She waited for Alfred to reenter the camper, screaming internally from the pain of the cramps in her muscles. She needed him to untape her and agree to a new set of rules immediately, before the pain completely destroyed her.
After half an eternity, she heard him get in and close the door. He started the engine and pulled away from the gas station. She started humming as loudly as she could. Humming was the only noise she could make without giving away the fact that her mouth was not securely taped, and she didn’t know whether he would hear her over the noise of the engine.
Alfred drove for several minutes. If he didn’t react soon, Penny was prepared to risk giving away her secret by screaming out loud. Then he slowed down. Maybe he was looking for a place to pull over. After another minute, he stopped the camper and came back to her. First he took the blanket off her. She looked at him, her eyes wide, grateful to be able to see again, but humming loudly to tell him to rip the tape off her before her limbs froze in their current position.
Moving in what seemed to Penny like slow motion, he pulled the tape off her mouth, and she blurted, “Damn it, Alfred. My legs are killing me.”
This had an effect on him. He set to work immediately, tearing the tape off. When he had her arms and legs separated, Penny straightened her legs with a cry.
“The backs of my thighs are tied in knots.”
Alfred looked contrite. He rolled her onto her stomach and started massaging her upper thighs through her slacks while Penny directed him. Gradually he kneaded the knots out of her muscles. Although his hands came close to her genital area, he made no effort to touch her there, even though it would be easy for him since her wrists were still taped together.
This surprised Penny. What kind of a man was he? She still didn’t have him figured out.
When the pain finally stopped, she said, “Now take off the rest of the tape. And never do that again.”
“I’m sorry I hurt you. We won’t have to get gas again until somewhere south of San Francisco.”
She wasn’t ever going to let him tape her that securely again. She would die first.
“Are you going to let me sit in front and be your navigator now?”
Alfred hesitated. “If you start signaling to people or yelling out the window…”
“I won’t. I promise.”
She didn’t promise she wouldn’t jump out of the camper if they stopped in one of the villages along the way. She went forward and sat in the passenger seat and looked at the map. Fort Bragg would be a good place to make her escape. A center of population meant people. People meant protection.
Alfred must have read her mind. He was about to drive away when he glanced sideways at her. Maybe she looked too happy. He shut off the engine and got the duct tape.
“You said you weren’t going to tape me.”
“Just your legs. So you don’t jump out.”
Aarrgg. She argued with him. He was adamant. If she wanted to ride in front she had to have her legs taped. The alternative was for her to lie on the bed. She couldn’t take the bed anymore. She let him tape her legs, but she didn’t give in easily. He did it in such a way that it would be time consuming for her to untape them. Then he taped her legs to the seat. He also took her shoes.
Alfred got out of the camper, walked around the front, and opened her door. What was he up to now? He made sure her window was rolled up all the way. He securely taped the window crank so that she couldn’t open it. She had told him she wouldn’t shout out the window. He still didn’t trust her. He also taped the door lock in the locked position. He’d thought of everything.
This was galling. Penny did not like being told what to do in the best of times, and she hated being physically restrained. If she got out of this mess, nobody would ever tell her what to do again.
More campgrounds existed along this stretch of Route 1 than Gary thought. Not only public campgrounds but private campgrounds such as KOA-Kampgrounds of America. He stopped at each one. He drove through the larger ones and walked through the smaller ones.
He didn’t know what he was looking for. Some sort of car, probably. A lack of camping equipment. Would they be sleeping in the car? Gary didn’t want to think about the sleeping arrangements. If he did, he might kill Alfred when he found him. Since they didn’t have camping equipment, wouldn’t they stay in a motel? Alfred didn’t have much money. Otherwise, why would he have robbed the food store? They had been told he hadn’t gotten a lot of money from that. Penny had no money with her. He had found her wallet in the Beetle.
How would Alfred prevent Penny from escaping? Would he keep her tied up? She was feisty and wouldn’t like that. How could he keep her hidden? Maybe somebody would see her and report it to the Highway Patrol. It was a faint hope, but he had nothing else to cling to.
This was an arduous process. Gary could easily spend all night doing this. Well, he might as well. It would keep his body and mind occupied. He certainly wasn’t going to be able to sleep.
Fort Bragg was an actual city, albeit not a large one. It had streets and people and even traffic lights. One would think it would offer an opportunity for Penny to escape. It might have, if Alfred hadn’t been as clever as he was. Penny couldn’t open her door or her window. She couldn’t even get up and hop to the sliding door.
She could pound on her window and mouth words to somebody who wouldn’t understand what she was saying. Alfred would retaliate; she knew that. No, there would be a better time. And place.
They were soon past Fort Bragg, driving along the rugged coast, where the sea lions and otters ruled, swimming and diving amidst the treacherous rocks that dotted the water near the shore. Seagulls were everywhere, staining the rocks with icky white pooh. Route 1 skirted Mendocino, because that city is located on a peninsula sticking out into the ocean. There were no other significant centers of population for a long way.
The sun was dropping toward the water like a sky diver whose parachute has just opened, slowly but inexorably. Penny suggested several campgrounds where they could spend the night. Campgrounds that might afford opportunities to escape. Alfred listened to her, but he didn’t say anything. If fact, he hadn’t been talking much at all. For somebody who was trying to woo her…
He slowed down. Penny wondered what he was doing. He pulled off Route 1 onto a dirt road that led inland, up into the hills. Away from the coast and even more deserted than the coast. Her heart sank. He had no intention of staying at a campground. He drove for several miles, bumping along on the uneven surface, filled with ruts and rocks. She wondered whether the camper would get stuck. If it did, would that be good or bad? Or maybe he would drive off a cliff. But he drove carefully. He wasn’t suicidal.
Alfred found a level place he liked and parked the camper under some redwood trees. Silent sentinels, watching over the land, but they weren’t watching out for her, Penny thought.
“Take off the tape, and I’ll cook dinner for us,” Penny said.
Actually, she hadn’t won any awards for cooking. She and Gary had been preparing simple meals on the trip. Growing up, she hadn’t done much more than boil water. She had driven out to California with two girlfriends two years before, right after college, and although they had teaching jobs lined up, the jobs didn’t start until September. They wouldn’t get paid until October. They had almost run out of money.
Penny’s aunt and uncle in Goleta took pity on them and gave them a place to stay until school started, but they had to get jobs. Penny lined up a job as a short order cook at Santa Claus Lane, near Goleta. She was supposed to start the same evening. She was petrified, because she knew she would botch it. She spent her last dollar on lunch and walked into the Goleta bookstore.