Rest Stop

"Don't know why, but sometimes He let's 'em have another round if their will is strong enough. He could've taken the left road, but I guess he felt he had unfinished business back home."

Taylor, inexplicably, began to weep again.

Lilly was confused. "What's up? Hon, it's okay."

"How can it be?! I'm going to hell aren't I? I mean, I'm a . . ."

Taylor placed a finger on the girl's lips. "Shh. You REALLY think that He much cares about that? A lot of people have been trying to guess what He's up to for a long time. Not all of 'em get it right. Keep in mind that He gave me a job."

Taylor held Lilly's hand against her mouth and kissed it. Then she cocked her head. "How did you . . . you know . . . get here?"

"While He may not judge me for the company I keep, the community that I used to be apart of did. I lived in Mississippi during World War II. With all the men off to war, some of the women-folk got bored. I made a cardinal mistake. I was married to a white man, but I fell in love with a 'colored' woman."

"Oh . . ." Taylor wasn't sure what to say.

"Local folk found out somehow and . . ." For the first time, Lilly looked genuinely flustered. "Let's just say that the end weren't pretty. They threw her body in the river . . . she got found and became a symbol for the civil rights movement. I got sent to the bottom of a swamp. When my husband got back from the war, they told 'em I just run off. Figured it'd be easier on him thinkin' I was a tramp or somethin' than . . . well, you know." Lilly regained her composure. "Needless to say that when I came by this place . . . it looked a might different back then . . . I think it might be an understatement to say that I wasn't quite ready to play nice with the Lord. The man in charge of the station tested me and I guess I passed. He'd been here a long time, so I just kinda took over."

Taylor was just staring. Then a puff of air escaped her mouth. Then she started to chuckle . . . and to laugh.

Lilly, once again, was caught by surprise. "What the tarnation has gotten into you?"

"You ARE older than you look!" Taylor said, her mind clinging to threads of sanity.

Lilly grabbed her chest through her apron. "Ain't bad for a woman in 'er nineties are they?" And then the two women shared a long and much-needed laugh. "C'mere," she said, putting her arm around Taylor's shoulders. "I want you to see what happens when the system works." She was looking down the road at an approaching car. As the convertible got closer, Taylor saw a woman . . . in her late-thirties maybe . . . flying down the road with her red hair snapping in the wind like a banner.

"You're going to test her?"

"Nah," Lilly said, smiling warmly. "Boss gave her a free pass. She's a story teller with a lot to say, and He LOVES to listen. She ended her days with a lot of friends and no regrets. Can't ask for much more than that."

Taylor watched the woman drive by, dust almost obscuring her "C.T." personalized plate, and she found herself thinking about her own life. "So . . . God doesn't mind that you and I . . . you know . . ." Taylor said, blushing furiously.

"I don't think he's exactly gonna begrudge me a tumble after eighty years," Lilly said, gripping her friend's hand. Taylor gripped back.

"That long?"

"I told ya . . . I'm a picky sort." Another smile. "Trust me . . . you need to feel loved. Everyone does. And when you take that road," she added, looking to the left, "you'll feel it in a whole new way." Then she pursed her lips and glanced back away from the fork in the road. "Unless you're feeling particularly drawn to somethin' back that'a'way. Decision is all yours. Of course, you go that way an' you won't remember what happened."

Taylor looked back that way. Old girlfriends . . . broken hearts . . . some family she still cared about more than they cared about her . . . Then she looked towards the road that led up into the mountains. Peace at last . . . no one looking down on her . . . the end of judgment . . .

Then Taylor made a decision. And it was her decision. Her gaze fell back on Lilly, who was anxiously awaiting her response. She wrapped her arms around the waitress's neck and ever so gently kissed her own private angel.

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Later on . . .

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Lilly was sitting on the counter next to the register, looking past the hanging bell and the screen door to the grit and dust of the parking lot.

'Long day ahead,' she thought. The desert winds carried a sense of confusion, fear, disdain . . . all depositing thoughts and memories into the waitress's mind. This was the way it started, and it was time for figuring out how the tests would work. Normally she would've already figured out how things would go, but she had other things on her mind. Things were different now.

The kitchen door swung open and there stood Taylor, all done up in her own waitress's outfit. It was a little more modern than Lilly's, but Taylor was a little more modern of a girl. She saw that Lilly was staring at her and she blushed.

"I look retarded," the girl muttered.

Lilly couldn't help but grin. She walked over and gave the girl a friendly hug and a friendlier kiss. "You look perfect," she said. Things were different now. She'd never done this job and had company before. Taylor had decided that she wanted to stay, and Lilly hadn't tried to convince her otherwise. "So, how do you want to do this?"

Taylor was still trying to make sense of all the images and sounds in her brain that previously hadn't belonged to her. "Is it always this noisy?"

"You get used to it."

Taylor sighed. She knew she'd make mistakes, but she also knew that Lilly would help her out. 'Here goes,' she thought. Then aloud, "Well, I was thinking . . ."

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The end . . .