Bk 5-Roger Morgan, Chapter 1

ROGER MORGAN
“What do you want,” said the young man coming out of the house with an armload of women’s clothing and a scowl on his face?

“Those clothes don’t look like they would fit you,” said the muscular, taller second man walking toward the house.

“It’s none of your business; now get the hell out of here!”

“I’m making it my business. I helped a young woman yesterday who had an accident and is lucky to be alive; she’s in the hospital. It seems some prick rammed his truck into her little car pushing her under a big Semi trailer, if the driver of that semi hadn’t been alert he would have run over her and crushed her. I came by to check on her house. How did you get those scratches on the side of your truck?”

The prick looked at Roger sizing him up, “Are you calling me a prick? Are you some kind of police officer or something?”

“Yeah, you’re definitely a prick. If I was a cop, I would arrest you, but I work for an ambulance company.”

“In that case, get out of my face; I may have forced her off the road, but the little bitch told me to get out of her house. I bought her these clothes, so I’m taking them back so I can give them to somebody else. I told you to leave. Do I have to kick your ass?”

Roger stepped up against the basket full of clothes and looked down at the prick. “If you think you can whip me, go ahead and try, but I think you’re going to need some help!” The ex-boy friend looked up at Roger and decided his bluff didn’t seem to be working and discretion was the better part of valor and said “Look, this is a dispute between me and Patty. Why don’t you run along and let us handle it?”

“You’re taking her clothes. What else do you have in your truck?” Roger pushed the prick aside and walked over to the truck. The pickup bed was filled with more clothes, a large plasma TV, dishes, kitchen utensils, a microwave oven and other miscellaneous furnishings. “Is this all your stuff?”

“Yes, it’s all mine, I told you she’s kicking me out, so I’m taking my stuff.”

“I think you’re a lying son of a bitch, I think you’ve tried to kill her and now you’re trying to rip her off. I’ll help you take all this back inside, or I’ll do it myself, but I’m not letting you clean her out while she’s in the hospital.”

The prick dropped his armload of clothes and charged Roger with a roar. Roger was expecting some reaction and dropped him with a nifty step to the side, an extended foot to trip him and a push as the prick reached him. Normally Roger wasn’t a fighter, but he had seen a movie once where the hero kicked this bad guy in the chin so without even planning it, he gave him a boot to the chin as the prick was screaming and trying to get up. The prick was flat on his back and out cold. Roger thought, ‘that worked pretty good, what do I do now?’ He looked around and didn’t see anyone watching.

In recent months, there had been stories almost every day in the newspaper and on TV about someone called Robin Hood who stepped in and helped innocent victims who needed help. Just last night there was a story about a little girl walking home from school that was grabbed by some guy who was going to rape and maybe kill her. “Robin Hood arrived and killed the pervert.” ‘What would Robin Hood do here? This guy tried to kill the girl once and will probably try again if he gets the chance, especially after being embarrassed by me. I’ve probably made it worse for her if I don’t finish it right now.’ He grabbed the prick’s arms and roughly pulled him into the house with the guy’s head bouncing along the sidewalk and stairs. ‘Maybe an idea will come to me when I get him inside.’ The house was a total disaster. There wasn’t much left, and what was there was scattered everywhere.

It came to him when he saw a dry cleaning bag on the floor that said “DANGER OF SUFFOCATION”, ‘it looks like a sign to me.’ He quickly tied the pricks hands together behind his back with a telephone cord and placed the plastic bag over his head. He took some garbage bags and tied them together to make a short rope and wrapped them around the pricks’ neck and tied them tight to keep the big plastic bag in place over the ex-boy friend’s head. Then he went out and brought everything in the truck back into the house so they wouldn’t be stolen. The prick was gasping and trying to breath but couldn’t. Roger watched to make sure the ex-boy friend didn’t get loose until the he quit moving. The key to the truck was in the ignition, so he removed it and put it in the ex-boy friend’s pocket, locked the door and left. He hoped his first Robin Hood action wasn’t witnessed by anyone; he looked around again and didn’t see anyone watching.

