Behind the Pine Curtain by Gerri Hill

I was so proud of you. When we went to the movies and I saw your name up there, I was so happy. And sad.”
    “Sad?”
    “Sad that you weren’t in my life anymore. Sad that we didn’t get to say good-bye.”
    “Ah, Kay, you didn’t cry for me, did you?” Jacqueline asked quietly.
    “For you or myself, I don’t know which. But yes.”

    “I was . . . I was so scared when I got off that bus in Dallas. I’d had almost four hours to think about it, but I still didn’t have a clue as to what I would do. Part of me wanted to go back home and beg them to let me stay. But the stubborn part of me wouldn’t allow it.” Jacqueline stretched her legs out, enjoying the coolness of the evening. Her eyes scanned Kay’s small backyard, noting absently that Kay might not have gotten her mother’s culinary skills, but she most certainly got her green thumb.
    “What did you do?”
    “Got a cheap motel. I think the guy there thought I was a runaway. I’m surprised he didn’t call the cops. But I only had a hundred dollars and knew that wouldn’t get me far. I spent that first night alone, hungry and scared. I had the TV on, and they were doing this piece on some actress in Hollywood. I don’t even remember who it was now. But she was saying how she’d come to Los Angeles without a dime in her pocket and how she worked as a waitress while she tried to land a role.”
    Jacqueline shrugged. “I thought, hell, I can do that.”
    “In Dallas?”
    “No. I thought if I was really going to get away, hell, might as well go for the top. So, I got a bus ticket as far as Phoenix. That was all the money I had, except twenty bucks. I wanted to keep something to eat on, you know. When I got to Phoenix, I hitched a ride to Los Angeles.
    Took me three more days to get there.”
    “Oh, Jackie. Anything could have happened. You could have been—”
    “I know. But, I didn’t really care at the time. Besides, luck was on my side. The last guy to pick me up owned a restaurant. He put me to work right away.”
    “Where did you live?”

    “I stayed at the Salvation Army shelter for awhile, but it was kinda scary. Finally, one of the girls there at the restaurant let me bunk with her.” Jacqueline blushed. Her first sexual experience. God, it had been awful. She didn’t even like the girl all that much.
    “What?”
    “Nothing. We . . . well, we kinda became involved. But it was a disaster.
    I moved about six months later, moved in with this gay guy I’d met.
    Christopher. We’re still good friends, actually. He’s a cartoonist.”
    “So? Tell me about college.”
    “Not much to tell. Started out going to class at night so I could still work. Then, got a night job at a bar so I could go full time. Any spare time I had, I wrote. It was mostly therapy, I think. Christopher knew all about my family, and he liked what I was writing. He was friends with this guy who was friends with Ingrid. She’s my agent. He hooked us up and, well, it took off from there.”
    “ No Place For Family ?”
    “Yeah. But it literally took years to finish. Ingrid was pushing, wanting me to get it done right then, but I’d worked too hard with college. I wasn’t about to quit. I continued working, going to school and writing when time allowed. Of course, with studying, it didn’t leave much time.
    I finally finished it three months after I graduated.” She grinned. “Did I do a good enough job of portraying my mother, you think?”
    Kay laughed. “When I was watching the movie, I thought so.”
    “So, eight years after leaving Pine Springs on a bus, I had enough money to get my own apartment and quit my job and write. End of story.”
    “End of story?”

    “I live in a very nice condo now up the coast in Monterey.”
    “What else aren’t you telling me?”
    Jacqueline smiled. “There’s no exciting love story, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
    “Why not?”
    “I told you, I just never met anyone that I wanted to be