Road Test

by David Wickenhauser

  “OK, we’re out of here,” Hugh said. He motioned for Jenny to rise from her seat.

  “It’s been interesting, but you want to go places in this interview where we don’t want to go. So, we’re done.”

  Hugh and Jenny said quick goodbyes, and they were gone.

  Chapter Four

  Hugh brought a roundhouse punch swinging in all the way from out in the right outfield that clipped Jenny on the left side of her head. A pulled punch, of course. Jenny stepped back out of reach of Hugh’s planned follow-up left.

  This fight was taking place in Jenny’s bedroom.

  Jenny came right back in, feigned a kick to Hugh’s groin, and in the split second his mind was distracted with protecting his “boys,” she came in close and hard and sudden, and delivered a brutal left-right combination uppercut to Hugh’s chin.

  Dazed for the moment by Jenny’s tactic, Hugh was too slow to counter her next move. Jenny jumped onto the bed, and with the extra height advantage launched herself at Hugh. She scissored his head with her powerful swim-strengthened legs, and threw her weight to one side. This knocked them both off balance and sent them crashing to the floor. She finished the maneuver by chopping down at Hugh’s throat, but stopped a millimeter short of leaving him with a crushed larynx.

  An observer would have been forgiven for thinking the end result of this fight should have been decided differently, given that one of the combatants was big Hugh, and the other was little Jenny. But, then again, Jenny had the agility of a monkey, and she had no regard whatsoever for rules or for being fair in a fight.

  “OK guys. Knock it off up there,” Martha yelled from the bottom of the stairs. “Dinner’s ready.”

  “Coming, Mom,” Hugh yelled back.

  Jenny disentangled herself from Hugh, and they sat on the floor to remove the gloves, mouthpieces and headgear they had used to protect themselves during this sparring session.

  “That was a good workout,” Hugh said. “It felt especially good after the stress of meeting the reporter this morning.”

  They had gone to their sparring immediately after returning to the ranch from their drive down to Coeur d’Alene, and the disastrous meeting with the reporter.

  “Yeah. Definitely felt good. I’m glad that interview nonsense is over with,” Jenny said.

  “How is the self-defense training going with you two?” Martha asked, as Hugh and Jenny came down the stairs.

  “Well, I’ve got to tell you, Mom, I’m getting tired of getting beat up,” Hugh said, as he rubbed his chin.

  “Jenny’s doing OK?”

  “She’s doing better than OK. No surprise she’s a quick study. Fighting her is like trying to grapple with a bag of Jello, and trying to hit a column of smoke.”

  “Are you saying, mister, I’m built like a bag of Jello?” Jenny said, sounding faux angry.

  “No comment. I’ll quit while I’m ahead.”

  “I’m glad you’re giving her that training, son,” Martha said. “After what you guys went through during those hijackings it doesn’t hurt to have some extra self-protection skills under your belt.”

  “Agreed. I’m real confident she could take care of herself in a bad situation,” Hugh said.

  Martha busied herself serving up dinner while Jenny set the table.

  Loud footsteps clomping on the front porch heralded the Mann men, father and son, and Jenny’s little brother Jimmy, returning from working around the Northern Idaho combination horse and cattle ranch.

  Looking at the three men together left no doubt Hugh senior had passed on his good looks and manly stature to his two sons. Hugh’s younger brother, Roly, could have been mistaken for a younger Hugh. Maybe even more handsome than his older brother.

  The father and two sons together represented a big chunk of healthy, strapping Idaho manhood.

  Jimmy, who was seventeen years old, had been living with the Manns and helping out around the ranch ever since Jenny had become his legal guardian with the passing of their uncle, who was previously Jimmy’s guardian.

  Hugh’s dad, noticing both Hugh and Jenny were red-faced and perspiring, said in a teasing way, “What have you guys been up to?”

  Jenny, embarrassed, answered, “We were in my bedroom …”

  Hearing that, Hugh senior winked at Roly.

  “Sparring!” Hugh said, saving Jenny from further embarrassment. Jenny had been at the Mann’s ranch for several weeks, but she was still naïve and vulnerable to teasing from the Mann men, who were prone to tease with the least provocation.