==========

Roger Morgan works for the Wasatch Ambulance Company. He was been trained as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and likes the feeling of helping people. After an accident where he saves a life or comforts an accident victim he feels like all is good in the world, but when he watches the news the feeling vanishes. There is some good news when a story about Robin Hood comes up, but the majority of the time the news talks about politics and the tragedy of the day. The politics centers around those politicians who he considers corrupt and more often than not, the tragedy of the day is about some unfortunate woman whose ex-husband or boy friend beat, kidnapped or killed her.

One of his two roommates (Sam Turner) is a police officer for the Murray Police Department and the other (Jason Ogletree) is the assistant manager at a grocery store in Draper. Their schedules never match and it is rare when all three are in the apartment at the same time. In fact it’s unusual for them to even see each other more than once or twice a week. Roger sees Sam on the job sometimes and Jason when he goes shopping for groceries. They’ve had heated discussions about Robin Hood. Roger and Jason think Robin Hood should be honored while Sam tells his roommates that he should be in jail. However, Sam doesn’t really believe that, he says it to provoke a little lively discussion and because that’s the official police response.

Roger returned to his apartment after a harrowing day. He had been in the ambulance that responded to an accident on the freeway connector at 7200 South. A young woman was seriously injured when her small car was sideswiped by a pickup truck and pushed into a semi. The pickup truck had then fled the scene and the young woman told him that it was her ex-boy friend who had been driving the pickup truck.

Roger sat beside her on the ride to the hospital. The young woman had told him that they had argued and after he hit her, she had run to her car with the intention of never coming back to him. Her ex-boyfriend had followed her in his truck and ran into her and caused the accident. She continued telling him that her ex-boyfriend hit her all the time and she was leaving him for good. When she told him she was leaving for good, he had told her that he would kill her if she tried to leave him.

“Why don’t you just tell the police?”

“I’ve told them again and again and they don’t do anything. They just say that until he does something serious, there is nothing they can do. I asked them what that meant. Do you mean to tell me that you won’t protect me until he beats me to a pulp or kills me? The policeman looked at me and said, “That’s about it.”

“It appears that the bigger, stronger, more ruthless people have free reign to do anything they want as long as they don’t step over the line. It sounds like you need a visit from Robin Hood.”

“If I knew how to contact someone like Robin Hood, I would call him right now!”

Roger couldn’t get her out of his mind. ‘Why couldn’t she be protected?” He was off work the next day so he decided to see if he could find this guy who had threatened the young woman. He didn’t know what he had in mind if he found him but he had to try to do something.

‘The police were looking for his truck, so what would it hurt if I checked around her home on my own?’ He had her home address so he drove around the block where she lived. There was a big 4 wheel drive truck sitting in front of her house! It had scratches and dents on the passenger side.

‘Why can’t the police find this guy? He’s right here.’ Roger sat there behind the truck wondering what to do until the ex-boy friend came out of the house carrying an armload of women’s clothes. Roger put on his leather gloves that he always kept in his car and stepped over in front of the guy.

“What do you want,” said the young man coming out of the house with an armload of women’s clothing and a scowl on his face?

“Those clothes don’t look like they would fit you,” said Roger as he walked toward the house.

“It’s none of your business; now get the hell out of here!”

“I’m making it my business. I helped a young woman yesterday who had an accident and is lucky to be alive; she’s in the hospital. It seems some prick rammed his truck into her little car pushing her under a big Semi trailer, if the driver of that semi hadn’t been alert he would have run over her and crushed her. I came by to check on her house. How did you get those scratches on the side of your truck?”

The prick looked at Roger sizing him up, “Are you calling me a prick? Are you some kind of police officer or something?”

“Yeah, you’re definitely a prick. If I was a cop, I would arrest you, but I work for an ambulance company.”

“In that case, get out of my face; I may have forced her off the road, but the little bitch told me to get out of her house. I bought her these clothes, so I’m taking them back so I can give them to somebody else. I told you to leave. Do I have to kick your ass?”

