Chapter16 Caroline of Texas
When Kansas City came, I stayed on the bus. The same dread I felt in Pittsburgh hit me when the bus pulled into the terminal and I started out the window at the streets of the unfamiliar city and at the other buses, each with a different destination listed above its windshield. In the dark, the road had taken on an ominous air, and I felt as if the sky would fall in on me if I stepped outside. I kept thinking I was making a mistake, going the wrong way, turning a corner in my life that I knew somehow would change me and the direction my life would take from here on after. Maybe I was a bit embarrassed, fearful at what the Watsons would say if I altered my plans yet again, making a beeline for Denver when I had decided on LA. Something in the back of my head kept telling me, “It’s too soon,” meaning that I might arrive at Louise’s door as the same time as my uncles or the police, and if I waited, I might avoid getting caught in their net. Years later, I would think back to this moment i