The Outsider
Copyright 2009 by EC
EC's Erotic Art & Fiction - http://www.ecgraphicarts.com/
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(warnings: language, adult themes, public nudity, sex between adults)

Chapter 6 - An evening in Santa Cruz

The next morning Ruthie’s alarm went off at 4:30 am. She put on her usual shorts 
and t-shirt. She normally wore athletic shoes with her shorts, but her shoulder hurt 
so much that she did not want to bother with tying the laces. She settled for a pair 
of slip-on sandals and made her way through the darkness to the Student Center. 
At first she felt somewhat better than she had felt the night before, but after she 
had been at work for an hour her depression returned. She turned off the news, not 
wanting to hear anything that would depress her further. Slowly and mechanically 
she finished setting up. She dreaded the thought of having to deal with customers, 
given her down mood and painful shoulder, but she did not have the nerve to call 
the manager to ask for the morning off.

Although the coffee shop did not open until 7:00, Mike showed up 15 minutes 
early, hoping to talk to her and get beyond the unpleasant silence from the 
previous day’s visit. He had debated to himself whether or not he should even 
bother to get coffee at all, given that Ruthie had brushed him off the previous day. 
Finally he reasoned that he could not be completely sure that was indeed what she 
had done, given that her behavior never was quite “normal” and there was a very 
good chance something was bothering her that had nothing to do with him. 
Anyhow, if he did not go, he would spend the rest of the day wondering. It was 
better that he get his answer right away, before the weekend.

The moment he saw her, he could tell that something was very wrong. He didn’t 
bother to say good morning.

“Are you OK, Ruthie?”

“I guess.”

“And I’d guess not. You don’t look OK to me.”

Ruthie looked away. Her eyes were full of tears, but she did not want him to see. 
He added:

“I mean…if it’s not too personal, you might as well tell me what happened.”

“It’s nothing…really…an accident…I sort of got into an accident yesterday.”

“Yeah, I gathered that. That’s a pretty bad scrape you’ve got on your knee…”

Ruthie nodded.

“You put some medicine on it?”

She nodded again.

“Actually, it’s my shoulder I’m worried about. It didn’t hurt too bad last night, but 
it’s hurting now. I’m wondering if I pulled something.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to go to the Medical Center to find out.” 

Ruthie nodded again. Mike continued:

“OK, so you’ve got a banged up knee and a messed up shoulder. What’d you do, 
fall off a bicycle?”

“No, but it was a bicycle. This girl ran into me outside the Language Building. I 
wasn’t paying attention and she ran into me when I crossed the bike lane.”

“What was she doing, riding there?”

“What do you mean, what was she doing?”

“The area around the Language Building is a dismount zone. What the hell was 
she doing, riding her bicycle there anyway?”

Mike pressed Ruthie for the details of the incident. Reluctantly she told him what 
happened. By the time she finished, he was livid.

“OK…we have a bicyclist who was driving recklessly and hit a pedestrian in a 
dismount zone. Then she assaulted you and left the scene of an accident. As far as 
I’m concerned, that’s some pretty serious shit!”

“So, what am I supposed to do about it?”

“I’ll tell you what you need to do. You need to file a report with the Campus 
Police Department and when they find her, you need to press charges.”

“That’s bullshit! What good’s that gonna do?”

“To start out with, do you have insurance? If your shoulder’s busted, how are you 
gonna pay to get it fixed?”

Ruthie shook her head. Of course she didn’t have insurance.

“She’s the one who hit you, so she’s the one who’s gotta pay. But that won’t 
happen unless you file a report.”

“I ‘spose…”

The tone of Ruthie’s voice told Mike that she might be willing to file the report, 
but only if he made it convenient for her and walked her through it. He could not 
expect her to go over to the Campus Police Department on her own. He pondered 
how to convince her to take some time off from her job so he could take her to see 
the police. Then, by sheer luck, he noticed a campus cop with whom he had 
worked during several football games walking through the main door of the 
Student Center. He called the officer over to the coffee shop and explained 
Ruthie’s accident. 

Ruthie expected nothing to come of the conversation, so she was surprised when 
the officer took out his clipboard. It turned out that Mike was right and that the 
officer was taking the incident seriously. He pressed Ruthie for details, especially 
for a physical description of the girl that hit her and the identities of possible 
witnesses. When Ruthie finished, the cop had another surprise for her.

