Chapter Text
The car suddenly jerked and swerved off the road. I grabbed onto the dashboard as I watched Clyde furiously turn the wheel in the opposite direction. "Clyde, what in hell?!"
"I just had a bad feelin' sugar," he explained. "Can't take any chances is all. Cops could be waitin' for us anywhere." I sighed. He may have been right; we're wanted fugitives, dead or alive. If anyone was out for us being dead, it was the police.
Clyde drove off into a deeper part of the countryside, coming up to a small forest. We pulled up to an open space where he stopped the truck and went out to the
trunk. "We'll stay here for the night," he said spreading a blanket in the back of the pickup. I got out of the front and joined him, laying down in his arms. "Can't we just go back, baby?" I said softly. "We aren't worth the money if we…"
Silence. He must have been ignoring me.
Why is it so hard to try and change him? Clyde may have that rough streak I fell in love with, but isn't he tired of running? We just seen his own brother die and Blanche go to prison for us.
Maybe if he knew...no, not now. In the morning.
I am the first awake. Clyde is snoring away, so I might as well try and find some food for us. I walk a ways from our spot. I inspect plants and bushels and trees for edibility. A familiar looking shrub is at the edge, near the road.
Blueberries. How am I supposed to get them? The road is right there; police may be right behind us. Gonna have to take my chances. I run over and pick as many berries I can, making a basket from my skirt.
I run carefully back to the truck. Clyde is starting to wake up. "Mornin', sugar," he yawns. I show him my discovery and we share them for breakfast.
"There's a little town not far from here," he tells me. "Bet we could pick up a couple a' bucks at a market."
I sigh. I gotta tell him while I have the chance. "Clyde," I begin. "We can't keep doing this, we'd be risking too much. It's not worth it anymore…"
"Aw hell, Bonnie," he growls. "You can't keep doing this to me!" "Well you can't keep breakin' your promises!" I snap back at him. Ooh, sometimes I just wanna grab his neck and wring some sense into him.
"Please, baby, just listen. I…"
"Shut your trap, sugar!" Clyde gets up from the ground and heads to the driver's seat of the truck. "I'm going into town to do what I gotta. If you don't wanna come along, fine by me." The engine starts up.
"Clyde, wait! You don't understand!" I try to stop him, but the truck rumbles away.
Damn that boy. I don't have any choice; I run after him, a trail of dust leading me out of these woods.
...
This town seemed kinda bigger from a ways. Now that I'm here, it's like a schoolyard to me. Forget about it, it's not the size of the place I'm in for…
There's a little general store up ahead, not too many people it looks like, and that's good. I pull up next to it, keeping the truck a nice getaway distance. I grab the carpetbag and rifle, but then notice Bonnie's little revolver sitting on the car floor. I'm sighing. Damn, she can drive me crazy, but I love her. I shut the door and make my way towards the market.
"Clyde!" I hear Bonnie's voice from far off. I turn and see her running up the road. I can't mess with her anymore, I gotta get to it. I make it to the doors…just as she catches up to me.
"Clyde, you have to stop this!" she yells at me. "It's gone too far!" "Babe, I ain't listenin' to your shit no more," I bark at her. "I'm doing this for us!"
"Well, you can't do this for us anymore!" She's starting to cry. Oh, that's fine. "Why, sugar? Give me a helluva good reason!" I tell her.
She stops, and her face gets all pale. "Because…" she stammers. Bonnie' s fooling me; she ain't got nothing on her. "That's what I thought," I said getting up to her. She stares me down with hurt look in her eye.
All a sudden she grips on my hands tight around the rifle. "Because…I'm gonna have a baby."
There's a lump in my throat, and my tight glare goes soft.
A baby…
"Sugar…" I can't say anything. I drop the gun with a sickening clank on the porch. "You better not be playing with me..." I manage to say as I reach for her cheek.
"A girl always knows, Clyde," she tells me. "I swear to God. I'm pregnant."
I can't believe this; me, a father? And a wanted man. This ain't good, it ain't good at all.
"Clyde, I know you're mad," Bonnie starts saying. Is she crazy? "No, no sugar, I ain't mad," I tell her pulling her into my arms. "I love you, so much. And I'll love the hell out of this baby, I promise you."
"Oh, Clyde." She's crying now. I rub my hand down her back. "What are we supposed to do?" she asks me.
"We'll go away, sugar," I soothe her. "Far away from here, from any place they could find us. I'm gonna keep both a' you safe, I promise." I take her hand and we run back to the truck. We speed right out of there, back out into the open road of wilderness.
Hours might go by, but I won't stop driving, not until we find someplace safe.
...
Seems like the sun set hours ago, but we're still driving. I've been drifting in and out of sleep, trying to make myself comfortable, but no luck. Clyde's eyes have been locked on the road the whole time, never once looking down to watch me turn my head around on his lap.
I sit up a minute. It's pitch black out, except for the moon and stars leading our way with the headlights. I cran my neck to try and see farther ahead.
Oh my God...it couldn't be. We're out in the middle of nowhere. "Clyde, look over there," I point through the window. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
"Look like a farm to me," he's nodding. "Maybe we can stay there for the night."
When the truck turns to pull in, I expect that we'll have to hide it. Far from it; we park right in front of the big farmhouse, just steps away from a huge red barn.
