Ledman Pickup

Twenty Three

  Leonora had been wandering aimlessly around town, and not happily, but it wasn't until she found herself directed back towards the Burger Joint that she really began to wonder about it. All of the questions she'd had earlier that morning returned to her mind with a vengeance. She seemed to be of two minds. At least two. One mind had decided to go back but couldn't say why. Another mind kept making itself up to stay right where she was until she understood everything. Yet another was satisfied to at least be pointed in some direction. From the outside, she looked like a slapstick comedy routine, lurching this way and that, stopping and starting, turning around. Her act caught the attention of a driver of a delivery van passing by, who pulled over to the curb beside her. Leonora looked over to see the broad smiling face of the driver, who said,

  "Hello?"

  "Hi,” Leonora sheepishly replied, suddenly becoming self-conscious.

  "Going somewhere?" the driver asked, and this time Leonora burst out laughing.

  "Could be,” she replied, "if I could figure out where that was."

  "Well, hop on in and I'll take you wherever,” the driver suggested, and Leonora considered it. The van was a fairly old model, originally a dark brown that had been unsuccessfully painted over with a lighter shade of mud. Across the side a poor stencil job in blood red proclaimed "Double Dee-liveries.” Something about the vehicle appealed to her, as well as the driver, a short, thick dark woman who later introduced herself as Ruby. The kicker for Leonora was a golden retriever who popped its head out of the back of the van and gave her the friendliest drooly grin. Leonora hopped on board and gave the dog a good scratching behind the ears.

  "I could use some help,” Ruby told her as they drove away. "If you don't mind a little labor. I can pay you. It's just this delivery I have to make. Kind of large and little awkward. Ledge here ain't no help with it. Course she's only a dog."

  "What was that name?"

  "Ledge,” Ruby laughed. "I call her that because she's always perching on places too small for her. Never falls off, though. Don't know how she does it."

  "Sure I'll help,” Leonora asked the earlier question. "I'd be glad to."

  It felt good to be moving with a purpose, actually going somewhere for a reason. Even the little black box that was nested against her belly seemed to hum with its own sense of vigor again. The job itself was a bit of a pain. Leonora couldn't guess, and Ruby couldn't tell her, exactly what was in the large, oddly shaped crate, but it took four hands and two backs to maneuver it out of the truck and into the garage of the grateful recipient, who gave them each an extra cash bonus as he rubbed his hands together with unseemly delight. They were glad to get away from there.

  "That was it,” Ruby told her. "I came all this way for that. Now I guess I'll be heading home, after I take you wherever you want to go."

  "Where's home?" Leonora asked, stalling. She was hoping that Ruby's answer would give her an idea of some destination.

  "Oh, a little old place nobody ever seems to have heard of,” Ruby said, "town called Wetford, Arizona."

  "Wetford!" Leonora gasped. "You're kidding me, right? How did you know what's where I live?"

  "You do?" Ruby was surprised. "No way. What part of the town are you from?"

  "Not from there originally,” Leonora told her, "but I live right down by the abandoned train station. Work around there too at a warehouse called Ledman Storage and Pickup."

  "Ledman Pickup?" Ruby laughed. "You work there? Oh my gosh, that place is a legend! How long have you been in there?"

  "About a month,” Leonora admitted.

  "Well no wonder,” Ruby replied. "Any longer and we would've met before this. My boss goes down there often enough. The place is a regular treasure trove for us. We get a lot of business out of it."

  "What do you mean?"

  "What we do,” Ruby replied. "We're sort of a rescue angel service for lost deliveries. My boss, the double dee of the name, she's got a knack and a talent for finding things. What she does is find packages that go missing in transit and the other way around too, she'll find the destinations for the packages that got lost. We find the rightful owners, get in touch, offer them a range of services. If the price is right, and the urgency too, then I'll take it myself. I go around most of the west and southwest on special cases. Otherwise we mostly use other shippers and pocket the profit. Ledman Pickup, man, that place is a graveyard for boxes and stuff. She's always finding things there, hiding under those shelves, stuck in those corners. Junior and Rolando, you know those guys, right?"

  "Course I do"

  "They don't give a shit,” Ruby said, "They'll let us take whatever we find. Hell, they're mostly the reason things get lost in the first place. Them and the idiot supervisors they always seem to get."

  "I'm the idiot supervisor now,” Leonora admitted with a smile.

  "Sorry,” Ruby said, "no offense. Nothing personal, you know, seeing as we never met or I never would have said so."

  "Oh, you would have!" Leonora told her. "It's exactly what I was. The idiot supervisor! I didn't give a shit either. Now, I don't know why, but now I feel different. Can I go back with you?"

  "Sure thing,” Ruby said, "glad to have the company. If you're going where I'm going, it sure makes it easier! Hungry, though? I'm kind of hungry. Saw a Burger Joint on the way to the highway."

  "Oh, God,” Leonora told her, "Anywhere but there"

  "All right,” Ruby agreed. "Anywhere else it is"