(copyright 2002 Camille LaGuire, all rights reserved)
They waited for more than an hour. At least it seemed like that long. Lysette didn't have a watch.
"Maybe I ought to go look for her," said Elliot after a while. "What kind of car does she drive?"
"A blue one."
"Okay, but what make?"
"American, I think."
"That's helpful."
"It's old and rusty, and it's small. It's a hatchback!" Lysette felt triumphant at remembering it was a hatchback, but Elliot did not look impressed.
"Is it a Chevy? A Ford? Olds? What?"
Lysette bit her lip and tried to remember. She wasn't quite sure she ever knew. She could spot a Quarter Horse from a Morgan at a hundred yards, but a car was a car.
"You don't know what kind of car your mother drives?"
"No," she admitted. "I think I better go with you."
He opened the door of his car and waited for her to get in. Suddenly she realized she was about to get into a car with a stranger. Well, a virtual stranger.
"Um, I don't want to offend you or anything, but I think I better go into the restaurant and tell somebody where I'm going and who I'm going with...." She felt herself blushing. These people had been nice to her. She didn't want to treat them like criminals. They looked at each other and grinned.
"So who's offended," said Elliot with a shrug.
"I was ready to bop you one if you got into that car with him without doing something," said Mindy.
Lysette hobbled one more time into the restaurant and gave the clerk the license number of the red sports car. Then back out again to climb into the car.
She was glad to sit. Her foot was beginning to ache, and her other leg was tired of taking her weight. The little car purred and shot out of the parking lot, where it promptly stopped. The traffic was bumper to bumper going north. They could not turn left onto the southbound lane.
Elliot stood up and looked in both directions. "There's a light up there," he said, pointing north. "I may be able to get turned around there." They eased into the northbound lane, and Lysette twisted around to see if she could see her mother's car. Her neck hurt. She unbuckled her seatbelt, and started to turn around to face south.
"Put your seatbelt back on."
"We aren't going fast enough to crash."
"Somebody else could run into us."
"They're going too slow, too."
"Your mother will kill me."
That was true enough.
"I won't tell. Besides, she's already going to kill me for getting in a car with a stranger."
"Buckle up, kiddo."
Lysette could not see much of anything anyway. She sat down and put her seat belt back on. They crawled up to the intersection, then waited in the turn lane. Turning was easy enough because no one was going south, but they had to drive a ways down the side street to find a place to turn around. The traffic on the side-street was heavy, going in the direction of the highway.
"She'll probably be there by the time we get this turn accomplished," said Elliot.
"I hope she doesn't freak out when she sees Mindy with King." Lysette did worry about that. Momma would be worried sick, whether she saw King without Lysette, or Lysette without King, she'd worry.
"Is your mother sensible?"
"Yes."
"Then she'll probably think you found somebody to hold the horse while you went to the bathroom, or something."
"You think so?"
He paused. "No. It is my experience that mothers assume the worst."
"Mine too."
The restaurant was in view again. Lysette craned her neck to see if Momma's car was in the parking lot. She couldn't even see King! Did he run away again? Had he been stolen? No, Mindy had just moved him further back, where there was more grazing. No sign of Momma or her car.
"What do you think happened to her?" said Lysette.
"I don't know. A flat tire, maybe. Could be an accident, but it couldn't be serious. Not with this slow traffic."
Lysette recalled the white Buick. What if some idiot was going too fast on the shoulder, or in the turn lane? Momma's car was little. If, say, a pickup truck ran into it, it could be serious accident.
"Look," said Elliot. "If there was a bad accident, the road would be blocked, and none of this traffic would get by."
That was probably true. Lysette was worrying the same way her mother would. But....
"But why didn't I pass her on the way? She went on ahead of me."
Elliot paused. He had no easy explanation for that. Now she was really worried.
"Are you watching for her car?" he said at last.
"Yes."
They drove along in silence. Now that they were going south, they could move at a reasonable speed. It was surprising how fast they covered the ground that had seemed to take all morning. No sign of Momma's car anywhere.
"You said she went to get gas," said Elliot.
"Yes."
"There's your explanation." He was pointing ahead, to a gas station. It was almost exactly opposite the place where King had spooked, so that was why Lysette had not noticed it. There was a big sign out front. "OUT OF GAS."
"She had to go look for more gas!" said Lysette in relief.
They pulled into the station, and the attendant strolled out to meet them. He nodded at the sign.
"No gas," he said, "but I can check your oil."
"How long you been out?" asked Elliot.
"Couple hours."
"Any place nearby that still has gas?"
"Prob'ly the Gas Co station. Head on back north to the light, and turn right."
Lysette and Elliot looked at each other. That was the light they had just used to turn around. Only they had gone in the wrong direction.
"Wouldn't you know," said Elliot.
They managed to force their way back into the northbound lane. Lysette strained to see as they passed the restaurant once again. King had attracted a crowd of children. No Momma, though. Lysette waved at Mindy. Mindy waved back. No urgent gesture for them to pull in, so Momma must not have shown up yet.
They made another round of the slow traffic, this time turning right at the light. The road curved a little, making it hard to see too far ahead.
