The Last American Martyr by Tom Winton Read Free Book Online

scenario was, hard as it was to get any sleep, being just a quarter-mile from one of the country’s busiest airports didn’t help either.
    To call this experience trying would be the equivalent of calling Armageddon a skirmish. The world as we had known it had become a different place. We had no idea what to do. We hadn’t a clue what was in store for us or where our lives were heading. I started growing a mustache and full beard. I had no plans to cut my hair for a very long time, either. Elaina cut her hair in the motel room, and it broke both our hearts.
    Living in such sheer terror, neither of us even mentioned the money issue until our last night in the hotel. We were sitting in two straight backed chairs, at a table by the curtained window. I’d just killed the TV after Jeopardy ended and was sipping a beer. Elaina fiddled with her glass of Sangria, looked into it and said, “You already know, Tom … I’m not going to leave you, don’t you?”
    “All we have is each other, hon. I, for one, know I wouldn’t want to go on without you. I also know you feel the same way. Like I said on the plane, we have loved each other too hard and for too long to ever consider such a…look, I don’t know, maybe you would be better off leaving me, Elaina. I’m afraid with what’s happened. I’m scared shitless, and I don’t want whoever’s after me to get at you.”
    Waving me off now, she crinkled her forehead, and those sleek, dark-chocolate eyes grew adamant. As if it was a reprimand, she said, “Sure, we’re scared. We’ve been talking about this, living this for almost a week now. But we don’t know for sure if this nut case or those with him would really kill you or me. Heck no, it doesn’t make me feel a whole lot safer, there are no guarantees, but even that policeman, Captain Geiger, said it could just be a threat. He had a point. If they wanted to get you they could have easily done so. Like it or not, Tom, I am not going through life without the man I love.”
    Though it had by then felt alien, a broad smile found its way to my face and I said, “You, young lady, are one tough cookie. I love you, you know.”
    “Oh stop. Don’t go getting all mushy on me now.”
    “Listen, I’ve been thinking about the money thing. I’m ready to compromise…and I have a plan. Want to hear it?”
    “Go ahead,” she said, slowly lifting the wine glass to her lips.
    “OK, I know how much you love this room, hrmmph, but I also know how long you’ve dreamed of taking a road trip around the country. What do you say we buy one of those RV’s, you know, a motor home, and take that dream trip?”
    Her face now lighting up like a teenager’s on prom night, she said, “I’d love to! I’d rather do that than anything in the world. I don’t believe it. How…how are we going to do it? You insist on donating most of the money. I’ve got my job to consider, and then there’s the apartment.”
    “As far as the money is concerned, there’s all too good a chance that the “enough” we’ve always gotten by on is no longer enough to keep us alive. As we said the other day—we can’t go back to the apartment. Not for a while, anyway. So I’m thinking…”
    “Wait, wait,” Elaina interrupted, “do you just want to let the apartment go? Just give it up and get another place when we come back?”
    “Let me finish, I was getting to that. I say we plan on travelling for six months to a year. That’s our safest option. While we’re on the road we can think about what we want to do next. We’ll keep the apartment. I’ll call Manny and tell him we’ll send him the rent every month. That’s not a problem.”
    “That’s going to cost.”
    “Once again, that’s a necessity. I’m not going to just give up my home, unless we decide that’s what we want to do.”
    Elaina let this sink in for a moment. I took a long sip of beer, lit a cigarette. Then she said, “OK, sure. That makes sense. I’ll call Rhonda at