A Trip to Texas

This is probable the best example of what not to do, when your world falls apart. I can't complain though, it worked out for me, but then again a chance meeting changed my luck. Chance, luck, and fate; three little words that can mean a whole lot of different things, to different people. Take a chance, make your own luck, and fate will take care of itself, that's the way I see it.

*****

Just after the first of the year, my wife of six years decided she wanted greener pastures. To tell the truth, I was quite relieved. The only thing about the relationship that was any good, at the end, was the sex. It was great, but that's the way life is.

To make matters even worse, the company I worked for got bought out. The new owners weren't too bad, but the new manager was an asshole. So what do you do, when you're up to your alligator in assholes? I decided to go on vacation and hide in the woods. That's camping to the uninformed.

I had about thirty days worth of time coming, so I got out the maps and tried to decide where to go. The state map showed a lot of options. The United States map showed a whole lot more. I balked at the world map. I figured I didn't have that much time, after all.

Everywhere looked good; I couldn't or wouldn't make a decision. So I left it all lying on the kitchen table, popped the top on a beer, and kicked back in front of the television set. Surfing the channels brought me to the weather station. Another cold polar front was on its way. That sparked an idea.

Why not head south? After all, I'd never been there. The weather would be warm and I'd heard the people were too.

*****

I hadn't taken any time off in so long I couldn't remember the last camping trip I'd made. It was an Easter egg hunt for all my equipment. Saturday, I spent most of the day just finding and setting it all up, and Sunday was used for sorting, packing, and loading it into my old pickup. Monday and Tuesday, I had to work, so I drove the car.

Tuesday night, I packed my clothes and the ice chests. Even after a couple of beers, I couldn't sleep. After a couple of hours trying, I gave up and got dressed. I'd figured on getting an early start anyway, now was as good a time as any.

My original plan was to leave after rush hour and drive to a small state park in the southern end of the state. I planned on staying there a day or two, depending on the weather. After that, it was anyone's guess. South was the general direction and I had no specific destination in mind.

Two thirty in the morning is the only time of day to drive in a big city. Normally, I'm just like the rest of the drunks at this time of night. I just want to make it home safely, no accidents, no tickets. Being sober at this time of the morning and driving along in no hurry was kind of new to me. Maybe I should have tried it more often; I probably wouldn't be half as crazy as I am.

By four, I was well south of town and getting sleepy; coffee was the next order of business. I'd meant to bring a thermos, but had forgotten. Truck stop six miles ahead, that's what, the sign said and it sounded like a deal to me.

The place was open but deserted, with just one car in the large lot. The hoods up on it and someone's poking around within the engine compartment. Well, coffee is where you can find it.

Grabbing a seat in the corner booth, I ordered a cup from the waitress. Later, she returned with a cup and small jug of coffee. The coffee's not bad. Halfway through the second cup, the front door opens and in walks the guy that was messing with the car outside.

When he takes off the black watch cap and heavy coat, I realize it's a she, and not a bad looking woman, by any means. I couldn't tell a whole lot about her figure because of the bulky sweater and loose fitting jeans. She was short, slim, and cute as hell. She looked around a second, and then moved toward me.

"Do you know anything about cars?" She asks.

I grin and reply, "Not enough, probably, I can put gas in one and maybe change my own oil, if I had too. Other than that, it's touch and go. If I touch the key, I expect it to go."

She chuckled and said, "Sounds familiar, I stopped to use the restroom here and now that piece of junk won't start. The guy I bought it from said he had worked it over and it was in great shape."

I shook my head. "That usually means it'll get you off the lot and out of sight. That's also, where the warranty ends. I can take a look if you'd like. I doubt if I can find anything, but I'll try."

Grabbing my coat, I flagged the waitress and told her I'd be right back. Outside, with a flashlight, I took a look at the ailing engine. I wasn't kidding her about my automotive knowledge. I couldn't find anything obviously wrong from the top, so I climbed as far up under the little car as I could.

All that got me was oil in my hair. There was a puddle under the back of the pan. I moved around to the side of the car to get a better look, while the girl went in search of a rag. There wasn't a plug in the pan. Sitting here on a slight incline, what was left of the oil in it had drained out.