Lysette caught a glimpse of the stained roof of Momma's car around the bend.
"There! That's it!"
She struggled against the seatbelt to stand up for a better view. Yes, it was Momma's car. It was parked on the shoulder.
"Something's wrong with it. You think she had an accident?"
"Calm down, kid. We'll see in a minute." Elliot paused to shout at a driver who had tried to bypass traffic by cutting between the two narrow lanes. Traffic had slowed in both directions until someone let the guy back into the lane where he started.
Once traffic was moving again, they pulled up behind Momma's car. The car was empty, no sign of either Momma or Chuckie.
"Stay here, kid, and give that foot a rest."
Elliot got out and walked around Momma's car.
"No sign of an accident," he said when he got back. "My guess is she ran out of gas."
"So she's probably walking to the gas station?"
"Or maybe the car broke down."
"But she'd still head for the gas station, wouldn't she?"
"I would."
They eased back into traffic and continued toward the gas station. Lysette started thinking about the idiot drivers who had tried to pass on the shoulder. Momma was pretty short. Would an impatient driver like that see her? Lysette had almost been hit, while riding on a 1500 pound horse and wearing a neon bandanna. And what if Chuckie ran into the road?
She unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up on her good foot, holding onto the windshield for support.
"Siddown!" said Elliot, but she stayed up just a little longer. She saw something bobbing at the side of the road.
"I think I see Momma's hat," she said. "Yes, it is. It is! She's okay!"
"You didn't say anything about a dog," said Elliot, as they pulled close enough for him to see them too. He pulled over in front of Momma and Chuckie.
Momma looked haggard and worried as she dragged herself along. When she saw the little red car blocking her way, she pulled Chuckie's leash and looked a little scared.
Lysette leaped out and hobbled quickly to her mother.
"Where were you?" said Lysette. "Did you run out of gas or what? I thought you might have had an accident or something!"
Lysette realized that she was babbling out questions she knew the answers to. Elliot was right behind her, and he was babbling too.
"She took a spill, but she's okay. Nothing to worry about...."
Momma looked from one to the other, probably unable to get clear what either one was saying.
"Where's King?" she said.
"At the Burger Maker."
"With Mindy, my wife."
"And just who are you?" asked Momma.
"I'm Elliot Gleason."
"Do you think you can fit us all into that little car of yours? I'm out of gas and so is the gas station."
Elliot looked doubtfully back at the two-seater sports car.
"The dog's gonna be a challenge."
There was a little space behind the back seat, and by removing some luggage from there to the trunk, they made just enough room for Chuckie. Lysette sat on Momma's lap. The only problem was keeping Chuckie in his place. You'd think he'd have been tired, but he wasn't.
They explained as they made their way back by the same kind of twisted route they had used to get there. Momma didn't say much, but the story of how King had been spooked clearly worried her.
"When do they expect it to make landfall?" she said.
"Still pretty late tonight," said Elliot.
"But the weather will get bad before that." Momma thought, and sighed. "It isn't far, though. We'll just have to make it walking."
"I can give you a ride," said Elliot.
"I don't want my child riding alone in this traffic any more."
Elliot nodded. Lysette didn't argue either. She would just as soon have Momma walking alongside for the rest of the way. Only Momma looked very tired. If only Lysette had not hurt her foot, Momma could ride.
When they got back to the restaurant, they paused to think. Elliot and Mindy refused to leave, and after a bucket of cold water revived Momma, they all decided that Momma and Mindy would take turns walking alongside King, at least until they got to the end of the highway. That way they could each rest, and so they could walk faster. Momma insisted on taking the first shift, even if she was tired.
"Momma," said Lysette, as they got ready to go. "You think King doesn't like me anymore?"
Momma stopped and turned.
"Now why would you think that?"
"Because he likes a perfect stranger better than me."
"Now you know what it's like to be a mother," she said, and she turned and started leading King along at a fast pace.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, that you love your kid, and you do what's best, and you work and everything, and along comes Grandma with cookies and presents and smiles, and the kid loves her more."
"I don't love Grandma more."
"Sometimes you do. When I make you do your homework, and she lets you off the hook."
"Okay, sometimes."
The wind gusted up and nearly blew Lysette's hat away. She grabbed it just in time. Momma looked up, and started moving along faster. Her face looked scared. Lysette looked up, and saw nothing but clouds overhead now, and thicker to the south. The storm was catching up.
King twitched his ears. The wind was scaring him, and he must have been tired. He did not know there was a storm. Or maybe he did, and he could not understand why his people were keeping him outside so long.
"We'll be there soon," she whispered, and patted him reassuringly. He did not seem reassured. Lysette was not all that reassured herself. The way that wind was picking up, it would be tossing trees around in no time.
Up ahead, the little red car had pulled over, waiting for them. Elliot and Mindy were putting the top up. As they came close, Mindy turned and whinnied, and King let out a wild trumpet. His whole back shook as he whinnied, and the feeling made Lysette giggle. She and Momma looked at each other knowingly.
"Just like Grandma," said Lysette.