“I think I know who it is…the bicyclist, I mean. If it’s who I’m thinking of, it 
wouldn’t be the first time we’ve talked to her.”

The officer handed Ruthie an envelope.

“Take this over to the medical center, turn it in to the receptionist, and get 
yourself looked at. Whatever injuries you have will have to be documented here, 
so don’t put it off.”

The coffee shop manager showed up just as the cop was about to leave, which 
was another piece of good luck for Ruthie. It turned out that she did not have to 
explain anything to her boss about needing to take time off because the cop 
explained for her. A few minutes later Mike and Ruthie were on their way to the 
Student Medical Center. 

----------

As they crossed the university, both Mike and Ruthie realized that their lives were 
about to change. The depression that Ruthie had sunk into had completely 
vanished after she had been told by the cop that she was definitely not at fault for 
the accident and that the bicyclist, if caught, would face criminal charges. She 
shyly glanced over at Mike, feeling strong and yet conflicting emotions. She was 
grateful for his help, but more importantly, she was grateful that he actually cared 
about what happened to her. However, being a person who was not used to having 
intimate relationships with people her own age, she found the prospect of being 
close to Mike frightening because she did not know what to expect from him.

The thoughts going on in Mike’s mind were even more complicated than those of 
Ruthie. Whatever his faults, he was a natural “Good Samaritan” who wanted to 
help those around him, especially people he knew. His obsession with “fairness” 
also entered into his efforts, because he felt that his classmate had been the victim 
of a huge injustice. He hated that arrogant bicyclist who had treated her so 
atrociously and wanted to do what he could to ensure that she would be 
prosecuted.

As important as Mike’s over-all attitude about helping others might have been, 
what really mattered to him was the fact he was attracted to Ruthie. Her weirdness 
fascinated him. She was not a girl who played by the rules of modern society, as 
was made clear by her unkempt appearance and scanty clothing. That 
unwillingness to try to please others by conforming to fashion expectations might 
have been one factor our of many that caused others to reject Ruthie Burns, but it 
was a huge point in her favor according to Mike’s values and criteria for choosing 
a potential partner. Already he was starting to feel protective of her, so much so 
that he missed a class to stay with her at the Student Medical Center.

It turned out that Ruthie had just pulled a couple of muscles in her shoulder and 
that she would just need to avoid straining the joint and take some Motrin to calm 
the pain. The intern was more concerned about her knee, which was just starting 
to show signs of infection. The scrape would require some antibiotics. The most 
important task however, was to verify that Ruthie’s bruises were consistent with 
having been hit by a bicyclist going at a high rate of speed. The intern filled out 
the form, which he would turn over to the campus police later that day to add to 
the incident report. Ruthie still was surprised at the thought that the police really 
were planning to investigate the collision.

It was close to lunchtime when the two students left the clinic. There was just 
enough time for them to eat together. Not knowing what else to talk about, Ruthie 
complained about her ruined books. Mike sympathized, realizing that she must 
have been dirt-poor to be so stressed out over some books. Finally he decided to 
change the subject, working up the nerve to ask her out.

“A quick question…have you started getting tired of dorm food?”

“I ‘spose…”

“I was asking, because I was wondering if you’d like to go down to Santa Cruz 
with me…you know, to have dinner…walk around…just to get out of Davenport 
for a bit.”

Ruthie started to fidget. She gave him a quick glance.

“I…I guess that’d be OK.”

“There’s a lot of places downtown. I’ll let you pick.”

Ruthie nodded. 

“I’m off work at 5:00. Will that be OK for you?”

Ruthie nodded again.

Mike could tell that she was nervous. What he did not realize was that she was 
totally terrified, because he would be the first guy she had gone out with in over a 
year.



----------

Santa Cruz is one of a string of affluent towns that lie along the central coast of 
California, which also include Monterey, Carmel, and Big Sur. As a result of the 
local wealth, the process of big-box homogenization that has overrun the US has 
been slower to affect the Pacific towns and there still are interesting and unique 
things to see there. Santa Cruz also is a place where there are still some remnants 
of 1960’s hippie culture and the New Age movement of the 1980’s, both of which 
have totally vanished in the rest of the US. In the downtown area of Santa Cruz 
there are plenty of local restaurants, book stores, and stores that sell totally useless 
“artistic” decorations. There are clothing stores that cater to the marijuana crowd 
and of course, stores that cater to the surfing crowd. 