When I stood up, she handed me a towel. As I wiped at the oil in my hair, I explained as best I could what the problem was. I asked her to get in the car, set the emergency brake, and take it out of gear. Grabbing the fan belts, I tried to move the engine. The belts just slipped on the pulleys. I told her to hit the starter. There was a dull thud as the starter rammed home.

So much for that, it was locked solid. I lowered the hood and walked over to the driver's window. "We might as well go back inside, the motors locked up. It looks like the oil pan plug came out, dumping the oil on the road. When you stopped here, it seized up. Nothing's going to move it now, except maybe a tow truck."

"Damn!" she said softly. "If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have none at all. First, my job, and then my boyfriend, now this." She paused, took a deep breath or two, and leaned her forehead on the steering wheel. "All I wanted to do was go home. Maybe something is telling me, I can't."

"Look, let's go inside, have some coffee, and warm up. If you need a ride somewhere, I'll see what I can do. How's that?"

"How about Texas?" she said. "You wouldn't be going that far would you."

I laughed and replied, "Sounds good to me, I wasn't sure where I was going on vacation, but Texas is as good a place, as any."

She sat in the car staring at me. Finally, she said. "You aren't kidding are you?"

"Why should I?" I asked with a laugh. "It's not a good place to go for a vacation? I've heard a lot about it, but never been there. You want to go home and I'm running away to hide. Similar to you, I'm newly divorced, got a shit head for a boss, and tired of being cold. The sun does shine down there, doesn't it?"

Now it was her turn to laugh. "You sure do talk fast and long. You ask questions but don't wait for an answer. If you're going to Texas, you'd better learn to slow down."

She paused for a moment to look at me closely. "I don't normally take to strangers right off but you're different. Somehow I know this to be a fact."

Again, there was a slight pause. "Let's get some coffee and talk."

*****

When we were settled back at the table inside and had our coffee poured, she said, "First of all, my names Lilly, secondly, yes, Texas is a beautiful place to spend time. Third, it's a whole bunch warmer; at it's coldest than it is here now. Fourth, I'm looking for a ride and nothing more. I want that much understood, up front. I'll pay my part of the expenses."

She had been ticking each point off on a finger as she went. When she finished, she picked up her coffee cup and slowly sipped at it as she watched me. I opened my mouth to speak, and then thought about what she'd said earlier.

When I replied, I tried to match her slower speech patterns. "I'm glad to meet you, Lilly. My names Jack, Jack Long and my mother raised me to be a gentleman, whether I wanted to be or not. A ride to Texas is what I offered. Nothing more is assumed or implied. Now that I've got a direction, I'll need a guide, if you want the job. Food, gas, and campground fees are about the only expenses, we'll have."

"Campground?" She asked.

"Yes, this is a camping trip. I have my tent and all my gear in the back of the truck. I have thirty days worth of vacation time and I wanted to spend the time away from towns and cities. Anyway motels are too expensive." I explained.

"You're right about motels. I had planned on staying in the car two nights out of three. Camping? I don't know; you've got only the one tent?"

"Well, yes. You can sleep in the truck, if it will make you feel safer. I'm not too sure how comfortable it would be. I've slept there and didn't get too much rest, but you're shorter so it may be better. I have an extra pillow and blanket."

"Hey, watch the short jokes," she said with a short laugh.

"Sorry." With a grin, I continued, "I didn't know you were sensitive about you're height. You don't appear to be vertically challenged. I think that's the politically correct term, isn't it."

"Yeah, I think your right, but I can't help it if my parents built my butt to close to the sidewalk. I may not be able to see over much of anything, but my legs reach from my ass to the ground, which is all that counts," she finished with a smile.

I glanced at my watch; it showed a quarter to six. I was pretty much tanked up on coffee and this nice ladies company, so I proposed that we load her stuff up and get on the road.

She sat staring at me for several long moments before she spoke. "I haven't said I'd take the offer of a ride or the guide job for that matter. Then again, what are my choices?"