"Stay here, sugar," he tells me as he climbs out. "I'm just gonna see who lives here, I promise." I watch him walk up the porch and knock on the door.
My nerves are on edge; what if whoever lives here knows who we are? They could call the police and I'll never see Clyde again. Worse, what if they tried to hurt our baby? I slip my hand down to my stomach.
I can't let that happen.
I look back over. There is an elderly woman in the doorway, and Clyde is talking to her. He points back at me and they look over. I try to stay calm. Together they come to the truck, and Clyde opens my door.
"Bonnie," he says gesturing to the woman. "Caroline's offered us to stay a while."
"For as long as you'll need, darlin'," she adds in a quiet frail voice.
I can breathe easy- we got a chance. We got a real chance, all thanks to Caroline. Clyde and I grab our bags and follow her inside.
Chapter Text
A goddamn rooster wakes me up. The small basement window is flooded with sunlight, hitting my face and stinging my eyes.
I look over next to me; Bonnie isn't here. Huh, guess she's already up.
I slide off the cot and climb the stairs to the door. I go to the kitchen, where she's sitting at the table with Caroline, a hot mug in her hands. "Peppermint is sure to soothe the aches in your head and belly," Caroline is saying to her as Bonnie takes a sip from the cup slowly.
"You alright, sugar?" I go over to her and rub my hand down her back. "Just morning sickness," she wavers. "I've usually been woken up a lot earlier by it, but I guess it's slowing down."
"She'll be fine, dear," Caroline says to me. "It'll take some time is all."
"I really can't thank you enough for letting us stay." I tell her. "We'll try and be out of your hair in two days tops." "Oh, don't you even worry about that," she shakes her head. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need."
"Oh, we couldn't let you risk it!" Bonnie starts to panic. "If the police knew we were being helped they'd come after you, too!" "Darlin' I've been able to handle myself for some time now," the elder woman said shaking her head at us. "I've seen my own family come and go and this land change year after year. It's time I pass on what good I have left to give."
Lord, I don't believe this. "You don't understand, ma'am," I say to her. "I've done some God awful things that are unforgivable. Helping us could put your life in danger, or you could lose your land."
"Now young man," Caroline looked up at me, "I couldn't care less about any of that. The good Lord is known to offer second chances to those who need it most, and now that time has come for you two. I won't just stand aside and have two young souls have their future taken away!"
I'm completely speechless. I glance over at Bonnie; she's nearly crying. I go over to her and wrap my arms around her, letting her head rest on my shoulder as she lets out a muffled sob.
This Caroline lady may very well be out of her mind for helping us, but she's not gonna give up on trying. We may have a chance to start over and raise our baby safely. I can't think of anything else to say, except, "Thank you."
"And if there's anything," Bonnie looks up at her, "anything we can do for you, just name it."
"Well," Caroline looks toward a window on the other end of the kitchen, "I've been running this farm myself for years; it'd be nice to actually get things done before the end of a month." She crosses over to the doorway to the hall. "When you two feel good and ready, I'll show you how you can help me out."
I guess it's as good a place to start over as any. Shouldn't be too hard.
Chapter Text
The farm may have some pretty wide open space, but Caroline shows us and there is actually not very much she has to take care of. At least, not anymore.
She tells us how she and her husband had started with dozens of livestock, but overtime had to sell some of them when they weren't doing well with their crops and produce.
Now the land is very scarce, with just a handful of feeble animals and a withering harvest.
"It's clearly not much now," Caroline says. "But when it's where you call home for over forty years, you just can't let go."
She motions to the old barn. Both Clyde and I see how worn and broken down it really is.
We go inside and she shows us some more. There may not be a lot, but it is still more of what she calls her own and part of her farm.
"Now, then," she turns to Clyde. "I've been hoping to find a young man capable to handle some heavy lifting. There's some quite awful big bags of feed stored away in the barn."
Caroline sends Clyde to work bringing out the sacks and pouring the food into the animals' troughs. I watch as he slowly approaches each of the stables and gently offers them their meals.
It's been so long since I've seen him so tender and kind towards anyone else…even if it is just to some farm critters.
We leave him alone to his new work, and I go with Caroline to the gardens along the side of the farmhouse to do some weeding and replanting.
...
All morning and afternoon I've been helping out Ms. Caroline with her farm work. It's not all that hard for me, but I can see why she needs the help; it's a lot for one little old lady to do by herself.
For the first time in a long while, it feels good not having to worry about money.
Now all I worry about is Bonnie and the baby. Sure, right now the cops lost our trail for now, but what's gonna happen once they do?
They could just straight up kill us.
I dragged Bonnie into this; I should have just let her walk away back when I killed that cop. Then she wouldn't be stuck with me, and not be having a child whose life is on the line with its mom and pop.
This kid deserves better than goin' through life with me as a father. All I've done is lie and cheat and kill to get what I want…
Doesn't that just yell 'perfect parent'.
Maybe it ain't too late for me to do right thing…probably should've been done a long time ago.
...
Bonnie,
The cops'll probably me slapping handcuffs on me by the time you read this. I've done nothing but make your life hell; I made you give up your dream, abandon your mama and go on the run with a no good power crazed idiot like me.
Don't try to come after me. I'm doing this for you, and our baby.
I'll always love you, Sugar.
Clyde