Soap and Shampoo

“... and then after we buy your soap and shampoo formulas, you sit back and relax or find a new hobby, as long as it’s not new soap and shampoo.” He chuckled at his cleverness, but she was having second thoughts about her nearly-decided decision to sell out.

Yes, she and her little brother needed the money and if they had extra, she could go to the University, but her Homeland Soaps had really done pretty well online. If their car hadn’t been vandalized and the debts from her parents funeral hadn’t mysteriously gone up so much, in another five months they would have just about paid off their loans and been starting to get ahead. Honestly, trouble seemed to stick to them like a magnet lately.

“So, Charlotte, my boss would like an answer from you this evening. Why don’t we go have dinner at Betsy’s BBQ then you can tell me that you’re ready to sign the contract.”

Sign the contract. Wasn’t she supposed to get a lawyer or something? Greg said she didn’t have to go to that expense because it was a standard contract they used all the time. And besides, they were a big, well-known company who wouldn’t take advantage of someone and sully their own reputation, would they?

“Okay, Greg, if you wouldn’t mind picking me up at 7:30 we can go have dinner and I’ll give you my answer.”

He gave her his PR smile, stood, and small-talked his way out the door. She was glad to see him go since she still couldn’t figure out what to do. As she headed upstairs to her bedroom, she heard him say, “Hey there, what are you doing?”

Jerking her head around and expecting to see him at the bottom of the stairs, he kept on talking. “I can’t wait to get out of this ass-wipe of a town, Ro, and away from this gal with the soap. If I have to bed her to get her to sell, I don’t know if I can do it. What a hick! God get me outta here ... I mean, yeah she’s a little bit cute, but jees, I’d probably have to propose before I could get into her pants.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing until she finally realized the conversation was coming from her brother’s scanning equipment. Greg The Creep On His Cell Phone went on and on until she finally faced up to what she had to do, which was about the same time Jimmie came out of the bathroom with a comic book tucked under his arm and wiping his wet-and-not-dried hands on his pants. “Hey, you’re not supposed to listen in to my calls!”

“They’re not your calls Jimmie and anyway, you’re listening in,” but she headed down the hall to her bedroom, firming up plans as she went. Greg The Creep and his Creepy Company probably knew all about her so she was going to have to get mysterious, go incognito, and disappear into the night. In fact, the more she thought about it the more she figured that at least some of her financial trouble had probably been helped along by them, as a behind-the-scenes inducement to sell. Well. The heck with that. She could go behind-the-scenes, too.

She quickly called Millie at the bank and asked if she’d take $8,000 out of Charlotte’s account and drop it by on her way home -- that way they’d have cash. Then she put as many of her clothes as she could, plus her little dab of make-up, into two suitcases. She got her uncle’s (on her mother’s side) car title out of the file cabinet, along with her brother’s and her birth certificate, her parent’s marriage license, and the paperwork to their house ... their paid-off house.

Then she went back and slyly persuaded Jimmie they were going to take off on an adventure -- a summer of doing the wild and crazy and unpredictable. He got totally caught up in the idea and had his two bags packed in fifteen minutes, although she watched to make sure there were actually some clothes which got squeezed in alongside the music and games.

Then she went down to the kitchen and packed as much food as she could into four shopping bags. At that point there was nothing left to do but lug all their stuff out to the garage. Her uncle’s car had been stored in there for quite awhile, but it had been her job to take it out once a month and blow the cobs out, so she knew it had a full tank of gas and was in good working condition.

After Millie came by with the money, everything was just about ready to go, so she wrote a note and taped it to her front door. Greg would find it and read that something had come up and that she planned to call him tomorrow afternoon. Ha!

Jimmy eagerly climbed in the car and, as it turned out, they were happily on their way by 6:15. They sang songs and ate from their grocery sacks and generally made the most of their freedom. When Greg came by to pick her up and saw her note, he was relieved he wouldn’t have to paste on his smile all night, and happily left to wine and dine by himself, fully confident he’d land a big fish the next day.

Charlotte and Jimmy had no idea, but they truly were starting a wild and crazy adventure, one which would get them lost, have them being threatened by bad guys, forging their identities, working in a mining camp, watching a shoot-out, and stowing away on a float plane.

Just think -- it started so innocently with her soap.