It was a day’s drive from Tulla City to Philadelphia and Ann got an early start. She had gassed her car up the day before and bought potato chips and a few other snacks to get her through the trip and this morning she put caffeine free, diet cokes on ice in a cooler so there would be no reason to stop except to gas the car and answer the call of nature.

The last thing Ann did was hook up her Citizen Band radio. It was a Midland and, for power, it plugged into the cigar lighter. The antenna was the type with a large magnet on the base and it adhered itself to the center of the roof of her car. The radio itself was on the passenger seat, well within reach and would pose no difficulty to use.

Ann pulled out at five sharp. The morning was cool and pleasant. The traffic was light on the highway and Ann looked forward to this trip. She felt relieved to be doing something not related to her hectic routine of the last few days. The collecting of information had kept her at a frenzied pace and it was nice to now just drive and relax.





She now turned the CB on and set the channel to 21, the channel truckers in this area used. As she pulled out onto the highway, she heard voices, familiar calls of, “Breaker, 2-1; anybody out there…; Come on…” and knew the truckers were already running up and down the concrete slab. When she got her car up to highway speed, she reached for the CB, keyed up the mic and said,” Break 2-1…How about a radio check?”

Immediately a voice responded, “I got you loud and clear, Breaker. Who we got there, go ahead?”

“This is Orphan Annie in a four wheeler, headed eastbound for Philly,” said Ann. “Who we got there?”

“You got Pistol Pete here, eastbound. Are you on my donkey?”

“What’s your marker, Pistol? I’m at 6-1.”

“Hang on,” said the trucker, “I’ll look for a marker.”

Ann checked her speed while she waited. She set the cruise at 65 and took her foot off the gas pedal.

“I’m at 6-3,” said Pete.

Just then another voice came on the air.

“You got Two Shoes here,” it said. “I’m at 6-0. I’ve got your donkey. Looks like Orphan Annie is in the cradle.”

Ann smiled and said, “I got mine set at 6-5.”

“Ten four on the 6-5,” said Pete. “How about it, Two Shoes? We got a convoy?”

“Forty two on the convoy,” said the other trucker. “How about it, Annie? We got a convoy?”

“Let’s do it,” said Annie.

Ann smiled and said aloud to herself, “We got a convoy!”

Ann spoke into the mic, “Pistol Pete, how about let’s back off to 60 until Two Shoes catches up. I like my men tight and in sight.”

A voice came back, “Sounds like a plan.”

Ann kept her cruise at 65, knowing she’d soon catch the lead truck then she’d drop back to 60 and the two of them would wait for the back truck.

After a couple of minutes Ann saw the rear of a trailer ahead. It was black with shiny metal doors. On the left rear lower corner of the left door were the numbers, ‘2001’.

“Hey, Pistol, you got a space odyssey on your donkey.”

“Yeah, I picked it up in Chicago a year ago and been spaced out ever since!”

Ann heard a chuckle just before Pistol Pete un-keyed. She keyed up just long enough to also laugh into the mic.

“That must be you on my donkey,” said Pete.

“In the flesh,” said Ann.

“Two Shoes,” Ann said, “Are you coming?”

Two Shoes voice came back, “I’m’a breathin’ hard. I got an eyeball on you. I’ll be there in three.”

Ann looked in her rearview mirror and could see the last truck of the convoy beginning to come into sight. In a couple of minutes he was a quarter mile behind her.

“O K, “ said Pistol Pete, “Let’s set her on 6-5 and do it.”



As Ann and the two truckers rolled along the highway, they chatted about one thing and another, mostly keeping the conversation light. After a few hours, Pete said he would have to stop at a truck stop ahead and take a coffee break and fuel his truck. Two Shoes said he would stop, too.

“How about it, Annie, are you game for a cup?”

“I packed everything I need in a cool chest so I don’t really need to stop,” she replied.

“Too bad,” said Two Shoes with a chuckle, “You don’t know what you’ll be missing!”

“Yeah,” said Pete, “Some really bad coffee!”

After a moment of silence, Ann said, “I couldn’t stand not knowing about that coffee! I’ll see you guys at the stop,” And she kicked the throttle and passed Pete so fast he couldn’t see what she looked like.

“I’ll be inside waiting,” she said. “Let’s see if you can put a body to this voice!” In a moment she was out of sight.



Ann didn’t need gas yet so she parked right in front of the café part of the truck stop and went inside. Just inside of the door, she looked around. There were booths to her right and a truckers’ store to the left. The cashier was straight in front of the door.

There was no sign to wait to be seated so Ann slowly walked to the right, toward the booths. She stopped for a second and perused the scene. There were nine booths; six along a window on the far side of a counter that made a horseshoe bend with the opening at the far end of the room. Between the row of booths and the counter were several tables, each one with four chairs.

The place was crowded and noisy. Only two booths were empty and Ann took one near the back of the room. A lone woman was in a booth at the front of the room and a lone woman was at a table in the center of the room.

Just beyond her in the last booth were four truck drivers and a man and woman had the booth just before hers. The biggest of the truck drivers in the next booth looked Ann over closely as she sat down and whispered something to the others but said nothing to her.

Ann was enjoying the anticipation of waiting for Pistol Pete and Two Shoes, wondering if either of them would be able to pick her out of the people in the crowded restaurant without a signal from her.

A waitress approached her table and placed a glass of water and a menu in front of her. Ann said she just wanted coffee; she was waiting for someone.

She listened to the buzz of voices around her. One of the men in the next booth was telling a truck driving joke. It was about a JB Hunt driver who had left a long strip of tire tracks on the freeway, stopping his truck right there because he ran out of driving hours. It was a joke that had been floating around for years but it still got a hearty laugh from the others.

