk after coming home from work. A couple of months ago I met a guy who seemed nice. Ray. He's a couple of years older than me but that's OK. We've been hanging out some, a few dates, having fun. He still lives at his parent's house... but says they fight a lot."
"He called me this morning about 11:00 and told me this. He told me that he had gotten into an argument with his boss this morning, it got ugly. He told his boss 'I quit!' Said his boss went into the office, figured out what he owed me, wrote a check, handed it to me and told me to get off his property, and don't come back because you are NOT re-hireable! I went to the bank, cashed my check, went home, packed a suitcase, and called you. When I knew you were home I drove over and here I am." I asked him. "What are you going to do now?"
He answered. "I'm driving my truck to San Francisco to get a fresh start." He paused... "If you want to come with me, pack a suitcase and we are out of here!"
"I didn't know how to answer him. I made a snap decision to go with him. I didn't own a suitcase so I packed some things in the backpack, left my mom a note on the kitchen table that read... I'm with Ray, Amanda. I grabbed my purse as we went out the door and walked to his truck, him carrying my backpack which he tossed in the back. We got in the truck and headed for the interstate."
"A ways up the highway we stopped at a Denney's for lunch. Ray paid and we were on our way again. We started talking about what we wanted to do in Frisco, but we had very different ideas which led to arguing. When we got near San Luis Obispo Ray said he needed to buy gas so we exited off the highway, still arguing. We were driving down that boulevard... suddenly Ray pulled over to the curb, looked at me, and said. "GET OUT!"
"I was in shock, but I was also scared. I opened the door wide open, grabbed my backpack out of the back of the truck, and slammed the door. Ray drove away, leaving me standing on the curb with my backpack. I sat down where you found me."
I didn't know what to say, but finally found my voice and said. "Nice to meet you, Miss Amanda. I know my card says Richard but call me Rick." We sat there, neither of us saying anything until we finished eating. I asked. "Amanda, what are you going to do?"
Another pause... she answered as before. "I don't know? I only have a few dollars in my purse, and I don't want to call my mom!"
I said. "I'm staying at the Holiday Inn. You're welcome to crash there tonight, and after breakfast tomorrow I can drop you off in Anaheim on my way back to Oceanside where I live."
There was a long pause... Amanda answered. "Thank you for being so nice. I trust you, so OK."
I left the waitress a generous tip on the table, we walked up to the hostess/cashier counter, I paid the bill in cash which I typically do. As I was putting my change away I pulled out a $10.00 dollar bill, handed it to the hostess and said, "Thank you for the quiet booth". She stood there with a shocked look on her face. We walked out to my truck and I opened the passenger door, moved Amanda's backpack to the back of the truck, then we both got in.
As I drove the short distance to the hotel she seemed relaxed and talked some more about herself. I parked. I told Amanda to wait just a minute, then went around and opened her door. Amanda was surprised and let out a little laugh.