Roger stepped up against the basket full of clothes and looked down at the prick. “If you think you can whip me, go ahead and try, but I think you’re going to need some help!” The ex-boy friend looked up at Roger and decided his bluff didn’t seem to be working and discretion was the better part of valor and said “Look, this is a dispute between me and Patty. Why don’t you run along and let us handle it?”

“You’re taking her clothes. What else do you have in your truck?” Roger pushed the prick aside and walked over to the truck. The pickup bed was filled with more clothes, a large plasma TV, dishes, kitchen utensils, a microwave oven and other miscellaneous furnishings. “Is this all your stuff?”

“Yes, it’s all mine, I told you she’s kicking me out, so I’m taking my stuff.”

“I think you’re a lying son of a bitch, I think you’ve tried to kill her and now you’re trying to rip her off. I’ll help you take all this back inside, or I’ll do it myself, but I’m not letting you clean her out while she’s in the hospital.”

The prick dropped his armload of clothes and charged Roger with a roar. Roger was expecting some reaction and dropped him with a nifty step to the side, an extended foot to trip him and a push as the prick reached him. Normally Roger wasn’t a fighter, but he had seen a movie once where the hero kicked this bad guy in the chin so without even planning it, he gave him a boot to the chin as the prick was screaming and trying to get up. The prick was flat on his back and out cold. Roger thought, ‘that worked pretty good, what do I do now?’ He looked around and didn’t see anyone watching.

In recent months, there had been stories almost every day in the newspaper and on TV about someone called Robin Hood who stepped in and helped innocent victims who needed help. Just last night there was a story about a little girl walking home from school that was grabbed by some guy who was going to rape and maybe kill her. “Robin Hood arrived and killed the pervert.” ‘What would Robin Hood do here? This guy tried to kill the girl once and will probably try again if he gets the chance, especially after being embarrassed by me. I’ve probably made it worse for her if I don’t finish it right now.’ He grabbed the prick’s arms and roughly pulled him into the house with the guy’s head bouncing along the sidewalk and stairs. ‘Maybe an idea will come to me when I get him inside.’ The house was a total disaster. There wasn’t much left, and what was there was scattered everywhere.

It came to him when he saw a dry cleaning bag on the floor that said “DANGER OF SUFFOCATION”, ‘it looks like a sign to me.’ He quickly tied the pricks hands together behind his back with a telephone cord and placed the plastic bag over his head. He took some garbage bags and tied them together to make a short rope and wrapped them around the pricks’ neck and tied them tight to keep the big plastic bag in place over the ex-boy friend’s head. Then he went out and brought everything in the truck back into the house so they wouldn’t be stolen. The prick was gasping and trying to breath but couldn’t. Roger watched to make sure the ex-boy friend didn’t get loose until the he quit moving. The key to the truck was in the ignition, so he removed it and put it in the ex-boy friend’s pocket, locked the door and left. He hoped his first Robin Hood action wasn’t witnessed by anyone; he looked around again and didn’t see anyone watching.

Roger checked with the hospital and learned that the young woman was going to be released the next day. He went back to his apartment and tried to relax, but couldn’t. All he could think of was the girl in the hospital and the ex-boy friend dying on her kitchen floor. It kept coming to him; the girl was as good as dead as soon as she got out of the hospital if something wasn’t done about her ex-boy friend. Roger had done the only sensible thing he could. He removed the threat to her life. He kept thinking that he should feel bad about killing a person, but he felt good. He wanted to go to the hospital and tell the girl that she was free of the parasite that tried to kill her, but realized that it would be a very bad move. As far as he knew, he was in the clear.

Roger turned on the news to see if the body had been discovered. He was just in time to hear the report that the Police had discovered the hit and run vehicle and the driver was found dead in his home. The police were calling it a homicide and “withheld any further details until the investigation was complete.”

The next day went by slowly. Roger planned on going to the girl’s home to see how she was doing. He pulled out onto the highway with the intention of going to the girl’s home, but again he let his better judgment take over and he went home to watch the news again.

