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Authors: Monique Miller

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BOOK: Quiet As It's Kept
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Chapter 22
“What address do I need to put into the GPS?” Phillip asked.
“Just put Warsaw, North Carolina in. According to the information I found on the town, it isn't that big. Once we get there we can look around and go from there,” Will said.
Phillip punched the information for Warsaw into his global positioning system. The system gave them directions to head toward the interstate. Once they were on I-40, the system told them to drive 123 miles east on I-40.
It was 9:30 in the morning, and they were on a mission to find out if there was anything at all to the story the woman in the mall told. He hoped what he'd heard from the woman wasn't true, but something just didn't add up for Will. And he knew he wasn't going to rest until he found out exactly what that was.
“So what did you find out when you did your search?” Phillip asked.
“Not much. Nothing on a Ci Ci Jackson, or any other last name that began with a J. But I did find a high school that started with the name James. I had the whole name wrong, but like I said yesterday, there is a great deal that can be found on the Internet. It only took me about five minutes to find out what I did find out.”
Phillip nodded. “The World Wide Web.”
“I can't believe her hometown is only two hours away and she's never taken me there,” Will said.
“I find that a little strange. I mean, it's not like she's from another state or anything.”
“You know, at this point I just don't know what to think. I feel like this is all a nightmare and I'll wake up at any moment.”
“You're right about it being a nightmare, but, sadly enough, this is all happening, because I know we can't both be having the same nightmare right now at the same time,” Phillip said.
Will looked in the back seat at his son. Isaiah had fallen asleep. He smiled.
“You'll get through this,” Phillip said.
“I hope so,” Will replied.
“You will, and this is only a test. You'll pass, but remember, most tests aren't easy, but when we finish the test we come out better than before the test. We are more knowledgeable, and the information we've learned will help us to go further in life,” Phillip said. He used the same philosophical voice he used when he taught Bible Study at the church sometimes.
They were both silent for a moment.
“P.T.?”
“Yeah.” Phillip's voice was solemn.
“Why does what you just said sound so familiar?”
“Huh?”
“You heard me. What you just said sounds really familiar.”
Phillip began to whistle, and looked out of his side window as if looking at something on the highway that suddenly interested him.
“Man, don't act like you don't hear me or like you've got amnesia,” Will said.
Phillip smiled. “Dag, I can't get anything over on you, can I?”
“No, especially not when I was the originator of those very words. Let's see; I distinctly remember telling you those same words freshman year when you decided you were going to quit school at midterms.”
“Okay, okay, you caught me,” Phillip said.
“I must say, applying it to the current test of life that I am going through was very crafty.”
“Why totally reinvent the wheel? But, in all seriousness, what you said to me has applied to much in my life, so much so that I never forgot the words you said to me. And this is the first time I've been able to return the favor. So I guess it is sort of like you are encouraging yourself.”
“Thanks,” Will said.
Will laid his head back on the headrest. He'd barely slept the night before, having nightmares that Morgan was poisoning everything he ate, even his toothpaste. With heavy eyes, he said, “Do you mind if I take a nap?”
“Nah, go ahead,” Phillip said.
Will turned his head to the side and was asleep before he knew it.
 
Will felt the momentum of Phillip's SUV decreasing. He turned his head and opened his eyes, seeing a sign that said E
XIT
364 W
ARSAW
.
“Are we here already?” Will asked.
“Yeah, the GPS said to take exit 364.”
Will sniffed the air. “What is that smell?”
“I thought you were passing gas or something,” Phillip joked.
“It smells awful. Do you think it's Isaiah's diaper?”
“He's your son. You should know what his diapers smell like,” Phillip said. He acted like he was holding his breath, and then busted out laughing.
“What is so funny?” Will asked, barely wanting to open his mouth due to the smell.
“It's not Isaiah, it's that pig truck we've been trailing for the past five miles. Luckily it kept going on the interstate.”
Will rolled his eyes. “That was horrible. I hope we don't find any more of those trucks.”
“I second that,” Phillip said.
At the bottom of the exit, both men looked left and right. To the right they saw gas stations and fast food restaurants. To the right they saw another gas station and a rest stop.
“Which way?” Phillip asked.
“Take a left. It looks as if there are some houses down that way.”
Phillip turned left when the traffic light turned green. They rode in silence as they passed a gas station and a few houses, before they reached a town limit sign that welcomed them to Warsaw, North Carolina.
They continued to ride, passing more houses, a middle school, a little white church, a Laundromat, a dollar store, a car wash, and more gas stations. They passed houses with people working in their yards and sitting on their porches. Many of the people waved at them. Before they knew it, it looked as if they were headed out of the town.
“Pull over right here,” Will said.
He pulled out the address for the high school he had printed out, and realized they were on the same road the school was on. He punched the address of the school into the GPS, and within minutes they pulled into the school's driveway.
“This is a high school?” Phillip asked.
“Yeah, that's what the sign says.”
“This looks more like my junior high did.”
“Yeah. The town only has about three thousand people,” Will said.
“Are you serious?”
“You saw that it only took us only a few minutes to drive through it.”
“So what now? We can't just go busting up into the school asking if anybody knows Ci Ci Jackson.”
“Won't work, huh?” Will asked.
“Nah.”
“Well, in a town of only three thousand people, I'm sure somebody knows Ci Ci Jackson if she does exist. Let's go back the other way and see if we can find some townies to see if they want to share some Southern hospitality and tell us a little more about this town and its inhabitants,” Will suggested.
“This is a cute little town. I might have to bring Shelby back here one day to see it. I could retire in a quiet little place like this. I'll just bet they've got some fishing ponds around here somewhere, too,” Phillip said.
“You would go fishing?” Will had a puzzled look on his face. In all the years he'd known Phillip, he'd never known him to fish.
“Yeah, I'd try it.”
“Now that's something I'd like to see,” Will said.
“Do you think you'll find someone who'll talk to a couple of strangers like that?” Phillip asked.
“Why not? You know we Southerners are known for our Southern hospitality. And since we are even farther south, they'll probably be even more hospitable.”
They turned the car around to face the road, ready to turn back toward town.
“Is that what I think it is?” Will asked.
“Yeah, that is what you think it is.”
“Wow, creepy,” Will said as he saw the sea of graves in the cemetery in front of them. “Can you imagine going to school every day and seeing a graveyard?”
“Nope,” Phillip said.
“Me either.”
 