Still staring at me, she again paused. "You seem to be a really nice guy. That's something hard to come by. I should know; if you know what I mean."

A little longer pause this time, then with a smile she continued. "I'll take the ride and the job, but we'll have to discuss the pay scale for a guide of my high caliber. We can do that on the road. Shall we get a move on?"

*****

Outside we loaded her bags into my truck. Most of her stuff had been shipped home. She had two small travel bags and a large duffel bag. A small garment bag, two blankets, and a pillow completed the transfer. I lowered the fiberglass bed cover and we climbed into the cab of the truck.

Five miles down the highway, the heater finally caught up. Another five miles passed and I had to pull over to remove my coat. Lilly did the same. More comfortable we headed south as the sun rose slowly.

I drove the speed limit more or less. Mostly less, the roads were clear and dry but the wind was blowing hard and gusty as hell. Lilly had kicked off her boots and curled up in the corner with her feet up on the seat. After a while, she dozed off. Another hour down the road, all that coffee finally caught up with me and I started scanning the roadside for a gas station.

I spotted one and pulled off the highway. There was a stop sign at the end of the off ramp, as I stopped Lilly's eyes opened. "I hope this is a pit stop with a bathroom," she said.

I had to laugh. "Coffee goes through faster than beer. I've never understood that. Coffee should be slower, it has to change color, and beer doesn't. The mysteries of Mother Nature, who can understand them."

Lilly looked at me for a moment and then said, "I thought I was the only one who thought about things like that. My theory is that coffee makes you sober and is mostly water, while beer makes you drunk and deadens the kidneys. I may not be right, but it sounds good." She finished with a laugh. I nodded and grinned, as I pulled up to the gas pumps.

As I killed the motor she said, "Flip you, for the bathroom first."

I laughed and replied, "You go ahead; I'm going to fill up the truck first."

By the time I got inside, she was paying for the gas and a couple of cokes.

*****

As I got the truck settled back in on the highway, I said, "I had intended to stop at a small state park about two hundred miles south of here, but I got an early start and we should be there around noon. That's too early to stop, is what I'm thinking, but I don't know of anything else farther south. I guess it's time for you to start earning your guide pay. There's a map in the glove box."

Lilly got out the map and unfolded it. It basically covers the eastern half of the U.S. After studying it for a while she said, "This thing only covers the major highways and the Interstate highways. If we figure it gets dark by six, then we have about eight hours of driving time. How early of a start did you get, I've been up since three A.M., and I'll crash early."

I told her about my early start and she chuckled. "You'll be out before I will."

She went back to studying the map. "Figuring four hundred

miles in the next six hours or so will put us just south of the state line. There's a campground marked at a place called Deer's Lake, how does that sound?"

I chuckled and said, "I hope that's spelled with two "E's.""

She laughed and nodded. "It is."

"In that case, it sounds good to me." I replied.

*****

Over the next couple of hours, I learned that Lilly was forty-four and up until a week ago, had been a photographer and writer for a small women's magazine. Like the company I worked for, the magazine had been bought by a larger company. Unlike mine, hers had been bought to close, eliminating competition.

Two days ago, she had been out looking for another job and had broken a heel. When she returned to her apartment, she found her boyfriend in bed with her roommate. There had been a big fight and she told them both to go get screwed and that she had had enough of them both and the big city. It was time for her to go back to her roots and that's where she was heading.

I gave her my whole sob story about the ex wife and my company. When I finished, she asked, "You do computer graphics? Exactly what is that? I know very little about computers but I know graphics, design and photography, anyway."

"It's basically the same thing, only on a computer. The old way of cut and paste is dead, thank God. I can do more now than I ever could before computers. Photographs can even be edited and graphed together in ways that were impossible ten years ago. It's a booming business." I told her.

"That's very interesting, is it hard to learn?" She asked.

"Not really. Learning how to use a scanner and the computer itself is the hard part. The rest is just learning what the different graphics, art, and paint programs will do. Some are easier and better than others, no one program seems to be able to do everything you want," I said. "I have my laptop in the back. When we get a little time, I can show you the basics."