Mike had plenty of opinions about Santa Cruz. He held the artistic crowd in 
disdain and was even more cynical about the hippies. 

“What a bunch of losers, those hippies. They were so big about changing the 
world, and the only thing they accomplished was sticking society with a drug 
problem. So idealistic, but they made sure they sucked up all the decent jobs and 
didn’t leave us shit, and now they’re whining about how we’re gonna pay for their 
retirement.”

Ruthie said nothing, because there was no trace of hippie culture in Salinas and 
had nothing from her own experience to judge Mike’s comment. As for the 
groups of oddly-dressed teenagers roaming about, he commented:

“They’re just a bunch of spoiled brats trying to piss off their parents.”

She responded: “It’s better than what they’re doing down in Salinas.”

“How’s that?”

“Where I’m from, if you try acting weird the gang-bangers are gonna beat you 
up.”

Even though in high school she had lived barely 40 minutes to the south, Ruthie 
had never been to the downtown area of Santa Cruz. She found the place 
extremely interesting and totally alien to what she was used to seeing. Prior to 
graduating from high school, her world had consisted of the fast-food restaurants 
and big-box stores that her mother and cousins frequented in Salinas. Even going 
to the local mall was a big deal for her, since there wasn’t much in the mall that 
her mother wanted or needed. Her cousins went to the mall more frequently, but 
Ruthie’s mother was leery of having her accompany them and falling under their 
“ungodly influence”.

Mike was much more familiar with Santa Cruz than was Ruthie, since he had 
grown up in a suburb that was just a few miles to the south. He commented that 
he liked the bookstores more than anything else. As wide-eyed as she was with all 
the shops full of strange stuff, like her classmate she gravitated towards the 
bookstores and the used music stores. A lot of the books she had read as a 
teenager were present on the shelves, tempting her to spend the tiny amount of 
money in her pocket. The bookstores proved vital to the growing friendship 
between Mike and Ruthie, because they were able to talk about books they had 
both read and avoid a lot of uncomfortable silence. They laughed when they came 
across a collection of stories by Somerset Maugham and saw that “Mr. Know-it-
all” was included. Ruthie then picked up an English translation of “Pedro 
Paramo” and held it up.

“This is a really neat book, but I read it in Spanish. I didn’t know they had it in 
English”

“It was one of your favorites in school?”

“Yeah. I read it a bunch of times. It’s the best book I ever seen, ‘cause I think 
Rulfo understands the meaning of life more than anyone else I’ve ever read. I 
mean, I’ve read a lot of stuff, but this one’s the best.”

Ruthie noticed that Mike kept the book in his hand.

They passed over to the religious section and Ruthie’s mood changed. She 
commented: “There’s so much bullshit in here. It’s all crap and lies. I’d ban it if I 
could.”

“You’d ban religion?”

“If I could, yeah, I’d ban religion. Outlaw all of it. Stick all the believers in jail 
and not let ‘em out until they admit they’re lying. I’m so sick of these God freaks 
and fucking holy books and all their shit.”

Suddenly Ruthie blushed, because she realized that she had just made a very 
strong statement without knowing anything about her companion’s religious 
beliefs. Mike was silent for a moment, because it’s not every day one hears a 
person saying that people should go to jail for being religious. He tried to set her 
at ease without exactly agreeing with her:

“I certainly don’t think it should be in politics. I don’t think I’d go so far as 
banning it completely, because I think that would be counter-productive. But I 
would like to see a law that would force public officials to be religiously neutral. I 
wouldn’t let a politician pray in public, for example, or associate himself with a 
particular church, or talk about morality in religious terms. That’s something I 
would support.”

The uncomfortable moment of Ruthie’s outburst passed, but it left Mike 
wondering about her. That was not the first time she had given an opinion that 
was overly strong. She was prone to outbursts, a trait that could be both good and 
bad. At least he would know where she stood on any given issue, but at the same 
time felt uneasy about being with a person who could not control what she said. 
Mike guessed that his classmate’s tendency to give overly strong opinions might 
be one of the causes of her isolation.