  Last to come to dinner was Hugh’s little sister Mary. At eighteen years old, Mary hadn’t been born when Hugh had left the ranch to join the Marines. But older brother and baby sister had a warm relationship and enjoyed each other’s company on Hugh’s visits to the ranch.

  On the road for several months at a time, he took only the mandatory breaks and time off required by law, either at truck stops, or at resorts that allowed truck parking. WestAm Trucking favored drivers who didn’t need much home time, so granted him a lot of leeway and privileges.

  He would come home a couple of times a year when he needed time off from driving. He always found time to do something together with Mary.

  “Hey, big sister,” Mary said as she greeted Jenny. “Sister” was a reference that Jenny was going to be Mary’s sister-in-law someday.

  “Hey, kiddo,” Jenny replied with warmth in her voice.

  The two had hit it off right away when Hugh had first brought Jenny to the ranch. In between Mary’s studying to finish her college degree, and doing other chores, Mary and Jenny enjoyed riding horses and swimming together.

  “How did your interview with the reporter go?” Martha asked. Everyone knew Hugh and Jenny had driven to Sandpoint to meet a reporter named Charlie.

  “There were a few surprises,” Hugh replied. “First of all, Charlie is a female reporter.”

  “Nothing wrong with that,” Mary said. At eighteen, Mary was finishing her last year of college getting a degree in architecture. She had been homeschooled all her life, and was a Type A, getting through high school by the age of sixteen with a lot of college units already to her credit.

  “No. Not at all. It was just a surprise when we were expecting a Charlie guy to show up.”

  “So, how was she? Is it going to be a good story?” Martha asked.

  “We aren’t sure there will be a story. We didn’t exactly leave under pleasant circumstances. She wanted to dig into some of the worst parts of our hijacking experiences, and wouldn’t let up when we told her we didn’t want to go there.”

  “I’m betting she’s right in there with today’s media. Light on integrity, objectivity and journalistic ethics, and heavy on bias and agenda,” Hugh senior said.

  “My impression is you are probably right, Dad.”

  Hugh senior was the most conservative member of the Mann family.

  “Her newspaper put a lot of money into this interview,” Jenny said. “They flew her in their private jet from Boise to Coeur d’Alene, and put her up at the Bucks Spring Hotel, which is owned by the newspaper, by the way.”

  “I’ve heard of that hotel,” Hugh senior said. “It’s a four and a half-star hotel, usually the first one listed in the top ten of ‘best hotels’ lists for Northern Idaho.”

  “I’m glad it’s over,” Hugh said.

  “How are preparations coming for you to get back to driving, son?” Hugh senior asked.

  “Good. My truck is repaired, and it checks out as being good to go.”

  “And you obviously are feeling fit again, recovered from your concussion,” Martha said.

  “Yeah, obviously,” Hugh said, as he looked at Jenny. She grinned and made a punching gesture toward Hugh’s chin.

  “Really, all I need to do now is call dispatch and get back on the schedule,” Hugh said. “I have to admit I miss being on the road. I’m wanting to get behind the wheel again.”

  Even though it had felt longer, it was only
a few weeks earlier since Hugh had brought Jenny to the ranch in his damaged Freightliner Cascadia semi-truck. At the time, Hugh and Jenny had been feeling as wrecked as his poor truck, and as much in need of repair.

  It had been only a week earlier since Hugh had fully recovered from the concussion and other injuries he had suffered in a final hijacking confrontation with Jenny’s uncle and the one remaining member of the hijacking gang.

  Hugh’s recuperation had been capped off by a visit from his friend and trucking mentor, James, and with the visit from the representatives of the Idaho State Police to give him the commendation.

  He had enjoyed the time off, and relished being inaccessible to the world. No cell phone. He stayed off the Internet, and only occasionally checked his email. But now he was ready to hear the rumble of the big diesel engine, and feel the satisfaction of piloting the big rig down the road, always heading toward some distant horizon.