She smiled at me and said, "Thank you, I'd appreciate that. I had planned on taking a course later on this year but now...." She let the sentence trail off.

After a minute or two of silence, she said, "I feel tired, not physically, just mentally. Probably depressed is a better word. I spent the last four years, trying to build myself a career and now I'm back to square one. I feel old and worn out."

She paused and took a deep breath, staring out the windshield. "Starting over is going to be hard and I don't know what I'm going to do. I've had enough of the big city and there's no work in small towns, not the kind I want to do, anyway."

She grew silent again. After another couple of minutes, she glanced over at me and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dump my problems on you. You're out to enjoy your vacation and here I am, raining on your parade."

I looked at her for a second and then returned my gaze to the highway. "Actually, I'm running away from home, remember."

I took a deep breath and continued, "I've been feeling old and tired for about a month now, myself. You're about ten years younger than I am. Think how I feel. The asshole that I work for will end up getting rid of me and bringing in a couple of the young hotshots as a replacement. He'll pay them less and expect more from them. They don't have the experience to do the job as well as I do, but who cares?"

I took another deep breath, glanced over at Lilly, and grinned. "Damn, it feels good to vent a little."

She laughed and said, "Yeah, it does. I think we both needed that. It sure beats the hell out of crying, which is where I was headed before I let it all out."

I chuckled and said, "Please, don't cry. It will make me all mushy and I'd probably join you. Then where would my he-man, macho, image be?"

She laughed and hit me on the shoulder. "Macho? You? I don't think so. You're too nice of a guy to play that game." She looked at me for a second or two and then added, "I think your ex wife was an idiot. Men like you are hard to come by."

I glanced over at her and said, "Careful, you'll have me blushing in a minute. As far as the ex goes, that's my fault. She was a lot younger than I was, and I guess I wasn't as much fun as she wanted out of life. I was a meal ticket and she was...." I let the sentence trail off. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to say.

Cocking her head to one side, Lilly asked, "She was what? Go on, don't leave me wondering."

I looked over at her and thought about it for a moment. Then I decided to tell the truth. "She was young, good looking, and great in bed. Other than that, nothing else comes to mind." I glanced over at her and added, "Now you'll think, I'm some kind of a dirty old man."

She laughed so hard; I thought she would fall off the seat. When her laughter died down to a chuckle, I asked, "What the hell is so funny? I know I acted silly and stupid, but...."

She waved me off and said, "It's not you, it's me. I wonder what the female equivalent to a dirty old man is." She chuckled again and continued, "My boyfriend was half my age. My roommate was just a little older than he was. Talk about silly and stupid, I'm the poster child."

I shook my head slowly and shot her a grin. "We make a pair, don't we? Hello, Miss Silly, meet Mr. Stupid."

She grinned back and slid across the seat to kiss me on the cheek, saying, "Glad to meet you, sir."

When she didn't slide back, I turned my head and gently brushed my lips against hers, and then said, "The pleasure is all mine, kind lady."

She looked at me hard for a second and then slid back a little. I glanced at her and said, "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I was out of line."

She continued to look at me for nearly a minute before she said, "Its ok."

Slowly, she moved back over against the door and pulled her legs up to sit cross-legged, facing me. A faint smile played at the corners of her mouth a moment before she added, "I think I liked it. It was so natural and sweet."

To change the subject I asked, "Are you hungry? There's a truck stop coming up and I need another pit stop. I could use some food also."

She grinned and said, "Cool move." Then after a little pause, she went on. "Yeah, I could go for some lunch and a pit stop."

*****

After lunch, I was gassing the truck when Lilly asked, "Is the bed cover locked."

When I said no, she went to the back of the truck and opened it, to get out one of her bags. "I'll be right back, these pants are uncomfortable."

When I came back from paying for the gas, she was once again sitting cross-legged in the front seat of the truck. The baggy jeans were gone and a long full skirt covered her lower body. The bulky, heavy sweater had been replaced with a lighter one that went more with the skirt.

"I hope you don't mind, this is more my normal style. Being alone on the road, I was kind of hiding myself. You can never tell what kind of weird people you might run into," she said and then grinned.