The TV station did a story about the girl being released from the hospital and her boy friend’s death. The boy friend was the chief suspect in her hit and run accident. The girl, with bandages hiding a good portion of her face, did a quick “no comment” to the reporter’s rude questions and that was all. Roger decided to go check on her after work tomorrow. He could easily explain his interest because he had treated her in the ambulance and had seen the story on TV.

The next day, after work, he again started to drive to the girls’ house. Something told him, “Go home!” This was not a still small voice; this was a loud, demanding voice. He turned around and went home. He parked and was walking toward his apartment when a police car pulled up. The officer got out and asked him if he was Roger Morgan.

“Yeah, I’m Roger Morgan, what can I do for you officer?” He felt shaky inside as the possibilities ran through his mind.

“Did you treat Patty Tolleson in an ambulance 3 days ago? She was in a hit and run accident and the records show you were in the ambulance that took her to the hospital. Do you remember her?”

“Yeah, I remember her. She told me about her crazy ex-boy friend who had forced her off the road and almost killed her. She also told me that he had told her he was going to kill her if she tried to leave him.”

“That checks out with what she told us. Did you see the news story about her ex-boy friend?”

“Yeah, I saw it on the news last night. What does this have to do with me?”

“She asked me to see if I could find you. She seems to be really upset and wants to talk to you. I told her that I would see if I could find you. Here’s her address and telephone number. She needs someone to talk to. I think it would be really nice if you would go talk to her. As a police officer I can’t order you to go see her, but I think you might be able to help her.”

“She seemed like a nice young lady, I’ll go in and call her right now, thanks officer.”

With a smile the officer said, “My pleasure, see you around.”

Roger wondered about the smile and went into the apartment, took the slip of paper out, and dialed the number and told the voice it was Roger Morgan from the ambulance company.

“Thanks for calling, I would like to talk to you, can you come to my home?”

“Yeah, I guess, would now be ok.”

“Yes, now would be perfect, do you have my address?”

“Yeah the police officer gave me your address.”

Patty laughed and said, “Ok, I’ll see you soon.”

Roger was taken aback, Patty didn’t sound like she was in distress and her laugh made him wonder if she suspected him of being at her home before today, like maybe 2 days ago when her ex-boy friend was killed.

‘What am I going to do if she point blank asks me if I killed her ex-boy friend?’ Roger went over and over what he was going to say when he got to Patty’s house. He tried to remember what she looked like, but all he could remember was a young woman with long brown hair, bloody bandages on her face and arms. She was encased in a stretcher; an oxygen mask covered her nose and mouth. It occurred to him that while they had talked in the ambulance, he had no idea what she looked like.

Roger pulled up to her house. The big pickup truck was gone. Her car was sitting in front of the garage. It obviously needed a visit to an auto body shop. He walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. He was thinking that maybe he had misunderstood the time when the door finally opened and she stood there. One look at her and his rehearsed lines were forgotten, Roger didn’t know what to say or what to do. All he could do was look at the smiling “Miss Universe” standing there.

“I’m Patty, you must be Roger, please come in.”

Roger still couldn’t make his mouth work; he followed her in as she stepped aside and shut the door. Roger turned back toward her as she threw her arms around him and kissed him again and again. “Thank you, Thank You, Thank You for saving my life! I’m sorry to send the policeman to find you, but I had to find you and thank you. No, I didn’t tell the officer that you saved my life!”

Patty led Roger over to the couch and made him sit down. She went into the kitchen, “can I get you something to drink, a cola, some milk, coffee?”

“A cola would be great.”

Patty came back in with an ice filled glass and a can of diet cola and handed it to Roger and sat down on a chair directly across from the couch.

Roger found his voice, “Patty, it’s my job to help people involved in accidents. I didn’t do anything more than every other EMT in an ambulance would have done. Your injuries weren’t life threatening.”

“You don’t need to be so careful with me. I’m not talking about the accident and you know it. I’m thanking you for putting that plastic bag over the head of my ex-boy friend.”

This was not going the way that Roger had envisioned. He tried to come up with another plan to somehow make her think someone else had killed her ex-boy friend, but her beauty and self assurance made him feel like a school boy talking to his first pretty girl. “Plastic bag over his head? What-what-what makes you think I killed the guy?”

