A few weeks passed and we finally had settled into our new house in Desertville. I figured Mom didn't take Susan's offer to work at the diner since she was still wearing her same white blouse and black slacks to work every morning. I knew Mom and Dad working for the T.S.I had to be dangerous, considering Dad agreed with Susan that they may have had something to do with Joseph William's disappearance.
One Monday morning, I decided to pretend to be sick so I wouldn't have to go to school. I didn't feel up to it. I had only been attending Desertville High School for two weeks. When my parents had finally left for work, I got out of bed and stopped pretending to be sick.
I didn't feel like eating the chicken soup that Mom had made for me, but I was hungry so I took a walk to Grandma's Diner. Before I left, I went back to my room and grabbed some money, ($15). I grabbed my phone off the charger and put it in my pocket, along with my house keys.
Within 5 minutes of walking to the diner, I was on fire. The sun penetrated my eyeballs and my skin felt like it was being stabbed with a pen. It was starting to make me feel like I wanted to go insane. It was only 10:30 am but I was sure it was 100 degrees out there. I walked down the sidewalk, on the small hill my neighborhood was on, till I got to the main street.
Luckily the diner was only one more block down and I knew they had AC. I walked in the door and the two bells jingled at the top of it. I saw Susan and that pretty girl whose name I still did not know. The both of them were laughing at something.
Her hair was in a puffy side ponytail and she was wearing a diner uniform like Susan, a red colored waitress dress with a checkered collar and checkered sleeve trims. I also noticed that her skin was a little pale.
I sat down in one of the booths.
"Are you ready to order?" she said. She was closer to me and even more beautiful than before.
"Yeah...um...," I forced my eyes to look at the menu. I kept reading over the words "French fries" and "Pancakes".
"I'll take a lemonade and your turkey sandwich with extra onions. And um...can I have fries?" I tried to say it as if I was uninterested in her.
"Sure. Did you want any pie with that?"
"Um....I..."
"Wait. I'm sorry. We're all out," she said.
I nervously looked up at her.
"I'm just kidding! We have tons of blueberry pie in the back. Would you like for me to bring you a slice after your meal."
"Yeah, yeah that will be fine. Thanks," I chuckled.
"Well I'll be back with your food!" She nodded and walked away.
I was able to read her name tag before she had walked away. Marley was her name.
That name fits her well - I thought.
Susan was cleaning counters around the bar area. She waved at me and I waved back.
After I had eaten my sandwich and fries, Marley came back to my table with two plates of pie.
"Can I sit here?" she asked me boldly.
I was shocked because a pretty girl like her wanted to sit with a guy like me.
"Sure..." I said.
"I know this seems weird, but I'm on my lunch break so I figured I'd sit with the new guy in town," she said.
"It must really be obvious?"
"Desertville is a small town. Everyone knows everyone here." She slid over one of the plates with pie on it to me. "I figured you might have wanted dessert after your sandwich. Where are you from?" She took a bite of her pie.
"California...and thanks."
"Hm," she nodded. "I've never been to California before. Must be nice."
"Eh, it's alright. Weird weather though," I took a bite of my pie.
"I have a feeling we are going to be good friends."
"But we just met each other..."
"I know. I saw you here a few weeks ago. You already met Susan, my grandma, Right?"
"Yeah I did. She's a really nice lady."
"This place was passed down from my grandmother's mom to her. She and my grandfather pretty much owned the place. He died a few months ago though."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I can't imagine losing my grandfather."
"It's fine. My grandpa is resting now in heaven. He loved Jesus. Besides, there are much worse things to worry about these days," she said the last part quietly. Whatever she was talking about shook her to the core.
Marley and I chatted a bit more until her watch beeped, alerting her that her lunch break was over.
"I'll see you around. I didn't catch your name," she said.
"It's Benjamin."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Marley."
~~~
A few weeks later in history class, Mrs. Luna was explaining the Constitutional Amendments and the Supreme Court, it was extremely uninteresting. I decided to turn around to see what Marley was doing. She was one row over, in the last desk. She looked at me.
She mouthed the words, "I'm starving."
"You are?" I said silently. Marley nodded.
I turned back around and continuously tapped my pencil on the desk. I looked at the clock and we had about ten minutes till lunch. My focus turned to Mrs. Luna again as she was asking the whole class a question.
"Now, what do you guys think would have happened if the Supreme Court was not in place?" she asked. Luckily, the bell rang.
As I was walking to the cafeteria, Marley caught up to me. We walked to the cafeteria together, where we met up with Naomi (Marly's older sister), and Alan (Dr. Clyde's son).
"So how do you like Desertville so far?," Naomi asked.
"Well I think it's hot. Quiet. Doesn't seem like too much goes on around here," I said.
"Well there's more stuff out here that I haven't shown you yet," Marley said.
"Marley, going to that tiny park by our house is not something fun to do. This town is boring," Naomi said.
"Well, Ben hasn't seen anything yet. You may not see it, but I do. People are always doing something. You might find this town interesting."
"Eating all day and going for walks?" Naomi said. Marley didn't respond. "Alan and I are going to go to the diner to cover for Grandma while she takes you to the pharmacy to pick up your prescription."
"Naomi...!" Marley said embarrassed.
"What??"
"So Ben, I've been meaning to ask you something very important. I think you can help us with something." Marley looked down at her tray, and she quickly changed the subject.
"What's up?" I said.
"Our father..."
"We barely know him, Marley!" Naomi said.
I still had no idea what they were talking about.
"No one else is doing anything to find him... Naomi... please," Marley begged.
"No," she said, slamming her hands down on the table.
I looked around and people were staring at our table. Naomi got up and grabbed her backpack and walked away.
"I got her," Alan said, as he ran after her.
Marley just looked down at the table. It was almost like she was exhausted from her sister's reaction.
"She always does this...ever since...she's just not the same," her voice was heavy. I felt bad for her.
"Hey, what was it that you were going to tell me?" I said.
"I was going to tell you about my dad...he's been missing for five years. I know we just met and all," she looked at me,
"But do you think that you can help us find him?"
That's when I put two and two together, Joseph Williams, the guy on the News who had disappeared, was Marley's father.
"It's been 5 years since the disappearance of Joseph Williams. A man who worked for the government agency T.S.I...."
"How do you know I can? I'm not much of a detective," I said.
"God told me," Marley said.
"God?" I said not believing her.
"Yes. God."
I chuckled a little bit. She looked down at the table.
"I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you, I just never heard of something like that," I said.
"It's fine," she said confidently. "I know it may seem like it doesn't make sense, but you have to trust me. I know God and He speaks to me. He's always right."
I thought for a few moments, wondering how it could be that "God" said to Marley that I could help her find her missing father. I figured I would still help her, though I wasn't completely sure about the whole thing.
"I'll help you," I said, even though in my mind I thought she sounded a little crazy.
"Thank you, you have no idea what this means," she smiled.
"Yeah, no problem."
"Do you mind meeting us at the diner after school is over tomorrow?" she said.
"Yeah, I just have to ask my parents."
How was I going to do it? If God had really told Marley that I could help her find her Father, how was I going to find a man who had been missing for five years?
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