Ruthie was flattered when Mike actually bought the copy of “Pedro Paramo”, 
solely based on her comment that she thought it was the best book she had ever 
read. He cared enough about her to take an interest in something that had touched 
her life.

Mike still did not have a clue what type of food Ruthie wanted and she seemed 
overwhelmed by the choices. He decided on a restaurant that had a general 
selection of food. When she saw the prices she was very shy about ordering. 
When he tried to coax her into choosing something, she responded:

“Just get me whatever you’re having. I’ve never been here, so I don’t know 
what’s good.”

The restaurant put Ruthie in an uncomfortable situation. She felt that Mike was 
spending an inordinate amount of money on a single meal. She didn’t want to tell 
him not to spend on her, but at the same time felt very nervous about asking for 
something what would cost him $ 25. So, rather than order herself, she wanted 
him to order on her behalf and that would allow him to decide what he ought to 
spend on her. As soon as Mike realized that she was uneasy with the situation, he 
realized the best thing to do was order a variety plate for two people.

Mike noted that as uncomfortable as Ruthie may have been about ordering, she 
certainly had no problem eating once the food was served. She had not gone off-
campus a single time since the semester began, so she was eager to eat something 
different from what was served at Watson Hall.

There was an uncomfortable moment when they finished dinner and returned to 
the street, because Mike was unsure what to do next. He had no idea whether 
Ruthie was getting bored, whether she wanted to return to Davenport or stay in 
Santa Cruz. She could not suggest anything, because she had never been in Santa 
Cruz and did not know what there was to see there.

“Are you OK?”

“I guess.”

“Are you ready to head back?”

“I ‘spose…”

In spite of her answer, Mike could tell that Ruthie was disappointed at the 
suggestion.

“If you’re not ready to go home, there’s a boardwalk here that goes out along the 
beach. Wanna see it before we head back?”

“OK.”

The boardwalk gave Mike the chance to talk more about Santa Cruz, and for 
Ruthie to start opening up about Salinas and Lincoln. He realized that she liked to 
talk much more about Nebraska than Salinas, even though she had not seen it for 
six years. 

One interesting detail was that she never talked about family members unless 
specifically asked: she stuck to describing what things were like and to 
commenting about how various details of daily life in Nebraska were so much 
better than Salinas. She talked about her father’s house and neighborhood in 
Lincoln, but never about her father. The same was true about Salinas; she only 
talked about it in general terms. There was an uncomfortable moment when, out 
of curiosity, he asked: 

“If you like Nebraska so much, have you thought about going back there?”

“Not really. I’ve lost touch with everyone I knew there.”

“And your dad?”

“I don’t ever want to see him. And I don’t really want to talk about him.”

Their conversation touched on John Steinbeck and the Steinbeck museum in 
Salinas, something they both had visited in high school. Like Ruthie, Mike had 
been the only member of his student tour group who had any interest in Steinbeck 
whatsoever. In Mike’s case his interest in the 1930’s was because his great-
grandfather had moved to Santa Cruz during the Depression and shortly thereafter 
started Sinclair Pharmacy.

“Your family owns a pharmacy?”

“We used to own a pharmacy. My dad had to close it three years ago.”

“Had to?”

“Mega-Mart. They shut us down, along with most of the other businesses in my 
neighborhood.” 

Over the next few minutes Mike told Ruthie the story of Sinclair Pharmacy; how 
he was supposed to inherit it, but how instead Mega-Mart had put them under. 
“That’s why I hate them so much…why I’m always wearing these pig-slogan 
shirts. For me it’s personal. MTA fucked up my life. I’ll tell you this, if the 
Danubians ever ask me to pick up a gun and fire at them, I will. There’s a lot of us 
who will.”

“Then I guess you won’t like hearing that Mega-Mart was the only place my mom 
ever wanted to shop. I always hated it because it was so depressing to be in there, 
but she’d make me go so I could carry her stuff.”

