Runaway Molly

The Greyhound bus was only half full as it made its way into Iowa from Illinois. Most of the passengers were riding alone and stared out the windows at the fields of corn and soybeans that stretched to the horizon. Molly sat by a window toward the rear of the bus. She watched the farmers toiling in the fields as the bus cut through the vast countryside. This was Molly's first visit to Iowa. She was headed to her Aunt Ruth and Uncle Ben's farmstead near the town of Bentonville. Her Aunt Ruth was her mother's sister and had been Molly's favorite aunt when Ruth lived back east where Molly was now coming from. Molly was a very pretty girl of eighteen years old, although she looked much younger. She wore her blond hair in curls that fell to just above her shoulders. Her skin was fair with big blue eyes and full lips. She had a habit of biting her bottom lip when she was nervous.

The bus pulled off the main highway and into a small town called Ranger. "We'll be here for about forty minutes", the driver announced. "If you want to eat supper, there is a small cafe about a block from the bus stop." Molly looked out the window at the quite town. Not much was going on as the sun set off to the west. As the bus stopped and she started to get up she didn´t notice the group of four black men staring at her ...