Ann sat with her back to the rear, facing the front so she would have a view of everyone entering the café.

It had been about fifteen minutes and Ann remembered the drivers had to have their trucks fueled. It shouldn’t be long now.

Just then a couple of men entered the café and stopped to look around. Ann thought that must be them and she made an effort to not look at them. It was hard for her to suppress a grin but she managed it. She could see their reflection in the window to her left. They were talking to each other and looking around. She could see they had seen her and the rest of the people, also.

Then the taller man motioned toward her and they began slowly walking toward the back of the café. They passed both the other women, the one in the booth and the one at the table, and walked right to her booth and casually sat down, both on the side opposite her. The tall man looked at her and asked, “Have you ordered yet?”

Then Ann lost it. She leaned her head back and laughed out loud. Everyone in the café looked at her. The two drivers began laughing, too.

“How did you know who I was,” she asked. The shorter man said, “You’re the only one who didn’t look at us!” Then they all had another good laugh.

“That was very clever,” said Ann. She pointed to the tall man and said, “You’re Pistol Pete and he is Two Shoes.”

The men grinned and said she was right. Two Shoes asked how she knew.

“That was easy. I recognized your voices.”

The waitress come to the table and brought two more menus and glasses of water. Both men asked for coffee and the waitress left. In a moment she returned with the coffee pot and filled their cups and re-filled Ann’s cup.

Pete said it was his breakfast time and ordered ham and two eggs over easy, with hash browns and sourdough toast.

Two Shoes asked for a short stack of pancakes, two eggs with bacon and a side order of country gravy.

“You better eat,” said Pete to Ann. “It’s a long way to Philly and you look like you’re a growing child.”

That got a grin out of Ann and she decided she, too, would have breakfast. She ordered the same thing Two Shoes had except she substituted the bacon for sausage.

“What’re you gonna do in Philly?” Pete asked Ann. “I never did ask what you do for a living. You don’t seem married. You’re too pleasant for that.”

“I know,” said Two Shoes. “You’re a teacher and you’re going to a new teaching job.”

“No, she don’t look like any teacher I ever had,” Said Pete with a grin and a wink at Ann.

“She’s a real estate salesman and she’s going to close a deal.”

There was a second of silence while the men waited to see if either of them was right.

Ann smiled and said they were both wrong. “You’ll never guess what I do for a living. I might be a rich brat just out for a Sunday ride. Or I might be running away from a mean husband. Or leaving home for the first time.”



The man on the far side of the next booth said, “You’re a cop.”

The entire café got very quiet. Evidently almost everyone had been listening to the three of them. Now heads turned toward Ann’s booth. Someone from two tables over said, “Well?”

Ann’s face reddened slightly and she turned and looked at the man in the next booth.

“How did you know,” she asked.

He smiled and said, “I recognized you when you first came in. I read about you in the Philadelphia Enquirer. I saw your picture in the paper and I’ve had the hots for you ever since. No offense intended. It was your green eyes that did it to me. You’re Ann Barton, the cop who solved a four year old murder when no one else could. I even cut your picture out of the paper and I’ve got it in my truck. It’s a little grainy but that’s all right.”

Another man turned around and looked right at Ann.

“By God, that is her,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Someone started to clap and soon the whole place was clapping.

Ann lowered her head. It was obvious she was embarrassed.

Pete stood up and, with a wave of his hand, good naturedly said, “All right, that’s enough, folks. Now let’s have our breakfast. We got things to do and places to go and not much time to do it.”

Immediately the noise stopped. In a moment people resumed their private conversations.

“Thanks,” said Ann. And, looking at the man who had recognized her, she said, “Thank you, too.”

The rest of their mealtime passed quickly and pleasantly. Ann learned Pete was from the Windy City and Two Shoes was from Shaky Town. (Chicago and LA) Pete was on a dedicated run and Two Shoes contracted with a broker and went everywhere; anywhere there was a load.

Ann told them about the seminar. It was the first one she would attend and, while at first she dreaded it, she now looked forward to it.

“I might learn something from it,” she said.

“Or they might learn something from you,” Said Pete with a grin.



It was finally time to go and they signaled the waitress for the check. Two Shoes and Pete both grabbed for it and Pete got there first.

“I’ll get this one,” he said. “You two have to work for a living. All I do is drive. One of you can get it next time.”

They slid out of the booth and the two men started toward the cashier’s station. Ann hesitated for a second and opened her wallet and took out a small photo of herself. She asked the driver in the next booth who had recognized her if she could borrow his pen. He gave it to her and she signed the picture, ‘Love, from Ann,” and handed the pen and her picture to the man. He took them with a surprised look on his face and, with a smile, Ann said, “Now you’ve got the real thing. Thanks again.”

“No, thank you,” the man said and he reached out his big rough hand. Ann took his hand, shook it and left.

Looking at the other men, he said, “So this is what heaven is like!”



Outside at her car, Ann and the men said their goodbyes.

“When will you be back through here,” asked Two Shoes of both Ann and Pete.

Pete said he’d be here in two or three days, as soon as he could drop this load and re-load.

Ann said she might be here, too; it depended on how long the seminar lasted. Before they left they agreed each would stop on the way back through and wait here for an hour, just in case the others showed up.

“That’s a plan,” said Ann. “Now I have to put the pedal to the metal. I got time to make up, but it was worth it.” She walked over to the men and gave each of them a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek then she hopped into her car and with a wave of her hand, drove away.

The men watched her until she got out of sight. Then Pete turned to Two Shoes and said, “It was worth it, all right!”

“Damn tootin’it was,” answered Two Shoes.

Chapter Eleven...