Ruthie sympathized with Mike’s situation, because Mega-Mart had completely 
overrun Salinas. It was interesting to hear from a person who had experienced 
first hand what it was like to be put out of business by the conglomerate. Ruthie’s 
experiences with Mega-Mart consisted of just shopping, but she had heard on the 
news about the tremendous damage the Mega-Town business model had inflicted 
in communities like the one where she grew up. During her senior year in high 
school she had tried to convince her mother to stop shopping at Mega-Mart, but 
“she looked at me like I was totally crazy, like I was telling her to run out on the 
highway or something.”

By the time they returned to Mike’s car, the two students felt very close to each 
other emotionally. They had talked about a lot of different things and had 
discovered that they had much in common. There were plenty of differences as 
well, but those differences made each more interesting to the other. They both 
were very happy as Mike drove out of Santa Cruz and they made their way back 
towards Davenport, but they were happy for somewhat different reasons

Mike already was feeling romantic towards Ruthie. Not only was she the only 
woman who had paid any attention to him at all since the break-up with Lisa; it 
turned out that she was knowledgeable and interesting to talk to. Pushing through 
the emotional barrier of her shyness and her inability to make small talk took 
some patience, but once that initial barrier had been passed, he could talk to her 
about almost anything. 

Ruthie’s feelings towards Mike were not romantic in the least, but she felt a very 
deep appreciation for the one person who had paid attention to her since she 
started classes in the fall. She desperately needed a friend, and now it seemed that 
she had one. He was willing to talk to her, do favors for her, spend his time with 
her, and most importantly, listen to her. 

----------

A few minutes later Mike returned to campus and parked close to Ruthie’s dorm. 
Even though she was used to walking alone on campus late at night, he insisted on 
seeing her safely back to her room. The hallway was largely empty, but a couple 
of Ruthie’s floor-mates glanced at her with surprise to see that a guy actually was 
bringing her back to her room. 

Fortunately Shannon and her boyfriend already had gone out, so for once Ruthie 
would have the room to herself after she said goodnight to Mike.

There was no hint that Mike would go into Ruthie’s room, because he did not feel 
that he knew her well enough to step into her sleeping area. Anyhow, she did not 
invite him in. 

They did not really know how to say goodnight. Finally Mike broke the silence by 
asking what she was doing the next day. Studying, that was about it. When he 
suggested getting together for breakfast, she smiled slightly and nodded.

“Is 8:30 OK for you?”

Ruthie nodded again.

They nervously hugged each other goodnight and with that their first evening out 
came to an end.

----------

Mike returned to his own dorm building, happier than he had been in a very long 
time. 

When he opened the door to his room, his loser roommate Todd was at his 
computer, playing his monster game of course. Todd was totally engrossed in 
what he was doing and seemed not to have noticed Mike entering the room. He 
did not put on his headphones, which he normally did whenever his roommate 
was present.

The prospect of dealing with his roommate’s online gaming all night somewhat 
dampened Mike’s good mood, but then he realized something. It seemed that 
Todd’s online battle was not going well, because he was swearing and desperately 
going through on-line menus. Mike watched over his roommate’s shoulder with 
vague interest for a few minutes as his situation worsened. Suddenly Todd’s 
character took a hit and electronic blood spattered on the screen.

“Fuck! Godammit!”

Several flashing warnings came up:

“Yeah-yeah, I know! I know!”

When more electronic blood splashed on the screen Todd became increasingly 
desperate. Mike knew just enough about the online game to understand that his 
roommate’s character was seriously injured and at risk of dying.

“Sonofabitch!”

Another hit, and more electronic blood…

“NO! GODAMMIT! NO!!!!!!!”

More flashing warnings…

“Come-on godammit, help me! HELP ME!!!!”

A few more minutes of desperation…and then quiet funeral music started 
playing… 

“Sonofabitch! NO! Fuck! FUCK! GODAMMIT! NO!!!!!!!”

Todd’s character lay peacefully on a dark screen, as electronic spirits came to take 
his soul to the game’s afterlife. A poem in medieval script informed him that he 
had fought well, but we all must pass away at some point. His time had come…

Todd threw his keyboard off to the side and pounded his desk. He was crying.

Awesome! And Mike had been there to see it happen! He tried to maintain a 
neutral expression as he took off his clothes and grabbed his shower stuff. He 
smiled as soon as he was out of the room.

This was his day. Not one, but two great things had happened in the same 
evening.

