A Way West

by Peter Westaway

  Chapter Two

  The sun is already starting to heat up their little tent the next morning when Monica finally wakes up. She hears Jeff outside so she puts on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts and heads out to wish him a good morning. She gets out of the tent and is quickly putting her arms around him and saying, “Did you sleep okay sweetie? I woke up a few times because of the hard ground, but didn’t sleep too bad.”

  “Ya it’s a bit of a pain using our bunched-up clothes for a pillow but I slept pretty good. I’ve been up for a couple of hours already though sleepy head.” Jeff punctuates this with a long luxurious kiss. “Let’s get on the bike and find a little restaurant for some breakfast.” Jeff says this while they have their usual little up close staring contest. He likes how both of her eyes flicker back and forth looking at both of his eyes.

  They are almost finished their eggs and sausage at a nearby little diner, and home fries, you have to have those if they are on the menu. Jeff sips on his coffee and watches Monica cut her last piece of sausage in half and thrust it in her mouth, “I really don’t want to spend much time on the bike today so let’s go back to the camp site and leave it there for the day. We can ask the guy in the office and see if he has any ideas for us to go hiking. I used to love walking along the beaches by my grandparent’s place but it looks like there isn’t the same kind of coast up here. Or do you feel like going swimming? There must be a small beach we can do that. I wonder how cold the water is.”

  Monica totally catches him off guard with her response. “Actually, what I want to do is get back in the tent and make love to you again. It is so cool to be free from my parents so let’s make the most of it.” She does the little eyebrow flirty thing again. Jeff just stares at her with a blank expression, processing this. “It’s okay sweetie if I wore you out last night I understand.” Monica says, smiling mischievously.

  “No no no! I was just shocked you would say that! I love the idea!” Jeff belts out quickly this time. They pay the bill and head back to their waiting sleeping bag.

  The tent is fully lit by the sun by now though and quite hot inside. They once again do what young healthy couples in love do best... but don’t linger in the tent for even one extra minute after they are done

  _____________________________

  “Juniper you silly cat you have to eat something.” Victoria Martinelli is leaning over her kitchen’s freshly scrubbed linoleum floor and is pushing the little blue plastic food dish towards the sniffing nose of Juniper. But instead of eating the offered bowl of Tender Vittles the cat is backing away from it as if it were a bomb. No sudden movements or it might blow up! “I miss Monica too but if you don’t eat soon you aren’t going to live long enough to see her again.” How could Monica do this to her? How can that foolish girl just run off with that thug of a boyfriend? And not even saying good bye to her mom. How disrespectful to just leave a short note saying how she and Jeff are going to go seek their fame and fortune out west. What a mess she has left her with; she thought she taught her daughter to have more respect than that... And sense, how does any of this make any sense? Well her silly cat can go ahead and starve itself to death. She is at wit’s end. And her husband Leo is just making things worse, by blaming everything on her. She has worked so hard to make her family happy and this is her reward?

  I am getting fed up with all this petty nonsense. This whole ordeal is frankly getting to be quite tiresome. Why is this crazy old catserver waving its paw-like appendages around in the air? Does it really think I can understand it better if it does that? Kittymommy was real good at explaining to me how The Great Sphinx created catservers to be our committed servants, but she didn’t have a sensible answer for me when I asked her why they aren’t intelligent enough to communicate with us. Kittymommy thinks The Great Sphinx has some kind of weird sense of humour. I think that it shows that just maybe The Great Sphinx isn’t so great after all. I have no intention of eating any food that is proffered by this crazy old new catserver. It took months for me to train my catserver to prepare and serve my food to my liking. If I let this catserver think I like its offerings I may not get my own catserver back... But where has it gone? I am starting to get quite famished, not to mention very annoyed. I will have to find a way to not let this happen again to me. I am Purrnicous The 844th and I demand that I am shown more respect than this! Why do these catservers seem to have so much power over my very existence? My chosen catserver brought me to my palace before I was able to get any more answers from Kittymommy about how to deal with these imbecilic creatures. If I ever do meet this The Great Sphinx I will definitely give her a piece of my mind. Victoria watches the cat turn away from the food and head dejectedly back towards the living room. She rolls her eyes in wonderment and goes back to finishing washing the breakfast dishes. She is sorry that she wasn’t able to talk to Monica when she phoned yesterday morning. Monica is a very capable girl but she has never been away from home before, except for a couple of weeks to summer camp a few years ago. I hope she comes to her senses and comes back home soon, she’s thinking for the thousandth time as her other child suddenly enters the kitchen.

  She looks with dismay at Tony and notices right away that he looks even worse today. “Since you think you are too smart to go to college you had better start looking for work. You know your father will not continue to support you here if all you are going to do is stay out late with your friends doing god knows what.”

  Tony rubs his bleary eyes and opens the fridge door. He studies its contents, “Hey mom now that Monica is gone, can I have her room?”