 
They pulled into the parking lot of a Bojangles fast food restaurant, where they saw a group of men standing outside of a truck, admiring its rims. After pulling up next to the truck, both Will and Phillip got out and spoke to the men.
“Hey, good morning,” Will said to the guys.
“Mornin',” a couple of the men responded.
“Nice rims,” Will complimented.
A guy with a gold tooth in his mouth said, “Yep, I just got 'em.”
The men looked over at the rims on Phillip's SUV.
The man with the new rims said, “I like your rims. Where'd you get them?”
“From a shop in Charlotte,” Phillip answered.
Will racked his brain as he tried to remember the names of any towns that were close to Warsaw. Then he remembered there was a town called Turkey.
“Hey, uh, we are trying to get to Turkey. Can you all point us in the right direction?”
One of the other guys spoke. “Oh, you ain't that far. It's just a few miles down the road here. Take a right out of this parking lot and keep going until you see the sign with a turkey on it. You can't miss it.”
Another guy spoke. “What on earth could you all need in Turkey? Ain't too much there.”
Will thought quickly, thinking it was his opportunity to ask the guys if they knew of anyone named Ci Ci. “Well, we went to college with a couple of girls who were from Dumplin County.”
“It's Duplin County,” one of the men corrected Will.
“Oh, sorry. Well, one girl was from Turkey and the other one was from Warsaw.”
“What are their names? We live here in Warsaw and James here is from Turkey. We probably know who you are talking about. I mean, the towns ain't but so big.”
Will made up the name of a fictitious woman. “The girl from Turkey was named Tamika Smith. At least, I think that is what her last name was.”
The guy who was from Turkey thought about it for a moment. “I can't say that I know anybody named Tamika Smith.”
“I could have the name wrong. Shoot, it could have been something else.” Will acted as if he hated the fact that he couldn't remember the girl's name.
When he got ready to ask about Ci Ci, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Phillip stepped in and picked up where he'd left off.
“The other girl is named Ci Ci Jackson,” Phillip said.
The men looked at Phillip and Will in disbelief.
“Are you serious?” the man with the new, shiny rims asked.
“Uh, yeah.”
They all busted out laughing.
“Are you sure it was Ci Ci you went to college with? Where did you guys go to college? The Ci Ci we know ain't never been to college.”
A few of the men nodded in agreement.
“That is, I am sure she never went as a student. She might have been at college for some other reasons, but not to get an education,” one of the men said.
“Maybe to get a man,” another man said.
Will didn't know what to think.
Phillip cleared his throat. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Well, you see, Ci Ci wasn't the schoolgirl type. And unless she got her GED somewhere, she couldn't get into no college unless she paid somebody.”
Still speechless, Will started thinking the entire trip to the town was a big mistake. His wife had not been to college, it was true, but she was a very intelligent woman. The only reason she had not been able to go to school was because she didn't have anyone to send her to school.
“If I showed you a picture of the girl I think is Ci Ci, would you know her?” Phillip asked.
The shiny rim guy smirked. “Yeah, I'd say so.”
Phillip nudged Will. Will pulled a picture of Morgan out of his wallet. It was the picture she had given him when they were dating, before they got engaged.
The shiny rim guy took the picture from Will and squinted at it. “Yeah, this looks like Ci Ci.” He handed the picture around as all the other men began to agree with the first man.
Once the man got the picture back, he looked at it one last time before handing it back to Will. “I am almost ninety-nine percent sure that is Ci Ci. She looks a little different. If so, she fixed herself up real good. The hair is different. But I'd know for sure if I saw that heart-shaped birthmark—”
BOOK: Quiet As It's Kept
10.21Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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