“I don’t know if you remember our conversation in the ambulance. We talked about Robin Hood and how he could be the answer to my problem. Don’t you think it’s a little bit of a coincidence that when I get out, Robin Hood has answered my prayers? You did save my life, that scum sucker would have killed me the first chance he had when I came home. I tried to tell the police officer in the hospital that my ex-boy friend would kill me as soon as I got home but he told me “it’s ok to go home; your ex-boy friend is dead.” The police said that my clothes were mostly piled up in my bedroom and the rest of my things appeared to be scattered all over the house. How did that happen? Was he stealing all my things when you got here?”

“That’s a trick question. How would I know if he was stealing your stuff?”

Patty laughed again, “Look, I’m not working for the police and I will never tell anyone that you killed my ex-boy friend. I was actually being held captive by that creep. I was afraid of him and finally got up the nerve to tell him I was through. I told him he had to get out of my house or I was going to call the cops. That’s when he hit me. I ran to my car and was going to drive to the police station when he rammed me with his truck and pushed me into that big truck.”

Roger was trying to think of what Robin Hood would do, when it hit him, he was Robin Hood or at least a copy cat Robin Hood. “Patty, we’ve just met under very unusual circumstances. What if we talked some more over dinner?”

“You’re asking me for a date?”

“Yes, I would like to get to know you better.”

“I’m actually a nurse at the Salt Lake Clinic, and yes I’m free tonight but I have to work tomorrow so I can’t stay up too late. When do you want to pick me up?”

“I had just got home when the policeman told me you wanted me to contact you. I showered at work but didn’t have time to change clothes when I got home, but if you wouldn’t mind how about now?

“Now would be fine. Where are we going?” She laughed and continued, “I’m not sure I should go anywhere with a vigilante.”

“Vigilante, what are you talking about? Everyone is innocent until proven guilty; how about the steak house next to the South Town Mall?”

“Oh good, I was afraid you were one of those pasta and salad kind of guys! I love a good steak.”

Roger had never met anyone like Patty before. She was not only beautiful, but she was intelligent and their likes and dislikes matched almost perfectly. He had to keep reminding himself how they met and that he needed to keep his mouth shut about the dead ex-boy friend at least until he knew she would keep it to herself. Nothing more was said about the dead man on her kitchen floor until Roger took her home.

“I think it was a brilliant idea to suffocate David with that plastic bag, how did you think of it?”

Roger was ready for her, “bag? The news report didn’t say how he died. That’s how he died, with a plastic bag over his head?”

“You’re so good! I’ve got to go to bed; will you call me tomorrow night?”

“Yes you can count on me.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing.” With that remark, she threw her arms around Roger’s neck, gave him a long lingering kiss, “Thanks for dinner, Good night.” With that said she turned and went into her house and closed the door.

Roger walked to his car thinking he was in some kind of dream. This couldn’t be happening to him. The prettiest woman he had ever seen just kissed him and asked him to call her tomorrow night. To hell with the circumstances, I’d do anything for her and I’ve just met her. I hope she doesn’t turn into a spoiled brat as I get to know her.


+++++++++++++++


PATTY & ROGER

The next months passed swiftly. Roger called Patty every night and they dated 2 or 3 times a week. Patty was everything she at first seemed to be. She had come to Salt Lake from a little town in Idaho. She had met the prick when she first started work and he had moved into her house and threatened her and made her life a living hell. She didn’t know what to do and lived with it for almost a year. She felt the same about Roger. He was her perfect “Knight in Shining Armor.”

Roger found himself thinking about her every waking moment and also dreaming about her every night. She was perfect. ‘Would she change her feelings for him if she knew he had killed her captor those months ago?’ He had to know, if she still liked him, he wanted to marry her. It was driving him crazy until he decided to bring it out in the open, talk about it and let the chips fall where the may.

“Will you go with me for a drive in the mountains as soon as you get off work Friday night?”

Patty answered quickly, “Sure, where do you have in mind?”

