The Friends Network

Sarah and John Claycomb had been members of the Friends Network for almost twenty five years. Their children were grown and gone now, married and busy making families of their own. So when the Network area representative asked the couple if they’d be interested in becoming Travelers, they said why not.

They had only met one Traveler before then, actually a family of Travelers, who had stayed with them for three days back close to twelve years ago. Sarah and John had thoroughly enjoyed their time with them, and seemed to think they could handle the possible hardships. And anyway, Sarah thought, John had been buying a lot of RV magazines at the time. If she knew nothing else, Sarah knew her husband, and that wanderlust look was clear in his face.

The normal tour agreed to by members of the Friends Network becoming Travelers was five years. Tours started out as one year stints, but the scheduling folks found that most people decided within that year whether or not it was for them, and after that they just kept re-upping. Sarah and John were going on eight years now.

Sarah was studying a printed map with the practiced ease of a doctor looking at a patients chart.

"Fifteen miles to Brookhaven," she said, and tucked the map back into a pocket on her door.

John checked his speed. "Would you like to go over the particulars now, or wait till we’re there?"

"Now sounds good to me." Sarah slid a sheet from a folder and began reading.

"Bill and Rebecca Petersen. One daughter, Elizabeth, eight years old. Bill is a manager at a grocery store. Rebecca works in the household."

"What are the complaints about," John asked.

"John, complaint is such a negative word."

John slapped his knee. "Doggone your absolutely right. Old habits die hard, I guess. I am sorry." And he was.

Sarah smiled at John across the cab of the RV with thirty years of love and John proved he could still blush. Men, she said to herself. But she thanked God every day for giving her such a wonderful one. She read from the printout again.

"The first report was put forth by Friend Laura Needham. She made contact with the Petersen’s in May of last year. Her boyfriend had become abusive. She states that during the three nights the Petersen’s gave her shelter, Bill made repeated untoward comments of a sexual nature to her, and touched her inappropriately, which resulted in Miss Needham leaving the Petersen house."

"You say she went there to get away from a bad relationship? Not very Friends-like at all." John shook his head.

"Oh, look John." Sarah was pointing out the window. It was an advertisement for a roadside fruit stand, a quarter mile ahead.

"Fresh strawberries would just about hit the spot," John said. "We’ll finish up the briefing after a snack."

Sarah tucked the sheet back into the folder as John signaled and pulled into the dusty lot beside the stand.

The Friends Network had started informally in nineteen fifty two. A couple who had just returned home from a driving trip were telling their neighbors how dreadful the experience had been. Their car had broken down on the highway. They waited three hours for a tow truck, who charged them four times what a tow should cost. And then there was the mechanic bill. Someone said how nice it would be if there was a friend in every town. Someone you could trust to help you out in an emergency.

That night they stayed up late, and by dawn had a plan for a network of friends.