Highway Part 12

Highway Chapter 11(continued)

When morning broke, I woke up. I watched the sun rise over the horizon, slowly beginning its trek across the sky. I watched as it turned from ebony, to navy, to cerulean, and light blue. Just as the yellow had begun to peer over the horizon like a child peering at the dessert on the table, I decided to get ready to leave.

Stretching leisurely, I got up, changed, and put out the fire. I glanced over to where Veronica was sleeping, and couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Her hair was splayed out, her mouth slightly open, and her nose twitching at some dream. She looked rather peaceful when she was asleep, and I couldn’t tell that she was a girl with such a pained and angry past. Her face was relaxed, and it made her look like an entirely different person. I would have liked to have let her dream a bit longer, but we needed to head out pretty soon. It was six right now, and I wanted to be out of the town around twelve-thirty  in the afternoon. Dreading the confrontation that was sure to come, I went to wake her up.

“Veronica,” I called softly. “Veronica, wake up.”

She stirred, but didn’t prove more responsive. Sighing, I bent down and shook her shoulder.

“Veronica,” I said, a bit louder and forceful this time.

She jumped, now open eyes bleary with sleep filled with confusion. As she woke up a little bit more, she realized it was just me. It was obvious nobody slept around her often, which made me believe she lived alone.

“What?” she asked drowsily, her voice taking on a child like tone.

“It’s time to get up, we need to head to the town up ahead. Get your stuff packed. We’ll eat breakfast and go.” I said, yawning.

She repeated the action and sat for a moment. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as I had thought. Then from behind me I heard her say,

“What do you mean let’s go? What time is it?”

She looked at the thin digital watch on her wrist, and moaned.

“It’s six in the morning! What the hell is wrong with you? I am not going anywhere at six in the morning except back to bed!”

So it was going to be difficult. I thought I should try a more reasonable approach first, tell her why it’s important.

“Come on, Veronica. We need to go into town today to get you supplies. If we don’t go now, we won’t make it out in time to get to the hotel outside of it in time.”

I had told her that if we got all of our errands done tomorrow, we would have time to make it to the small motel and stay there for the night, instead of outside. It wasn’t my favorite thing to do, but I thought some extra motivation would be good for her.

She stirred again, but then continued to ignore me.

“Besides, if you want to do this, you’re going to have to cooperate with me here. I wake with the sun and sleep with the sun. It’s just the way it is. Help me out.” I pleaded to her. 

She swatted me away snapping, “And I will work with you when it’s not so god forsaken early. But right now I will do no negotiating with you. Now leave me alone.”

She buried her head underneath her pillow.

Sighing, I realized I would have to resort to more desperate measures. I tried to be reasonable, so now I would be unreasonable.

“If you don’t get up, something not so good is going to happen. Are you sure?”

She lifted her pillow off her head, giving me a glare.

“You don’t have the guts.”

I raised my eyebrows, but shrugged.

“Alright, Veronica, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

I picked up my empty water bottle, and watched her snuggle back into her sleeping bag. Making my way down the hill to the creek nearby, I filled my bottle to the brim with the clear water. It was freezing, especially since it was morning, and I consoled myself with the fact that I had tried being the good guy.

Creeping silently up the hill, I approached her still form. Her sleeping bag was already unzipped most of the way, so I didn’t have to worry about it getting wet. Then, with a flick of my wrist, I opened the bottle right over Veronica.

She bolted out of that bag faster than a jackrabbit, screeching like a banshee. Her clothes were stuck to her skin, and her hair was matted to her forehead and clinging to her back. It was dripping over all that had been missed by the stream before.  It took her a moment of flailing around to see me standing there, a now empty bottle in hand.

“You!” she cried accusingly, “Did you just pour water on me?”

She was fuming.

“Well I warned you a few times,” I said casually, “if you had listened to me in the first place, we wouldn’t be having this problem, don’t you agree?”  

She just stood there puffing angrily, looking as if she were thinking on how to plan my untimely demise. I strolled to the side of the camp her stuff was on, and I threw her bag to her feet.

“Come on, we’re running late.” 

I finished gathering the rest of the camp into bags. Ignoring her presence as she grew increasingly irate, I zipped up my backpack, shouldering it in one fluid motion. Freed from her strange moment of silent fury, she sprang back with a force.

“Do you expect me to just stand here and take that? You just poured water all over me because you suck, and now you want me to be all hunkey dorey with that? Oh yeah it’s fine, I love to be doused with water in the mornings. Is that was you expect I’ll say?”

She was growing more upset, and this wouldn’t end well if we continued on.

“What I expect,” I replied with authority, “is that we get things done when they need to be done, and that we do it together. If you don’t want to do this anymore then be my guest, I’ll take you to town and you can get directions to where you’re going.”

