A Way West

by Peter Westaway

Chapter Four

  The next morning, they enjoy a leisurely breakfast and are back on the road early and enjoying the bright sunshine. The traffic is sparse once again and the surrounding forest still as pristine as could possibly be. The miles fly by very comfortably for both of them. Every time they get a look at the mighty Lake Superior on their right they both gaze at it in wonder. They enter Duluth Michigan at the far end of Lake Superior. Jeff knows that they are getting dangerously low on gas. He had already had to turn on the reserve switch under the gas tank. The engine had started to chug, so by turning the reserve switch he knew he had only enough gas left to go another twenty or thirty miles at most. Thank god for the great gas mileage of the motorcycle though, or this trip would be costing him much more. Jeff had saved up two thousand dollars in preparation for this journey. That was more than enough to get them to B.C. of course but he had no idea what their immediate future held at the moment.

  They pulled into a Mobil station in downtown Duluth. He pulls up to a self serve gas pump and takes his helmet off. Monica gets off the bike and takes her helmet off and puts it on the ground. She takes his helmet from him and carefully places it besides hers. She then throws her arms around Jeff and with a great big smile, kisses him flush on the lips, and proudly declares, “I love you Jeffrey Morrison!”

  “I love you too, my adorable kook!” Is Jeff’s automatic reply. She releases him and runs happily towards the small store.

  Jeff gets off the bike and proceeds to fill the tank. Jeff is holding the nozzle carefully, trying to not let any gas get on the outside of the tank. He can’t help but notice the old style, large black Mustang and its loud rumbling as it pulls into the next lane of gas tanks. He watches as a cool looking dude gets out of the driver’s side. He has mirrored sunglasses, a black t-shirt, blue jeans and cowboy boots. As this dude is grabbing for a gas nozzle, Jeff notices the tall hot chick getting out of the passenger side. She is totally gorgeous! She is wearing a tight fitting red dress, has long flowing light blonde hair, and white running shoes. Jeff watches her rush towards the little store, and then glances towards the guy.

  The guy is staring back at him and smiling. He gives Jeff a nod of his head in greeting. “I see you’re from Canada, where bouts you headin?” The Mustang dude asks Jeff.

  “Uhh...we’re heading out west... my name’s Jeff, we’re from Ottawa.”

  The dude leaves his gas nozzle in the Mustang’s tank and walks over to Jeff and reaches to shake his hand. Jeff is finished filling his small tank so he hangs his nozzle back on the pump. He turns, wipes his hands a little on his jeans and grabs the dude’s hand. “Hi there I’m Pete, and the babe you were just staring at is Issy.”

  “Hey I wasn’t staring, but you are right she is a babe, but no worries I have my own babe inside.” Jeff stammers a little. He knows Pete is staring at him through his mirror shades but can’t see his eyes. And Pete seems to hang tightly onto his hand a little longer than necessary. Pulling his hand a way a little self consciously Jeff asks Pete, “Are you two from around here?”

  “Do I need a key for your washroom?” Monica had bought a pack of gum and a couple of Cokes for her and Jeff and now needed to take care of that other business.

  As the quiet Arab looking guy behind the counter was handing her the key and telling her the bathroom was in the back some blonde girl out of nowhere grabs the key from both of them. “I have to go really bad, can I go first please?”

  Monica looks over at this girl and seeing the desperate pleading look on her face says, “I guess, but please don’t be long as I gotta go too.” With that, the blonde girl turns and runs towards the back of the store. Monica follows, trying not to be annoyed that her bladder is reminding her that it needs to be relieved. In the back corner of the little gas bar store she is waiting, and wondering how much longer this pushy blonde girl is going to be.

  Monica finally knocks politely on the door and says, “C’mon it’s my turn.” She hears the toilet flush and then the water is running. Finally, the door opens and blondie emerges. She flashes a quick smile and an apology but Monica doesn’t notice as she rushes past her.

  Afterwards, feeling much better, Monica goes outside to see how Jeff is doing. Jeff is standing by a big old black car talking to the same blonde that was in the bathroom.

  Monica remembers when they first met that Jeff said that he preferred blondes. Being a brunette herself she wasn’t crazy about hearing that. And now he is looking a little too friendly with this pushy girl who just happens to be blonde. She goes up to Jeff and is about to grab him when some other guy rushes past her and grabs the blonde around the waist with one arm and plants a kiss on her cheek. “Hey I see you have met my Issy.” Pete says to Jeff with his big smile. “This Canadian boy here was checking your ass out, when you were running into the store.”

