Halloween was a hot day in south Florida. I woke up in a motel well inland from Key West. I had seen the sun set in the gulf, and I had walked in the footprints of Earnie. I was glad I had that chance before I read the note on the blog. I was positioned to either head back to Mississippi gulf coast or back to St. Marys. It all depended on the blog message.

M come home all is forgiven. Those were the exact words I had giving Lucy to write on the blog. I was happy to be free to return to St. Marys. I missed the little town near the Ga. coast. I loaded up the trailer early the next morning and headed up the Florida east coast at a slightly more serious pace. One can not rush a moped, but I was starting earlier and planned to ride into the late afternoon. I seldom did that for any reason.

The trip was four hundred miles give or take. I managed over a hundred miles a day. The bike was slow and I had to stay on back roads all the way. It was slow going but I didn't mind at all.

In the late afternoon of the third day, I pulled into the riverside park in St. Marys. I could have made it home in ten more minutes but I wanted to see the park before anything else. I sat on a bench by the water and just relaxed. It had been a hard three days and I was glad to see the end of the highway.

For the last two months I had wandered around aimlessly. I spent over half of the blackmail money or as I preferred to call it my insurance settlement. I hadn't been able to keep up with the events surrounding the raid since the town was so small there was no daily newspaper. Still every now and then I caught a few words on one of the news services. The best I could tell the two women had copped a plea. It was a damn good thing that they did. I had made sure they were caught with their hands in the cookie jar, so to speak.

I spent more time at the park than I had planned. Before I knew it the light was failing. I rode the bike home by way of burger, burger. A bag of burgers in the front basket and then a six pack of canned coke added to the trailer and I was on the final two blocks of my vacation. It was back to the grind of doing nothing. I had to laugh thinking how many men would love to have my problems.

I guess it is true that the sound of a moped is like no other sound. Lucy was out the door before my feet touched the first step of my stairway. "Mike," she said wrapping me in what would have been a bear hug, if she had been a bit stronger. "It is so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too." I replied when I could get my balance.

"Have you talked to Becky?"

"Of course not I just got here. I haven't talked to anyone except the girl behind the counter at Burger Burger," I held up the bag for her to see.

"Damn it, you are having dinner with me," she said positively.

"Well bring yours on up then, cause I'm having there burgers and a diet coke."

Not only did she bring up a plate of some kind of pasta for herself she brought half a cake for me. "I was chewing the burger and lusting for the cake when she said, "Becky will be here in a few minutes. She was so excited when I told her you were home."

"Ah well that's nice. I hope the cops didn't bother you guys."

"We never heard a word from them. We had to listen to courthouse gossip to find out what happened. Both of your other girlfriends are waiting for sentencing. They both copped a plea."

"Good," I replied.

Becky and I did the greeting thing again almost word for word and hug for hug as Lucy and I had done it. "I haven't had a good nights sleep since you left," she said after all the hugs.

"Oh why is that?" I expected her to come up with all those nervous nelly things but she didn't.

"Because I miss being hugged and groped before I drift off to sleep." I looked at Lucy to gauge her reaction. She just smiled at me. I had no idea what that meant.