  “Anthony did you not hear what I just said? If you aren’t soon working and helping with some bills around here, you won’t be even staying in your own room. And you certainly aren’t moving into hers.” She puts the last dish in the rack and wipes her hands on her apron. “And please leave that Pepsi alone and eat some breakfast.”

  But Tony takes the two-litre bottle of Pepsi and promptly heads back out of the kitchen without even a glance at his frowning mom.

  Victoria hangs her head and wonders what she has done wrong to have her two beautiful children now treat her with such disdain. Her saddening thoughts are interrupted by the phone. “Hello.”

  “Any word yet from that daughter of yours?”

  “No Leo of course she hasn’t called back. Why did you have to get her so upset when she called yesterday? Now I have no idea when she will call back. Did you phone the police like you said you would?” If only her husband had shown a little more concern about Monica while she was still here, instead of waiting until it is too late.

  “They said there isn’t much they can do as she is over sixteen, so they aren’t even going to file a missing persons report. I told them she is a naive child and the man with her is an adult that can’t be trusted. But they just wished me luck and hung up with no other offers of assistance.” At least Leo is actually sounding a little concerned for a change, instead of just his usual angry self.

  All of this tension and uncertainty is making me suddenly feel quite exhausted. I am going to settle into my Royal Perch here on top of the couch and watch out the big window and wait to see my catserver arrive back from wherever it has gone. Hmmm... there is a small bird hopping around in little circles on the Palace Grounds, it’s reminding me of how empty my stomach is starting to feel. Kittymommy explained to me and all the brother and sisterkittys that somecats that don’t have their own catservers actually hunt and kill birds for their sustenance! And even worse... rodents! Just to feed themselves. Before that gruesome thought disgusts me any more though, I am luckily being overcome with my most comfortable state of mind, the one of impending sleep. My catserver will finally be back before I wake up, I just know it.

  _____________________________

  “We are six hundred and fifty kilometres to The Ottawa Forest. It is just coming up to seven so hopefully we can get there around four or five. If we get there while it is still light, we can choose from
a bunch of campgrounds.” Jeff is watching Monica enjoy her breakfast while he is telling her this. He has already finished his non-McDonald’s Egg McMuffin. They are sitting in the Tim Horton’s back on the Trans Canada Highway. They spent most of the previous day lying on the beach at Batman’s watching a dozen or so kids playing in the water. They hiked for a bit and swam for a bit, but mostly lay on their small towels and enjoyed the warm sunshine. They both agreed that they especially enjoyed the feeling that they were on a long anticipated and well deserved vacation.

  Washing the last of her egg muffin down with some coffee, Monica looks up and says, “Sure Jeff, you have been boring me for six months about this Ottawa Forest. Big deal it has the same name as our hometown. But that sounds fine...”

  Jeff feels the mood drop a few degrees. “What is the problem now? I thought things were all going great.”

  “Weellll...” She looks at him with her begging puppy look. “It’s pretty boring sitting on the back of the bike all day you know.” Monica sits back and finishes her coffee.

  “Hey baby I am sorry, when we go back to visit Ottawa in a year or two it will be in an SUV, I promise.” He tries to sound convincing.

  “Ya ya sure, but I am talking about the next eight long boring, uncomfortable hours. You said that you would let me drive for a bit after we get started, so how about now?”

  Ahhhh! He knew this was coming. Jeff hates riding on the back of any motorcycle with anyone else but him in control. He has yet to be on the back of the bike while Monica was in front. In fact, he has never been on the back of his bike with anyone driving it except him. But Monica did catch on pretty quick when he taught her to ride last summer in The Gatineau Park. The bike dropped on its side when she first popped the clutch, but it had been dropped many times before. She still feels guilty about it though. She has ridden it fine a few times since, but she doesn’t have her bike license. “Well I know I did promise, though I wouldn’t have minded if you forgot that one… But if you are determined to drive it for a few miles I guess you should do it now, because it wouldn’t be a good idea to have you caught in the States without the proper license.”

  Monica immediately waves her hands and squeals her little incoherent squealing thing. She jumps up, leans over and plants a quick kiss on Jeff’s lips and runs to the door. Jeff rolls his eyes but is smiling as he gets up to follow her.

  Jeff gets on the back of the bike feeling very uncomfortable. He doesn’t want to make her nervous though, so he squeezes her around her waist and says in her ear through her helmet, “Kay baby you can do it, just take it easy and stay at the speed limit.”