  Later that evening after dinner, Hugh and Jenny sat in comfortable chairs on the large wrap-around porch of the massive two-story log ranch house. Of an evening, they enjoyed being out there soaking in the crimson rays from the sun as it set behind the tall hills that rimmed the ranch property.

  “Hugh, are we really ready to leave pretty soon?” Jenny asked. “I hope so, because I want to. I love your family, and I love the ranch, but I am ready to hit the road too if you are.”

  Hugh didn’t respond. Instead, he stared off into the distance, building an uncomfortable silence between them.

  “Hugh?”

  “Listen, Jenny. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”

  “Uh, oh.”

  “Here’s the way it is. I plan to start driving again tomorrow if I can get a load. But you won’t be coming with me.”

  “That’s where you are wrong, mister. You remember what happened every other time you tried to leave without me? It didn’t ever go your way. Did it!”

  She sounded a lot like the Jenny he remembered from their first days together that felt like ages ago, but was only several weeks earlier.

  Hugh was surprised by the vehemence of Jenny’s reaction to this news.

  “Jenny, can’t you see I can’t take a chance on anything happening to you? I love you, and you are going to be my wife. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you because I took you on the road with me.”

  “But Hugh, all that crazy stuff is over. Nobody wants to hurt us, or hijack us, or whatever.” She had changed her tone to pleading.

  Hugh stood up and leaned against the porch railing, looking out over the darkening hills. After a while he said, “As hard as it is for me to say this, I’ve made up my mind. You aren’t coming with me. Period.”

  But when he turned to gage Jenny’s reaction she was no longer there. Her chair was empty.

  The pleasant evening was over.

  As he walked through the house to go upstairs to his bedroom, he saw his mom standing at the bottom of the stairs. Her look signaled Hugh wasn’t going to get past her without him submitting to a “Mom” intervention.

  “OK, Hugh, what’s going on?” I saw Jenny going up to her room. She didn’t look happy.”

  “Mom, I really don’t feel like talking right now, but I know you aren’t going to let it go. So what’s going on is I told Jenny she isn’t going to ride with me when I leave tomorrow.”

  “I’m not going to stand here and tell you what to do. But I will ask you if you have thought carefully about that decision, and what it means to Jenny?”

  “Mom, look at it from my point of view. So many dangerous things have happened to us since I picked her up hitchhiking, and she joined me on the truck. Some of it could have been fatal to one or both of us. I can’t put her through that again.”

  “Don’t you see, though, Hugh, she might feel the same way about you going off without her? What if something happened to you, and she could have been there to help you?”

  “But, Mom …” Hugh said, starting to object.

  Martha interrupted her son. “You admit she did save you more than once. In fact, Hugh, I understand you probably wouldn’t be here right now if it hadn’t been for her.”

  Hugh clearly remembered. It was the last hijacking, after the Trooper Donovan one, and Jenny’s uncle had knocked Hugh unconscious with a tire iron, and was about to finish him off for good. Jenny saved Hugh’s life by bashing in the back of her uncle’s head with a fire extinguisher, killing him.

  “OK, Mom. I give up. I’ll think about it, and I’ll talk to her. If she will talk to me,” Hugh said. He kissed his mom on the cheek, and said “good night” so she would let him get past her to go up to his room.

  At the top of the stairs, Hugh turned toward Jenny’s room. He knocked with gentle raps at her door. “Jenny, it’s me. Can we talk?”

  No answer.

  He knocked again, and again Jenny didn’t respond.

  He bet himself she was hiding out in his truck like she had done last time he tried to leave without her. It had worked for her that time. She had gotten her way.

  Walking toward his room, he passed Mary’s door. She must have been waiting for him because she opened the door and motioned him inside.

  “Listen, bud,” she said. “You are going to take her with you when you leave, and that’s final.”

  She emphasized the word “final” with a hard poke to his chest.

  That hurt. All five feet eight inches of her could jab like a motorcycle gang member.

  “Geez, doesn’t anybody give anybody any privacy around here?” Hugh asked as he rubbed his chest.

  “Nope. Not when you are being stupid. Now, go to bed, and do the right thing in the morning.”

