Christy: A Journey Tale by Michael Thomas Cunningham Page A

your mother. I
know you’re thinking right now that involving the police is going
to make matters worse. Something has to give, Christy, and you have
to ask yourself, are things going to get better or worse if you do
nothing? At the very least, you’d be standing up to him. Your mom
may not want to leave him, but you have to convince her to go to a
women’s shelter, at least for a few days. Let her see what life can
be like without him.”
    “She ain’t gonna go for that.”
    “Then what will she go for?”
    “I don’t know, but she ain’t gonna go for
that.” Christy said like it was the stupidest thing she had ever
heard. She had puffed herself up all defensive and closed off. He
wondered if anything more he could say would make any difference at
all.
    “I tell you what:” he said, “why don’t you
just take a break and think about what will work? I’ve got business
in town tomorrow. So, this is what I’m thinking. I’m going to pay
for two nights for you in your own room.” He reached into his
wallet and pulled out a $50 and handed it to her as he spoke.
“Here’s even a little money for food. Now you have a choice to
make, and that choice is going to say a lot about you, Christy. I’m
going to step into that motel and get those rooms. If you’re here
when I get back, then you’ve decided to enjoy a clean bed, hot
water, and maybe even a little TV for two nights. After that two
days is up, I’ll be in that lobby, drinking coffee until 9:00 AM.
If you decide you want to take the next step, you meet me there and
I’ll take you back home. Then we can see about what needs to happen
next. You’ve got a lot to think about. It may even be so much that
you don’t even know where to start. Here’s my suggestion: start by
thinking about what you want your life to be like a year from now
and then see if you can’t work things backwards from that. Think
about what needs to be done to make those things happen. You’re a
smart girl, Christy, and it’s about time you start doing something
smart with your life,” he said. A moment later he was out of the
truck and headed into the motel.
     

Chapter 15
     
    “You know that old saying, ‘You can lead a
horse to water, but you can’t make ‘em drink?’ Well, that’s exactly
how I felt. I was the horse, and he had me staring right there at a
big ole’ creek. Then again, I figure that was exactly the way he
wanted me to feel. Sure, I thought he was bein’ a little preachy,
but that didn’t change the fact that he was right about me. You
know how he was, I mean that way of his of being able to look at
you and know exactly what makes you tick, what you’re scared of and
everything else that goes with it. Like I said before, I never
could lie to him completely, but that’s another thing too. He
wouldn’t let me lie to myself either, and that was something I had
done for so long I couldn’t hardly tell the difference between it
and the truth.” Christy said and then turned to look out the
window. Her thoughts were reflective and distant. “You know, I
don’t recall even turning on the TV the whole time I was in that
motel room. I sure did use the heck out of the hot water though. I
can still remember how good it felt. I must have stayed in there
for hour’s just letting the water flow over me. Everything seemed
so much clearer and simple in the steam of that shower. My whole
world just seemed to stand still as life took a time out. I slept
in and ordered pizza. It was just me, my thoughts, and them four
walls, and it was heaven or at least as close as I had ever been.
There was no pressure and no stress. I would lie awake on the bed
and just play everything out in my mind the way I wanted things to
be.”
    “What about your mom? What did you think
about when you thought of her?” Jennifer asked and then Christy
acted like she was about to say something before she caught herself
and pulled it back.
    “Well, at that particular moment I think I
had