  And with a jolt they are off. Monica is pretty good at shifting the gears now and knows how to work the clutch. But she has never driven it on the highway before. She has her car license, her dad taught her to drive his little MG with a stick shift. She’s driven that on the highway, but never Jeff’s bike. So, she is excited happy as well as excited nervous as she is waiting for a couple of cars to pass so she can turn right onto the highway. When the coast is clear she enters the roadway and quickly shifts the bike into second gear. The bike gives a little jump forward as she releases the clutch. Monica starts to relax a little as the bike steadily picks up speed. As she flicks the gear lever with her foot into third gear and releases the clutch like a pro, Monica is starting to wish that she could ride the whole way. This is much more fun than holding onto the back of the bike just watching the fields go by and praying for the trip to be over. The bike weaves slightly as Monica twists the throttle and gets it into fourth gear. They just passed through the little town of Webbwood and Monica is feeling more and more comfortable.

  Jeff was probably not feeling quite as comfortable as he yells into Monica’s ear that she should speed up a little. She had never gone more than seventy kilometres an hour on the bike before. Her foot finds the fifth gear for the first time ever. She releases the clutch with her left hand. And with her right hand, she twists the throttle as far as it will go. Holy Shit! The handlebars try to pull away from Monica’s grip. She feels Jeff tighten his arms around her waist as she gets her first real taste of adrenaline since she was little and skiing real fast for the first time. Monica holds on tight so the bike doesn’t leave without her and she feels like a carefree little girl again. This is so cool! Behind the shield of her full face helmet her eyes are watering, but she notices that the car ahead of her is getting real close, real fast. She backs off the throttle and settles in behind the car in front of her.

  But it very soon gets a little boring being stuck behind this car going below the speed limit. Now that she was a seasoned pro she wanted to experience a little more of that adrenaline rush. She waits for the oncoming truck to pass, then with a quick glance up the highway she pulls out to pass the car. As soon as she is in the oncoming lane a small car pulls onto the highway to head towards her. While her heart is skipping a couple of beats, she touches the brakes, cuts the throttle, and swerves in behind the car that she had wanted to pass. Her heart is suddenly pounding in her chest as she hears above the wind.

  “Good girl, now be careful please, we want to live through this!” She couldn’t agree with Jeff more. So she nods her helmet in agreement and tells herself to not be so anxious for that taste of adrenaline. Like they say, “Be careful what you wish for.”

  “Besides for almost killing us at the start I thought you did great!” Jeff is standing beside Monica who is still on the bike. He takes her helmet from her and continues, “But I can’t stand being on the back of any motorcycle. My brother Jim is a much more talented rider than I am but I hated the few times I was a passenger on his bike.”

  Monica gets off the bike and leans it on the kickstand. She looks at him with a big silly grin glued to her face. She had gone almost two hundred kilometres in two hours, with no concerns expect for that first close call. She was very very pleased with herself. “I loved it! You have to let me drive some more, even in the States. When we are on their big Interstates I am sure as long as I go the speed limit nothing bad will happen.” They are heading into the small grocery store they found that looked promising,

  “Let’s see how it goes. You know I am a little nervous about going over the border, so let’s worry about the next couple of hours first.”

  They went into the store to look for some kind of snack and drink. They are in Thessalon, a little town on the north shore of Lake Huron that has a cool lookout that Jeff made note of as a possible stopping point. He plans to spend a half hour on the beach. Their next stop would be the border crossing in Sault Ste. Marie. They are soon sitting on the beach sharing a bottle of Coke and a bag of chips.

  “Is that still Manitoulin Island that we are looking at? It’s too close to be the far shore of Lake Huron.” Monica asks as she hands the bottle back to Jeff and grabs some more chips out of the bag that is between them.

  “No I don’t remember the name of it but there are two or three smaller islands on this side of Manitoulin.” Jeff pauses to take a quick swig of the Coke. “We won’t be seeing Lake Huron for much longer though I think. We’ll be seeing big Lake Superior soon but the next big lake we see after that is Lake Okanagan; it isn’t near as big as any of these Great Lakes but it has its own Lochness Monster.”

  “Ya that is the only thing that Christine likes about me going out there. She thinks it is cool that we are going to the place that Ogo Pogo and Bigfoot both live. She says that if I can prove that they both exist she will forgive me for leaving.” Besides for her mom, Christine was the only other person she will really miss. They were supposed to go to university this fall together. But now Christine will be going by herself.

  Jeff chokes a little on the chips he’s shoving in his mouth and laughs, “That’s hilarious. She can come visit us and look for them herself.” He drops the half-finished bag of Doritos in front of Monica and gets up. “We should get going. I will feel much better when we get over the border. I’ve never gone over the border without my
parents. And ever since that nine eleven stuff I am not sure what to expect from the border guards.

  Jeff is glad to be back in the front of the bike, while Monica is quickly learning what Jeff was talking about. Being on the back of the bike is MUCH different than being in the front. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to agree to going across the country on the back of his bike. Oh well she thinks, they will be there in a few days and she will never have to endure this again. She leans her helmet gently against the bottom of his and closes her eyes again wishing that the trip will soon be over. They proceed towards The United States, and their destiny.