  Monica stops two feet short of Jeff. “You were what?”

  “Whoa... I wasn’t checking her ass out baby; this guy is just messing with ya.”

  Pete releases Issy and steps towards Monica reaching his hand out, “Hi I am Pete, don’t you worry I won’t let your guy get near my pumpkin.”

  Monica reluctantly shakes his hand and stares at her own face in Pete’s mirrored lenses. She didn’t like the blonde and she thinks she likes this guy even less. She shows him a weak smile and hands the bag with the Cokes in it, to Jeff. “Let’s get going Jeff.”

  “Actually baby, me and Pete here were talking about traveling together for a little while, they are headed to Seattle and we could use some company.” Jeff was looking at Monica’s face as he said this and didn’t like seeing her obvious disappointment.

  How could Jeff make a decision like this without talking to her first? “We have each other Jeff so I don’t see why we need any company.”

  “Hey it will be fun, we can get a motel room together tonight and get drunk and raise some hell!” Pete jumps into the little argument with one arm back around the blonde’s waist. The blonde didn’t seem to have anything to add.

  But Monica sure did! “Jeff, we were going to have a quiet time camping together. That is what we agreed on. I thought you were liking it.” Monica looks at Jeff accusingly.

  “Ah c’mon baby we are allowed to have a little fun along the way.”

  Pete looks at his Issy, who hasn’t said a word yet. “I was suggesting to Jeff that it would be fun if you rode on the back of his bike for awhile. I know you’d like that, and his girl can ride in the car with me. I bet she wouldn’t mind getting off that uncomfortable looking thing for awhile.”

  Issy started thinking about an answer, but Monica didn’t need to think of her response. “No thank you, Pete is that your name? I am very comfortable on the bike.” And to confirm this she grabs for her helmet.

  Jeff doesn’t want to admit that he is a little disappointed the new babe isn’t joining him. But he doesn’t want to fight with Monica, especially about that. “Maybe we will do that if we get to know each other a little better.” Jeff says to Pete while he grabs his own helmet. “You lead the way on the highway and I will follow, I am assuming you aren’t going to go too slow, I am on a bike, remember.”

  Heading to his Mustang Pete gives Jeff a thumbs up, and says, “Okay we will talk in a couple of hours at our next stop.”

  Pete is back on the highway and looks in his rear-view mirror to make sure the two Canadians are following behind on their motorcycle. Pete always thought that motorcycles looked like death traps. He feels much safer in his beautiful, fully restored 1969 Mach 1 Mustang. It took him two years of working weekends and evenings, and cost him a small fortune to get it to the mint condition that it’s finally in. He totally loves his car now. He glances over at his gorgeous Issy, and thinks about how much he also loves her. He was starting to really hate his job driving a delivery truck in Duluth, and welcomed the offer of going out to Seattle to help Issy’s uncle in his hardware store.

  Issy continues to look down at her new Nike�
��s and is real glad that she is still in the good mood that she has been in ever since they decided to go to Seattle two months ago. She was getting bored silly at her job at the Target Store, so she’s real glad that Pete agreed to go out west with her. She is hoping that her Uncle Mick is still the real cool guy that she knew ten years ago. It is so sad that his son, her cousin Doug, drowned last year in the ocean. They’re still not sure what really happened. She hopes that she and Pete can help at the store as much as Uncle Mick expects them to.

  “This is so exciting to make a new start in a new city, don’t you think Pete?”

  “Pumpkin, if this makes you happy, then you know it makes me happy.” Pete flashes her a quick smile.

  Issy returns the smile, and then goes back to staring at her shiny white Nikes. She loves comfortable shoes. She will never understand women who buy silly uncomfortable high heel fancy shoes, and they can be so expensive, for such pain, what silly women. And they suffer all that unnecessary pain just so that their legs look a little nicer for men. Don’t they realize that men only look at your hair, your eyes, your tits, or your ass? Horny men, and they are all horny, don’t give a damn about your shoes.

  She gives another quick glance at her Pete. He is so beautiful and is always very horny. And he is very smart. She hopes that getting out of Duluth and starting a new life will help Pete smarten up a little and start to take their future a little more seriously.