“I want to take you to the Tree Room at Sundance Resort. I have reservations for 8:30. How about I pick you up at 5:30?”

Roger was amazed every time he saw her. She was so pretty, so bubbly and nice, so radiant, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She continually told him to watch the road when they were driving. They drove The Alpine Loop up American Fork Canyon. Roger planned on parking at the summit and talking until time to drop down the Provo Canyon side to Sundance.

Patty marveled at the scenery of the canyon; the pines, the rocky crags and peaks of Timpanogos Mountain and the other mountain peaks of the Wasatch Range. Roger pulled into the summit parking area. There were trails for hiking and mountain biking leaving the parking lot in every direction.

“I wanted to talk to you in complete privacy. I figured what better place can there be than this. What I didn’t plan on was that steady stream of cars going by on the road and those mountain bikes that seem to just appear and disappear every few minutes. I know just the place where we can be alone; it’s about a mile or so up that trail.” Roger pointed at one of the trail heads.

“I would love to take a walk in these woods with you. Let’s go!”

Roger had discovered a grove of quaking aspen and a small pond while hunting several years ago. He had taken pictures of it and it was one of his favorite places. They walked down the trial hand in hand when they could. There were a few pine trees but mostly they walked under a canopy of tall quaking aspen trees. In some places the trail was narrow, and in others there were other people hiking or on mountain bikes that broke their privacy.

“Will we be alone when we get to they pond you told me about?”

“I think so; it’s off the main trail. The only time I’ve seen other people there was during the hunting season.”

After about 30 minutes Roger stopped, pushed some ferns out of the way and told Patty to follow him along a small game path. It was like a tunnel with the ferns stretching over their heads and swaying back and forth as they pushed through them. “We’re pretty close to the pond; it’s just a little bit farther.

The pond was fed by a spring. deer, elk, and all kinds of smaller animals used the pond on a daily basis and left their tracks on the trials all around the area. Roger walked to an old log he had found. It was beside the small stream running from the spring. The ferns, grasses and other plants had been pushed over with game trails going every direction. Roger invited her to sit beside him.

“I love this place, do you come here often?”

“No, I come here maybe once or twice a year, usually in hunting season or when I want to be alone. I’ve never brought a girl here before.” Roger hesitated as he heard something moving in the ferns, he put his finger in front of his lips and listened intently. Roger knew the trail they had walked on most of the way to the pond continued up the hill and along the ridge a half mile above them. Roger didn’t want anybody hearing what he was going to say. Satisfied that the noise wasn’t made by a person and there wasn’t another human within hearing distance, “Patty, I’ve never met anyone like you. You haven’t asked me if I killed your ex-boy friend since our first date. I’ve wondered why?”

“Well you never told me that you didn’t kill that scum, but you never said you did either. I decided that you would tell me when you were ready. I’m sure you put the bag on his head and suffocated him, but as I’ve got to know you, I can’t see how you could have done it.”

“Does it make any difference in our relationship if I did or didn’t kill that snake?”

“When we first met, it would have. I was so grateful that you or somebody killed him; I would have wanted to repay you in anyway possible. As I got to know you, I realized while you may have killed him, you didn’t want to take advantage of my gratitude. Now I would like to know, but it won’t make any difference in how I feel about you.”

“On the way to the hospital in the ambulance, you told me what happened and it wasn’t an accident. I couldn’t see your face and didn’t realize I was talking to the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“I’m not the most beautiful woman in the world!”

“You are to me. After leaving you at the hospital, I found your address in my records and went to your house. I didn’t expect to see that slimy snake there, but he was coming out carrying your clothes. I asked him what he was doing and he admitted to me that he had pushed you into that Semi with his truck and he was going to take all of his stuff because you were kicking him out. When I told him that I wasn’t going to let him take it, he attacked me and I knocked him out. I knew that he would attack you and probably kill you when you got out of the hospital. So I pulled him into the house and saw the plastic bag that said danger of suffocation. It was as if something yelled in my ear, ‘YOU WANTED SOME WAY TO KILL THIS GUY-HERE IT IS!” When the policeman came to my house and asked me if I was Roger Morgan, I thought it was all over. And then when I saw you at the door, I couldn’t believe anyone could be so stunningly beautiful! I couldn’t talk for awhile.”

