Laurie had lived there all her life. Mullins Farm, Kentucky had comprised her entire life and the knowledge of the world. Mullins Farm had its country ways, habits and beliefs. Somehow, Laurie knew there was life beyond Mullins Farm even though she had never seen it.An Interstate ran through the mountains about two miles from their house. At night Laurie would lie awake and listen to the eighteen wheelers struggling to make the steep grade to the top. Once the big rigs made it over the top, the sound of their engines changed, the whine of the wheels screamed freedom as the truck sped down the other side, and Laurie dreamed that one day she might hitch a ride on one of them.She had no idea where the truck might take her. She really didn't care as long as she was gone. There was no one or anything in the country, mining town that could hold her. No attractions for a 14-year-old girl who had learned the ways of adults early in life.Laurie had never met a man for whom she could love. She had never had sex, and often she had crazy thoughts about how it would feel. Would there be pain? Would she feel the burning desire that sometimes swept across the lower part of her stomach? What would it feel like for a man to touch her there?All these woman things Laurie wondered about, but there was no woman in her life that she could ask. Her real mother had died when Laurie was only eight and her younger brother was two. The only reminders of her mother came from photographs-mostly black and white pictures-stashed away in a box underneath Laurie's bed.Daddy, Bobby Buechele, that's what Laurie and everyone else called him, worked in the Van Guard Coal Mine. Laurie worried every time he left the house if he would ever come back alive if at all. She had heard adults talking at church about how unsafe the mine was. Having already lost her mother, Laurie didn't want to think about not having a dad.Bobby had remarried Becky Hansel when Laurie was five. Becky was a bit awkward or slow in the head, so, Laurie only asked Becky about things that the older lady could understand. Adult things Becky knew were housework, cooking, sewing, ironing and quilting.So, whenever Laurie needed help in one of these departments, she would consult Becky about whatever. However, homework problems, boy problems, how to get along socially or discussing characters in literature proved to be far beyond Becky.Bobby and Becky had no children; therefore, Becky saw no reason to deal with Bobby's children. The burden of raising Winston Buechele fell on Laurie. That's how Laurie had learned the ways of adults. She was responsible for raising Winston since he was a baby. Becky not only was a bit slow, but she was a whole lot lazy. Laurie couldn't help but wonder often why Bobby had ever married this woman who didn't know how to do anything, couldn't learn how and was unwilling to work hard enough to learn.Laurie had one pet peeve in life-someone too lazy to work! Anyone could work, she thought.Yet, Becky was one who wouldn't hit a lick at a snake if it were about to strike her. She'd find someone to kill the snake for her. As Laurie thought about these things, maybe Becky wasn't so dumb after all. She always managed to get someone to do the work for her.Thus, the picture above was the life of Laurie Buechele. She kept house, cared for Winston, cooked meals for all of them and fell into bed every night worn out from all her work. Yet it wasn't the work that caused her to be tired. It was the sad state of affairs she found herself. She was nearly grown, but primarily she was a slave to the people in her own house.That's why she considered hitching a ride on an eighteen-wheeler. She wanted to take the trip of her life on an interstate that ran on and on, but could it lead to nowhere?