ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (19)

   Alice didn't look at all like she belonged in a small country town. She was dressed like a model, which she was until she married Melvin. She said she married him for his looks, which he was handsome. 
   "Now what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Melvin asked Edie.
   Edie just blurted out, "I need to go to Philly."
   "That's a long way from here. It's about two hundred miles. It would be a lot cheaper to go by train. Why cab?"
   Edie spoke up, "I know but I don't have my chair and I don't have any money."
   That made Melvin stand up. No money. How is she going to pay the $30.50 and she wants to go to Philly? If she was a guy, I would knock her out cold. "How are you going to pay your cab bill?"
   "I have a friend in Philly that will take care of it."
   "You want to go to Philly, Alice?"
   "I would love to and go shopping and see the bright lights."

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (18)

"Well, Ma'am, here we are.  At the office.  That will be twenty-nine dollars and fifty cents, please"

"I need to talk to your boss." Edie said. "Could I go in the office?"

The driver looked at her funny like to say, 'yea, how are you going to do that?'

"If someone could bring out a chair with wheels on it, I could be rolled in."

The driver stood there with his mouth open.  What a good idea, he thought.  This lady is smart.  She won't let her problems get her down.

A man named Ted came back with an office chair and his boss, Melvin, who was his brother.  Melvin needed to see where his chair was going, first off, then what was this story Ted was telling about a woman with no legs, no wheel-chair, out in the mountains, running away from her brother --and she was in the cab.

After the introducing, Ted and Melvin got Edie into the chair and wheeled her into the office.  Melvin's wife was there.  They introduced her as Alice.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (17)

"Oh, my God!  He's coming up the drive-way!" Edie yelled in fright.  "Harry, help me get my sewing machine in!"

"It won't fit in the back seat, and what about your chair?" the driver asked.

Just then, Bill drove right by the cab as Edie told Susan to get down on the floor as she did the same.  Bill was going down the bottom of the hill to turn around.

Edie was really scared and was talking fast.

"Forget everything!  Just get us out of here before my brother gets back up the hill, PLEASE!"

The driver jumped into the cab, Mable pulled the wheelchair and sewing machine away from the cab and the the driver turned the cab around as quickly as he could being in a tight drive-way.

Edie looked at Mable holding her sewing machine. ('My means for making a living and my chair!')  Tears rolled down her face.  But more importantly, they had to get out of there and quick.

"Driver, drive as fast as you can!"

She held Susan.  The child was so afraid she was crying uncontrollably.

"Susan, please stop that crying."

"Mommy, I can't.  I wet my pants."

('Oh, the poor kid!  All I could think about was us getting away and with Bill catching us and how stressed out I felt, forgetting how all this is affecting Susan.'  Edie thought.)

"Stay down in the seat. You'll have to wear a pair of panties in the knitting bag.  I know they're still wet, but, not as wet as what you are wearing."

As Edie was helping Susan change, she looked out the back window and she didn't see her brother.  He couldn't keep up with the newer cab.

"Sir, you can slow down now. You've lost him." This was a good thing as the cab driver was in a sweat.

"Ma'am, where do you want to go?" asked the driver.

"Oh, I thought I told you.  To your office."

Edie hugged Susan and combed her hair.

"We're on our way now." Edie said, smiling.

"Where Mommy?"

"It'll be a surprise."

Edie didn't exactly know herself.  She had a friend in Philadelphia that they would stop in to see.  Maybe then she'd know what to do.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (16)

"Ok, Ladies, let's get up the hill. It looks like a good travelin' day!" Mable said as though she was about to break out in song.

Mable and Edie started up the hill.  It was easier with Mable. 'Wish we had her at the beginning of the trip' Edie thought to herself.

As they approached the cab, Mable yelled to the cab driver for some help. It was a good thing he drove closer, because just as Susan and Edie were about ready to get into the cab, Edie spotted her brother's truck out on the road.

Edie tried to talk as quietly as she could, telling Mable and the cab driver that she saw her brother, but Mable was yelling at the cabdriver for not staying and helping with getting Edie up the hill. So, Edie yelled at Mable to STOP!. "I saw my brother.  And I think he saw me when he heard me yell."

He DID!  He turned around and started up the drive-way.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (15)

"Susan, how 'bout you carrin' that bag that's on your mama's lap? And Edie, do ya' have to take that table with ya?"

"Oh, this is not a table, this is a sewing machine!  I need to make a living where ever I live."

"Ya' sew? How ya' do that?"

"I put the foot pedal up on the lid (when it's open to sew) and use my left hand to push the pedal down like I was using my foot."

"Ya' sure are smart and ya' sew?"

"I made Susan's dress she's wearing."

"And ya' gonna' make a livin' sewin'?"

"I hope so." Edie replied. "No, I have to or starve."

"We won't starve, Mommy. We'll have a garden." Susan said.

"Out of the mouths of babes." Edie said as she hugged Susan. "Yes, we will have a garden and we will grow flowers to sell and vegetables to eat.  How do you like that?"

"Can I have a kitten? All my own? I'll take good care of it."

(How subjects change quickly with children.)

Escape from The Mountains (14)

"Where did the cab driver go?"
"He jes took off and went back to his car."
"Well, that was real nice of him.  Why did he do that?"

Mable explained the reason.  Then Edie calmed down.

"What are we going to do?", Edie asked anxiously.  She wanted to get going.

Mable went outside.  Said she would be back in a few minutes.  She was with a 4' x 8' piece of ply-wood.

"I think we can use this on the steps and ya's can slide down it.  What do ya' think?"

"If you hold the chair back so it doesn't go too fast, I think we have it made."

It worked!  It was a good idea that Mable was strong.  She was built like a bull.

Now the hill.

"I'm sorry you have to do this, Mable." Edie said as the touched Mable's arm.

"I've done worse. Don't ya' fret, now."

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (13)

   He told her that he had been married before and didn't like it and swore he would never do it again. Well, she would live with him but as sister and brother in case someone came along that wanted to marry her. Well, no one ever did in forty-five years. I guess no one was as good as her "brother." You could see that Mable was a pretty woman in her younger years. Edie thought to herself, I don't think people believe your story, Mable, about you and Harry being sister and brother. After forty-five years, you still look at him like a school girl.
   "Oh, someone is knocking at the door. Mus' be the cab."
   "Hi, I don't think I better drive the cab down that hill with it being steep and the mud. I'll never get up the hill. You're gonna have to meet me up at the hill." And then he walked away so fast Mable couldn't catch him to tell him about Edie. 
    "Well, I guess we'll have to do it ourselves. Edie, come on. The cab man left. We have to walk you up the hill. He said the cab wouldn't make it up the hill. We'll talk while we walk."