“Yeah, I remember you seemed to be having a hard time talking, I just thought you were shy. You were so cute. People have told me that I’m beautiful but most times it’s always when they want something. I decided long ago that if the first thing out of somebody’s mouth was how pretty I was, I was going to run the other way as fast as I could. You didn’t tell me that I was beautiful for 2 months, so I guess you pass; so, what now?”

“Well, I guess the police are satisfied that I’m not responsible for anything or at least I haven’t been contacted by them, so I guess it’s on with life.”

“I’m not so sure they don’t suspect you. The officer who found you for me seemed very interested in you after I told him about our conversation in the ambulance. He made the comment that he may have found Robin Hood. He also told me that he was torn on what he was going to do if and when he did run into Robin Hood. He seemed to be having a hard time talking to me just like you did at first. I think he figured it was you but didn’t care since that human slime was dead.”

“If that’s true, I guess I had better keep my nose clean.”

“Did you plan on killing someone else?”

“If another human slime bucket comes after you I wouldn’t hesitate to put on my Robin Hood hat again.”

“Everything you tell me makes me want to spend time with you. You’re the most honest, moral person I’ve ever met. I wondered what kind of man would be able to kill another man, and now I think I understand how it works and it all fits together. I’m not sure I could do it, but thinking back about that creep, I think maybe I could bring myself to kill him.”

“If we are going to make it to Sundance in time for our reservation, we had better start back to the car.”

“If it’s ok with you, I would like to stay here a little longer.” Patty stood and pulled Roger up; she put her arms around him and looked at him for a minute. Tears were in her eyes, I LOVE YOU ROGER!”

Roger still had trouble believing it, “I was afraid to tell you how I felt, I didn’t want you to run away from me. I’ve loved you from the first moment I met you at the accident. There was something about you, even though I couldn’t see what you looked like. Now I want to hide you away so nobody can steal you from me. I love you Patty.” They embraced and sat back down on the log.

If all went as planned and so far this date was exceeding his expectations, Roger had planned on asking Patty to marry him in the Tree Room in the Sundance Resort. Now he felt that it would be anticlimactic. He dropped to his knee in the wet grasses, pulled an engagement ring from his pocket, took Patty’s hand and said, “Patty, will you marry me?” Patty flew off the log and landed on top of Roger knocking him over on his back. They embraced as she responded, Yes you big clown, I wondered how long you would torture me before asking me. Yes, Yes, Yes, a thousand times Yes, I will marry you.” The shirt on Rogers’ back was wet and covered with grass seeds, mud and all kinds of little creepy crawlies and spring water. “We probably should get up; I feel something crawling up my back.”

“YUCK, let me help you,” yelped Patty as she jumped to the log and held her hand out. Her hand was so high above him he had to get up to take it. Roger got to his feet with the water running down his back.

“The Tree Room is a really nice place; I probably should get cleaned up before we go to eat there or somewhere else.”

The Tree Room staff at Sundance Resort expects some reservations to be missed. The reservation made by Roger Morgan for two, turned out to be one of those. At closing time, head waiter Tyler Hofheins shrugged as he crossed off Roger’s name from the list of reservations. He had witnessed many proposals for marriage, but he would miss this one.

Jake Montross, a game warden on the lookout for big game poachers, was hidden in the ferns about 25 yards uphill from where Roger and Patty had sat and talked. He couldn’t see them but he heard every word they spoke. He had watched the news story about Patty and wondered about the death of her ex-boy friend. ‘What am I going to do about what I just heard?’ He answered his question with, ‘I’m not going to do anything about it, in a similar situation I only hope I would have the guts to do the same thing. Like Patty, he too had tears in his eyes.

They were married in a private ceremony a few weeks after that. Roger moved into Patty’s house and they both were happier than they had ever been in their life. It was a perfect honeymoon and everything seemed to be going according to a preplanned ideal script.