  “Yes, Mom,” Hugh said with sharp sarcasm.

  Chapter Five

  The dawning sun, bright and cheerful, broke over the Mann Ranch the next morning as Hugh descended the stairs and entered the ranch kitchen for breakfast.

  The first thing Hugh noticed was the gloomy weather hanging like a dark cloud over Jenny as she sat at the large kitchen table with the rest of the family. Her expression showed no appreciation for the beautiful morning.

  Hugh sensed he needed to get it over with sooner or later – much better sooner. As he came to the table he went right to Jenny, and bent down so he could whisper into her ear.

  “Can I speak to you privately, please?” he asked her. It sounded more formal than he had intended it to.

  Stone-faced, Jenny got up from her seat, excused herself to the others, and followed Hugh into the living room. Her formal demeanor matched that of Hugh’s.

  Martha, the Mann men, Mary and Jimmy watched in silent anxiousness as the two left the kitchen. The Mann family was close-knit, so it was quite certain by now they all knew what was going on.

  In the living room, Jenny remained standing, so Hugh did the same.

  He faced Jenny and got right to it.

  “Jenny, I just got off the phone with dispatch, and I’ve got a load out of Spokane today, picking up at fourteen hundred hours,” Hugh said.

  Jenny looked up at Hugh, her arms crossed, her expression revealing nothing.

  “It’s a long haul. To Phoenix,” he said. “Have you ever been to Phoenix? You’ll like it.”

  Jenny took a heartbeat or two to process what Hugh had told her, then her gloomy expression softened instantly into a hopeful one.

  “You mean?” she asked.

  “Yes, Jenny, you are my partner, now and forever, and I wouldn’t think of driving out of here without you. I’ve made up my mind. It’s what I want.”

  “With a little help from your mom and sister.”

  “Well, that too.”

  Jenny stood on tiptoes, reached up and gave Hugh a warm, soft lingering kiss on the lips.

  “You won’t regret that decision, buster,” she said. “Oh gosh! Spokane by two o’clock? We’ve got a million things to do. We’d better get a move on.”

  Jenny all but floated into the kitchen, a much-different person than th
e one who had left there a couple of minutes earlier. The rest of the family, sensing the news was good, chatted excitedly about making preparations for Hugh and Jenny to get back on the road.

  Jenny didn’t have to think too hard about what she wanted to bring on the road in the truck. She had an agenda.

  She went upstairs with Hugh’s mom, who was going into Hugh’s bedroom to pack his duffle with freshly laundered clothes, and other items he would need while on the road.

  Martha offered to help Jenny pack her things as well, but Jenny declined.

  While Hugh was in the truck doing his route planning and booting up his electronic logging device, Jenny was doing a careful job planning what she would bring for an extended stay with Hugh in his truck.

  She was aware space was limited, and she knew not to over pack. She remembered Hugh’s warning that whatever luggage she brought would be occupying the top bunk space with her, and it would be in her own best interest to limit what she brought along.

  Jenny had a different idea about it, however. She didn’t expect she would be sleeping in the top bunk for long, if at all.

  Hugh’s mom, as she had done countless times before when Hugh ended his home time, pulled out from one of their big chest freezers homemade dinners frozen from family meals. She gathered together other food items, utensils and such things Hugh would need on the road.

  This time was different because of Hugh’s extended time away from the truck, and because he was planning for a permanent rider. He needed virtually every cooler, cabinet and drawer in his sleeper cab restocked with food items, utensils and cookware.

  Hugh had never been a regular truck-stop or fast-food restaurant eater, preferring to scratch together simple meals from grocery store purchases he could keep in his fridge and freezer, and heat up in the microwave.

  For as long as his mom’s frozen homemade meals lasted he preferred them most of all.

  Hugh had cranked up his semi’s APU – the auxiliary power unit, basically a diesel-powered generator – to pre-cool his small fridge and freezer without running down the truck’s battery. The sleeper cab also had a microwave and, because Jenny was coming with him, Hugh had acquired a one-burner induction cooker for making fried meals and heating food in a saucepan. All that was missing was a kitchen sink.