Pretty Woman
The Greyhound bus stopped in the station on East Butler Avenue, and off walked a pretty woman with a backpack and a heart full of dreams. She had short black hair under a LA Dodgers baseball cap, a perfectly structured face holding up a pair of glasses, and a slim figure under her plaid shirt and jeans.
Walking down the street, the pretty woman saw a bar and decided to go inside. She ordered a hamburger and a beer, and while she was trying to enjoy her meal a rugged man with a beer bottle in his hand walked up to her table and said, “Excuse me, ma’am. This seat taken?”
Unfazed by the man’s presence, the pretty woman said, “No. You’re welcome to take it if you’d like.”
“I was hoping to occupy it,” said the rugged man, as he slid himself into the chair at her table. “Has anyone ever told you that you look just like Natasha Ulansky? I mean really. Especially with those pretty green eyes of yours, and if you grew your hair out, dyed it blonde.”
“Sorry to break it to you, big guy, but you’re not the first to say it.”
“You ever think of modeling?”
“Never crossed my mind, but I am looking for a job.”
“What are you looking to do?”
“A simple quiet job for my new simple quiet life here. By the way, where is here?”
“Really? Well, welcome to Flagstaff. My name is Jake and this here is my bar, and lucky for you I’m looking for some help. What do you say?”
“When can I start?” said the pretty woman and she started as a waitress in the rugged man’s bar that night. It was clear she had never done the job before, but after a few months, she got the hang of it. Over those few months, the pretty woman also started a relationship with the rugged man, and that relationship led them to the doctor’s office one day to get an ultrasound.
“You see there,” said the sonographer. “That’s your sweet little baby.”
The rugged man asked the sonographer, “Is it a boy?”
“Still too early to tell,” said the sonographer. She looked at the pretty woman and said, “I’m sure it’s going to be a beautiful baby. You look just like that actress. What’s her name? The one who was in all those romantic comedies.”
“Natasha Ulansky!” said the rugged man. “She gets that all the time, but I think she looks better than Natasha Ulansky.”
“Thanks, babe,” said the pretty woman, squeezing the rugged man’s hand.
“Didn’t she go missing?” said the sonographer.
“I think she died a couple months back. Shame. She was hot,” said the rugged man. The pretty woman hit him and he continue with, “I said you look better, geez.”
The pretty woman would go on to have the baby, a girl they named Jackie. Years went by, and the pretty woman was content with her little life in Flagstaff, Arizona.
As Jackie grew, the little girl wanted to go to Disney Land and Disney World, so she could hang out with all the princesses, but it didn’t happen. Jackie grew older and wanted to go to New York City to be a model, but of course, it didn’t happen. On her 16th birthday, Jackie made it clear to her parents that the only thing she wanted was to go to Los Angeles to meet an actress; one like her idol Natasha Ulansky.
The rugged man was always willing to take the family on a trip somewhere, diligently saving money to make his daughter’s dreams come true, but the pretty woman never let the family go past Sedona. Jackie's 16th birthday was no exception, so instead of asking for permission, she was going to go and ask for forgiveness later.
Jackie packed her bags but had the bright idea to see if her parents had some money hidden just in case she needed it. The only problem was that she had no idea where it would be, so while her parents were watching a game show in the living room, Jackie searched through their closet. Her search concluded when she found a birth certificate she never expected to see in her life.
“You’re Natasha Ulansky?” screamed Jackie, as she stood in front of her parents, holding up the birth certificate to her mother.
“How did you get that?” said the pretty woman, her eyes as wide as they could be.
“What are you going on about, kid?” said the rugged man, and his daughter handed him the birth certificate. He was able to see enough before his wife snatched it out of his hands, and he gave her a long hard look.
The next day, the rugged man and Jackie wasted no time informing everyone they could that the matriarch of their household was the famous and long-missed Natasha Ulansky. Their front lawn was flooded with news cameras, and the rugged man and Jackie were all smiles as they soaked up all the attention.
Sitting in the bathroom, the pretty woman stared long and hard at the wall in front of her, lost in thought. Once the thought was complete, she grabbed her old backpack and climbed out of the window. The pretty woman walked to the Greyhound bus station on East Butler Avenue, bought a ticket for the next bus out of the state, and stepped aboard.