She faltered in her no doubt nasty reply, and seemed at a loss for words. I didn’t want her to leave, and it was highly doubtful she would, but she needed to know that she chose this and therefore needed to be committed to it. Faced with this ultimatum, she would take being doused in water any day.

Deciding not to say anything that might kindle the embers of her anger, I merely told her that she should change for she could get sick if she kept on wet clothes. As she went off to change, still looking slightly murderous, I hoped fervently this wasn’t how all of our mornings were. I remember being stubborn enough to  keep arguing. I also made a note to myself to keep an eye out for a revenge prank from Veronica.

She slowly trailed back, mumbling a string of curses the entire way, all about me. I caught quite a few words I couldn’t even believe someone her age would know. She marched past me, grumbling, before she realized she didn’t know which way to go.

As I walked past her, she called my attention back.

“Just so you know, Matthew,” she said menacingly, “I’m not coming because I forgive you. I’m only here because I have nothing better to do, so don’t think it’s because I like you. I don’t. And I’m still mad at you. Are we clear?”

She was mad now, but I was sure she would come around. But to avoid another fight, I just agreed. She lagged behind me, still complaining under her breath. I pondered if my “full name” had some significance of being in trouble, but decided it didn’t really matter.  She would get over it, in time.

The town was only a few miles away, and we were making good time. The sun had just come up all the way, and it was bringing the animals that weren’t already awake to life.

As with the day before, Veronica was entranced with the nature around her. She spotted some colorful flowers by the side of the road a myriad of buds and blooms attached to long rods, and slowed significantly to look at them. She turned, as if to ask me, but then stopped and crossed her arms.

“Those are Baby Snapdragons. Beautiful, aren’t they?”

She didn’t look at me, but she didn’t look away. I was getting the silent treatment, but it wasn’t necessarily the cold shoulder either. I would make her less mad with me before we got in the town.

I explained to her how a beaver built a dam, how a woodpecker got its food. I explained everything we passed. And though she wouldn’t respond or take a pause from “ignoring” me, I certainly had her ear. The way to her heart was through nature. She also seemed to have a strong love for stories and tales.

As we reached the town, I was finishing telling her about the time I saw a beaver bring down an entire tree. She had resumed walking next to me, not hanging back. I had, at the very least, lessened her anger to the point she wasn’t thinking of horrible things to do to me while I am sleeping. Or perhaps just not right now.

This town was at least twice the size of Veronica’s, so there wouldn’t be as many people sensing us and becoming uncomfortable. It was also located right on the highway, so a lot of “strange” people came to the town.

Veronica looked around the town with a smile on her face. Had she been here before? If she had been, it was a good trip. I could see it in her eyes.

We had left around seven, and it had taken us an hour to get here. That left us with 4 hours before we headed out. Getting everything we needed for a good price would take anywhere from 2-3 hours, especially if they were in a bad mood.

Now done looking back at her memories, Veronica looked bored senseless.

Hoping to cheer her up, I turned to her and said, “You know, this is going to take a while. You can come if you want, but I think you would have more fun if you explored the town. I’ll tell you what, do whatever is fun in this town, but don’t draw any attention to yourself. The last thing we need are people staring at us the whole way through town.  I’ll meet you here at 11:30, I would say. Does that work for you?”

Her eyes lit up with excitement, and I wondered if maybe I was going to regret this decision. I couldn’t see much harm in it, and it would put her in a better mood, that was great.

“Okay! I got it!” she practically snag, the first words since this morning.

  I didn’t know if she heard me correctly, so I made her repeat back what I said. With no other reason to hold her back, I set her loose on the unsuspecting townspeople.

“Be nice!” I shouted to her as she was trotting down the aisle.

She raised her hand to show that she heard me, and I felt the littlest bit reassured. I went into the little shop to get Veronica’s basic supplies.

After a conversation where I convinced the man to give it to me on sale, I spotted something to the side. It was just sitting there, lonely but hopeful someone would pick it up. I didn’t know if Veronica would like the item, but to me it just seemed like it would be a great present for her. I thought of it as a “welcome to the club” present. It wasn’t very expensive, so I snatched it off of the shelf.

“I’ll take this as well, please,” I said to the cashier.

The whole key of keeping incognito was to stay distant from people, but be polite to everyone. Keeping an easy going demeanor and having proper manners are critical to making yourself seem normal. I should have told Veronica that, I told myself, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I trusted her enough to know she wouldn’t do anything really stupid, and she seemed plenty capable of getting herself out of most situations. She was quick on her feet, which was a quality that drifters needed to have to avoid detection as being “different”.

I spend the next few hours browsing through stores, making sure there wasn’t anything we needed.