Read Life for Free Online Page A

that felt like rubber with weights
    attached to them. Once inside the car, I looked at my watch–1:48
    a.m.
    Life now held a flashlight and rope he had taken off the men.
    At gunpoint he made them all strip naked and walked them into
    the woods. Fear danced with death’s flirtation as I sat in the car
    praying to a god that not even I was sure of.
    It seemed like Life had been gone for an eternity when I heard
    the shots ring out, and then Life came running from out of the
    woods. I noticed that he was limping badly.
    “ What did you do?” I asked as soon as he entered the car. He
    ignored me.
    “ See if the car will start,” he said out of breath. His body omit-
    ted an odor. I wondered if it was death. Another car passed and I
    couldn’t help thinking I just wanted to get away, safe.
    29

 
    L i f e
    I turned the key, praying with all my heart, that Betty would
    start. Please baby, please start for mama. The motor turned over. I
    knew the sound like I knew my own voice. She sputtered and then
    died with a cough. Life watched me like I was a judge about to
    decide his fate. I turned the key again and she started like a brand
    new motor. “Thank you Jesus,” I mumbled. Life hopped out of
    the car, picked up the hunting knife off the ground, sliced all the
    tires on the truck and ran back to the car.
    “ Let’s go,” he said with emotion in his voice. I eased the car
    onto the road. I did not realize I was that cold until I felt the heat
    on my feet. Life was jabbering away with the adrenaline rush of a
    man who had just received a last minute reprieve from the electric
    chair.
    “ Goddamn, Hope, that was some gangsta shit you pulled back
    there. I just wished you hadn’t taken so damn long. Them crackas
    was tryin to kick the bone outta my ass-.”
    We passed a sign that read “Kissimmee, Florida.” 176 miles to
    Tallahassee. My mind was all over the place.
    “ Life what did you do to those men? I heard shots.” My voice
    cracked, like too much pressure on a dam.
    “ Girl, do you know what them crackas was gettin ready to do
    to us … to you?” His eyes finished the statement when he looked
    at me saying that they were going to rape me. He fired up a ciga-
    rette as I drove through the night wishing the car would go faster.
    I turned on Route 19, a thoroughfare that goes through the hub
    of the city. The town looked rural and antebellum; still I found it
    comforting to be back within city limits. The streets were lined
    with stores and small businesses, hotels and restaurants and the
    speed limit was 35.
    I passed through the toll booth and paid a dollar. On both
    sides of the streets were police cars. “Smile,” Life told me. For the
    benefit of the police, I spread my weary lips across my teeth and
    displayed a smile as fake as the plastic fruit Grandma kept on her
    dining room table. After what I had just experienced back there,
    mentally and physically, I was exhausted. We drove in silence, and
    30

 
    L i f e
    then it happened, the car slowed, kicked and sputtered. The
    motor died. I coasted into a parking place on the side of the road.
    Once we stopped, the reality of my grim situation pushed me over
    the edge and I completely lost it!
    “ Nooooo! Nooooo! Noooo!” I wailed, pounding my fists on
    the steering wheel. The last twelve hours had been too much for
    me to handle. It felt like I was having a nervous breakdown.
    Slowly, I turned my head, and glared at Life. He was looking
    at me with shock written all over his face, the way a person does
    when they are trying to decide if you have lost your damn mind.
    “ You!” I screamed at him, pointing an accusing finger in his
    face. “Ever since I laid eyes on you, everything that can go wrong
    has.” I felt tears brimming on the rim of my eyes. “I want to go
    home. I don’t want to be stranded with you, and God please tell
    me, what did you do to those men back there?!” My voice plead-
    ed. I was winded. The police cruiser that was at