Chapter Three: Las Vegas and Memphis:

Josie

Christmas in Vegas. There was no snow in the desert. Ha! Fat chance of that ever happening. Josie wasn’t counting on much anyway. This was just an excuse for a vacation. Not like she had anything waiting for her back at home. She just wanted to get out. Who was going to stop her anyway?

Still, there was one person she wanted to see.

Josie drove to the outskirts of Vegas. She wasn’t going to stay long. She was at least going to say hi. It felt weird to see the desert again. Deserts were rare in Japan. To Josie, it didn’t matter. She counted down to what was coming next.

Josie pulled up into a trailer park. Yep, not much about it has changed. Only about eleven trailers left now. Hm, some of them must have moved away. Josie slowed down her driving through the park She came up to the biggest trailer in the park. Josie lowered her sunglasses. Heh, it hadn’t changed at all. Question was, was she home? Only one way to find out.

Josie turned off the car and climbed out. She walked up the narrow stone path. Looked like she classed it up a bit. Honestly, it was pain. Josie could barely keep her balance on the stones. Might as well get this over with. She made it up to the door and knocked.

“Who is it?” someone asked inside the trailer.

“It’s me!” Josie said. There was a pause. She listened as the footsteps came to the door. Josie stood as it opened. An older woman with roller and hairnet stood dressed in a nightgown. A cigarette hung out of the corner of her mouth. Josie waved with a flat look on face.

“Yo,” she said.

Scarlet

Christmas in Memphis. Scarlet already knew what was coming next. It’s going to be a party at the house. She flagged down a taxi from the airport. It didn’t take for one to pull up. She climbed into the back.

“Where are you heading?” the driver asked.

“This address here,” Scarlet said, heading him her phone. The driver looked at the phone.

“No problem,” he said. The driver pulled away.

Scarlet looked out the window during the whole drive. She thought about what she was going to say. Like why she didn’t bother calling. Why hadn’t she tried to visit? Maybe she could make up something quick. It didn’t matter. They would just be happy to see her at home.

Scarlet looked over at the driver.

“You going anywhere for Christmas?” she asked. “Any family?” The driver smiled to himself.

“I’m going home to my wife and grandson,” he said.

“Oh,” Scarlet said. She pulled out her phone and looked at the screen. She would be home in a few minutes. Maybe she should call. Yeah. Scarlet made the call as she got closer to home.

“Hey, mom,” she said. “It’s me.”