The glaring lights of the carnival were blurred by tears as she ran past a carney who screamed "No pukin' on mah ride!" and slammed a calloused fist into a button. The tea cups began to whirl as did Sarah's mind. The county fair is the worst place for your stupid, country boyfriend to break up with you. She had come with him, her Boyfr—Now ex boyfriend, John, so she didn't know just how she was going to get home. She ran past game booths where strange, toothless, men called out to her asking if she'd like to try her luck.
Sarah ran to the girl’s bathroom, the secret refuge of all women, but sank down right next to the door with her knees to her chest. Sarah put her face in her arms and sobbed quietly, and shamelessly. "You okay, sweetie?" Asked the gravelly voice of a smoker. Sarah looked up and into the face of a woman who looked like a middle aged version of P!nk. "I said: Are you okay?"
"Um." Sarah wiped her face with her sleeve "Yeah."
"Sure as Hell don't look like it." The woman sank down next to her. "What's eatin' atcha?"
Sarah sniffed and passed the back of her hand over her soaking wet eyelashes. "My boyfriend just broke up with me."
The woman paused and then smacked her lips together "C'mon. I'll buy ya a corn dog." She rose and grabbed Sarah's tear wet hand.
The lady sat Sarah down on a bench where they could clearly see the Farris wheel and went to purchase said corn dog. "So tell me 'bout this jerk."
Sarah coughed. "Can I know your name first?"
The woman made a rumbling, hacking sound in her throat and passed her hand through the air. "'S not important."
Sarah paused. "Alright then... His name was. John." She choked on his name. The lady locked forest green eyes with her and lit a cigarette. "Uh-huh?"
"We dated for three years, since 7th grade."
"So you're freshman in high school now?"
"Sophomore once school picks up again."
"Ah."
"John's two years older than me. He actually drove me here..."
"S***." The woman swore taking a drag of her cigarette. "You call your parents yet?"
"No." Sarah said timidly. "No phone."
"Here." The woman dug in the pocket of her tight skinny jeans and produced an iPhone in a cherry red case. Sarah hesitated. "Oh God. Sweetie, don't tell me you don't know your house phone number!"
"I do! It's just that... Why are you being so nice to me?"
The woman made that hacking sound in her throat again "Just call your goddamned parents!"
Sarah jumped and fumbled with the phone then caught it and began to dial. After Sarah's frantic mother had been informed of the situation Sarah was promised a ride in 30 minutes from her father who was now lead footing it, in his old blue truck, from the ranch. "I'll sit wittcha until yer parents get here."
"Ma'am, you're an angel." Sarah passed her eyes over the woman's blond, spiked hair, looked into the deep green eyes, and the noted the freckles and dark suntan, the prominent collar bones and the shirt which proudly displayed breast implants.
The woman threw back her head "Ha! Don't tell the devil!" She cackled displaying her left wrist where a silhouette of a devil woman was tattooed. "And don’t call me ma'am." She said it as if it were something unsavory.
As 30 minutes passed she let Sarah chatter on about her ex. When Sarah finally paused to draw breath the woman said "Look sweetie...yer young. There'll be other guys. Other guys who won't leave ya stranded at the county fair." The pair chuckled. Suddenly the cherry red iPhone lit up joining the thousands of other bright flashing things that called the fair home. "That yer mom's number?" Asked the woman pushing the phone towards Sarah.
"Yep." She answered sliding to unlock it. "Okay. Coming." Sarah said into the phone. She hung up and passed the woman her phone "Dad's here."
"Thank you." The woman said thrusting her phone back into her pocket with long, tan fingers.
"No, thank you!" Said Sarah. "For everything...Can I at least know you name?"
"Eh!" The woman rose and waved the butt of her cigarette in the air. "Just call me your guardian angel!" She laughed until she began to cough and walked off towards the bathrooms. Not knowing what else to do Sarah walked off to the parking lot, to find her father, who got her home safe and sound. P!nk's imposter walked into the bathroom and scratched at the angel wings tattooed on her back with long lacquered nails with white square tips.
Though it was only a county fair, as long as Sarah stayed living at home with her parents she never saw the woman again. Thinking on it Sarah realized that she had never seen the woman before that night either.