                          THE BEGINNING
 
Copyright 1994(c) 
 
                        RUBY RIDES AGAIN 
                    A Ruby Begonia Adventure 
 
     Ruby tripped down the street, piranha dancing, skooched 
herself in between the boards on the door of the former Kent's 
Place, and looked around. In her mind, she could hear laughter 
against the backdrop of Devil With A Blue Dress On, and she stopped
for a moment to feel warm, fuzzy memories. 
     "Enough of that," she muttered, shaking herself. Past was 
past. She'd had a lot of fun, but stuff changes -- even virtual 
stuff, and warm fuzzies wouldn't pay the bulldog OR that damn cat
Lyn Rust had cursed her with. She strode purposefully toward the
bar, slipped behind and looked around for something to stand on.
She spotted Kent's old cowboy boots with the lifts, and slipped 
them on her feet. She reached over her head and disengaged the 
moosehead which had graced Kent's Place in its heyday. Ruby lugged
it down to Ruby's Pearls Truckstop on the corner, breathing a quiet
"Yessss", again at the sight of the neon sign atop the building:
"Ruby's Pearls Truck Stop," it said, and then smaller, in script,
"Come on up and see Ruby." 
     She hauled the moosehead into the truck stop, banged a nail
into the wall over the lunch counter, and went "Phwooh, Phwooooh"
into the moose's face to dislodge cobwebs and dustballs. She used
a damp napkin to wipe the moose's eyes to a clear, bright shine,
and secured the moosehead on the wall in between two Ruby 
paintings. 
     "There!" she said, brushing dusty fingers together. "If I 
can't have my buds, at least I can have you to remind me of 'em."
     As Ruby turned to attend to the next demand, which seemed to
be the loud yowling of Sam, the cat from hell, who had been 
predatorially prowling in the general vicinity of his food bowl for
the past ten minutes, the moosehead slowly lowered one eyelid and
then reopened it. 
     "Do it and die," said Ruby, frowning at Sam, who suddenly 
seemed fascinted with the moosehead. She wouldn't put it past Sam
to think 'scratching post', Ruby realized, remembering the fate of
that fur crotch guard Kent had purchased to wow the ladies.  
     Seeing her move, Sam quickly returned his conversation to 
food, and how he wanted some. Now. Repetition, Sam knew, was the
key to selling a three-piece ensemble to the Emperor. He called it
'broken record' and was highly incensed that someone had stolen his
idea and written a behavior modification book about it. 
     The moosehead watched the interplay, thinking Ruby a worthy
adversary for the rotten cat.  
     He'd almost given up hope, he mused, but then, today, Ruby 
came to get him. He guessed he wouldn't retire to write the saga
of of the GLORY DAYS OF RIME, quite yet.  
     It seemed they weren't over.  
     Shoot, he told himself, thinking pages divided by dollars, 
they might be beginning. All. Over. Again. 
     He decided to pay attention. He looked down the Information
Superhighway where Ruby's Pearls Truck Stop was located, toward the
highway interchange opening within the month. No telling, he told
himself, what adventures lay ahead.  
     He decided to take notes. 
                               *** 
[Editor's Note:  
 
     My grandbaby, who thinks grandpa is the most wondrous thing
in the universe, has taken to watching all the trekkie shows with
him. They watch Deep Space Nine and they watch Star Trek and Star
Trek, The First Generation. They will watch a Star Trek movie again
before they will watch one they haven't seen. 
     David makes a swooshing noise and brings his hands up and back
like one would do in a Tai Chi stance. Then, he slowly moves them
closer together until they SMACK, and rapidly reverse position, 
with the one on top flying up and away into the air. 
     Grandbaby thinks this, too, qualifies him as a genius, and she
emulates his action. [Grandbaby, bear in mind, also repeats the 
second "Wipeout" every time they play that commercial where they
say it twice.} The twosome does this swoosh-smack-fly-away act at
every commercial and sometimes in between. They do this at the 
beginning and end of each show. They get all excited and happy and
loud. 
     I feel like swoosh-smacking from the rooftops in enthusiasm
for the Ruby's Pearls Truck Stop series. It is as though Ruby 
finally has come home to find a roomful of her best friends, her
worst enemies, and a lot of stimulation. It turns out Ruby is not
only a trailer-park woman. Like all people, she is complex. She is
both a trailer-park and a truck stop woman. Ruby will probably age
like Mae West, but I don't think she'll ever abandon the 
spotlight.] 
                               *** 
     But Ruby's not old yet, and, in fact she thinks she recalls 
hearing rumors that Kent Ballard, himself, was building a hauling
rig. 
     Perhaps, when he completes his work, he'll drop by. 
     "If he does, I'll go to Indy with him for the 500," Ruby said,
aloud. "That way, I can follow up my visit to Dave Appel." 
     Sam now yowled to get out. He began on a yowl and worked up
from there. Sam never just politely asked for something. 
     "Whaddya? Think I'm psychic" Ruby asked him. She opened the
door and looked down at a now-hesitant Sam. "Go like the wind," she
invited, moving as if to give him a little momentum in the 
netherparts. Del's grandfather could get them airborn without 
hurting them, and Ruby had always wanted to learn how. Sam seemed
a good place to start.  
     Of course, Sam knew it and was gone before her foot was 
adequately poised. 
     The moosehead winked again. 
 
                              -30- 
