Anniversary Trip to the Twilight Zone

So technically our anniversary is July 31. 12 years, baby. That's right. And I can honestly say that I am more in love than ever. But that's a different story for a different day.....because this year, our time together took a twisted turn.....

into the Twilight Zone.

The day shone bright and beautiful. We were cruisin' in our awesome white minivan to our motel in Provo. I'd used a nifty little site called priceline.com to bid for our room. We were confident that we would have a nice evening together, do something fun, eat some good food, and relax in our motel room. I'd used Priceline many times before and always ended up in very nice hotels. So we pull up to the Travelodge in Provo, and right away I realize, we've entered ghetto-land of Provo. It was the epitome of trashy rundown motel where gangsters hang. Utah style. But the person in the office was nice, there was a pool, and the bed was comfy, so I figured as long as I'm with my man it doesn't matter. Right?

Wrong.

So we decide to check out the pool. Which is outside, right next to the road, although thankfully behind a hedge. As soon as I walk up I see debris in the bottom, bugs and leaves floating on the top, and decide I'm not really in the mood to swim after all. To be honest, I had this yucky feeling the moment we drove up. And it stayed with me at the pool. I kept getting this feeling that we needed to get back to the safety of our room. But Eldon insisted it wasn't too bad and we sat for a bit with our feet in the water and chatted.

Finally we decide to go change and head to get some dinner. But on our way back to our room we're stopped by a woman standing by the ice machine. She looks about early to mid- 20's, baggy shirt with jeans and no shoes. She asks us if we've seen a tall Mexican guy around. Without stopping we tell her no and keep heading to our room. As we're trying to open our door she calls down to us, asking if she can use our phone.

Now, before I go any further I need to explain something. Eldon and I are smart, but we're compassionate and we like to help others. And yes, admittedly, we are both sometimes pushovers. If someone needs help, we're not going to turn away. So there's no way we're going to turn away a woman who seems obviously in distress, hanging out with no shoes. So we let her in to use our phone. As soon as she gets in she tries the phone but says she has to call long distance. So I let her use my cell phone. No answer.

While she's in there she never stops talking. She says over and over that she's scared, that she ran all the way here from her house because her husband was beating her and that she called her friend and he's supposed to be meeting her here at this hotel. She keeps apologizing and saying that she knows she must seem crazy but she's not crazy, just scared. She's standing at the door looking out, shaking, and saying over and over that she's scared. So I tell her she can come inside, shut the door and watch from the inside for her friend. We ask her if we can call the police and she freaks out, saying that her husband is friends with the police and that he will lie to them and say she hit him. O.....kay.

Time goes on..... and on.....and on. It's been over and hour and no sign of her friend. We keep asking her, can we take you to look for him? Can we take you to a women's shelter? Are you sure we can't call the cops? Can we take you to family? But she's too scared to go out, she evades the offer of going to a shelter, she's scared of the cops, her Mom supposedly has her two kids (although I'm not sure I believe she really has kids. When I tried asking her about them it seemed like she had to take a long time answering and didn't tell me much.) But she says her Mom won't let her come back because she's mad at her for going back to her husband. Her dad would take her but he lives in Wyoming and she has no way to get there. So I ask her if her friend will be able to take her, but she says he has no car.

So we're wondering, how can he help you if he's on foot? This is just getting weirder and weirder and we're just hanging out hoping that she'll eventually leave. We finally talk her into letting us drive her to find her friend. She's outside by our car, we're heading out the door, and then she comes flying back inside, shaking and jabbering, and hides behind the bed. She's telling us not to open the door and ranting that the police are looking for her. I guess a cop car had pulled into the hotel parking lot.

To Be Continued........