  They had been travelling a little over the speed limit and Pete guesses it wasn’t quite fast enough for Jeff because his motorcycle shows up beside him, and with a glance over, the bike pulls out in front and accelerates away. Well, his Mustang has plenty of horsepower under its hood, so he puts the pedal down and tries to keep up with the quickly disappearing bike.

  Monica looks back and sees that the stupid black car is catching up to them again. Damn! She was hoping she saw the last of it. She was a little leery about coming down to the States in the first place. Jeff had checked on Google Earth about the fastest route to cousin Tom’s farm. She would have preferred to go above that ocean of a Lake Superior so they could stay in their own country, but it would add a bunch of time to the trip. And as Jeff likes to point out, the gas is still a little cheaper in the States, even though their dollar is almost on par for a change. Not that gas means much since they are on a bike. But she agreed to go through the United States and now they are stuck with these unknown Americans being part of this crucial life changing trip that she has agreed to go on. If there was a time she needed to have the comfort of hugging her cat it is now. She tries to figure out when she will next be able to hold Juniper again. Not for at least a week she sadly accepts.

  “Okay let’s first order a pizza and then go across the street to that store and score us some beers!” Pete proudly declares as he is sitting himself on the motel room bed that they have decided is his and Issy’s for the night. He looks over to Issy in the small bathroom in the back, primping her face in the mirror.

  She comes out and says to her three assembled fellow travellers, “Pete, it kind of sounds like fun to do what Jeff and Monica were doing. I haven’t camped since my dad used to take us when I was little.”

  Monica is lying on their bed staring up at the ceiling, and muses, “I like sleeping in a tent usually, but it makes a big difference not having some kind of padding under the sleeping bag. I didn’t get a great sleep the last couple of nights, so it will be nice to have this bed to get a real sleep in.” Not so nice sharing the room with you two though... but she will try to put up with it for one night.

  “Ya some beer and pizza will be a very good start to our little party. Your American beer is pretty weak though Pete, have you ever had a real beer from Canada?” Jeff has laid his leather jacket on the bed and is now sitting on the end of it rubbing his baby’s feet. He pulls her socks off and lightly tickles the bottom of both feet. He is watching her face, that is still looking up at the ceiling. She always smiles when he rubs her feet, and he is relieved to see that she is smiling a little now. “Hey baby, are you going to drink a little beer with us?”

  Monica is thinking that it is not fair how Jeff has so much power over her. All he has to do, is start rubbing her anywhere on her body, and she is completely at his mercy. But right now, she must try to be sensible.

  She pulls her feet reluctantly away from Jeff, and sits up against the padded head board, that looks like it has been leaned against, a million times before. “No Jeff I don’t think I should do that. No offense there Pete, but being in a strange country with a couple of strange people, I think one of us should stay sober. And you don’t drink too many please.” She looks back over at Pete who is still sitting on his bed facing them, and asks, “How old do you have to be to buy beer here?”

  “Twenty-one, how old are you guys anyway?” Pete quickly responds, looking back and forth between the two.

  Jeff is the one that answers, “I am twenty and Monica here is going to be eighteen in one week. We are planning to be at cousin Tom’s to celebrate her birthday on the 13th!” He glances over at Monica with this, and likes that she looks like she is finally starting to relax a little. “In Ontario where we live... was living anyway, the drinking age is nineteen, but in Quebec which is just across The Ottawa River you only have to be eighteen.”

  Issy is sitting at the end of their bed by now, and all four of them are then quiet for several seconds. The silence was starting to get a little awkward, for Monica anyway... so, “I was looking forward to being legal in Hull. We forgot to check what the age is in B.C. I think someone told me it is nineteen. That’s crazy though that I would have to wait three more years if I lived down here in the States.”

  With this, Issy joins in, “I finally don’t have to use a fake ID. I turned twenty-one last month... it is soooo stupid that they make you have to be so old. Almost all my friends have been drinking since they were fifteen or sixteen.”

  “Well enough of this talking about drinking, it is time to start doing some. You guys figure out who to call for a couple of pizzas, while I go across the street.” Pete stands up and heads to the door. He looks down at Jeff, “We split the room already so I will pay for the beer and we will figure it out after the pizza gets here.”

  Jeff stands up, “Ya that sounds fine, but I’m coming with you. I want to see if they have any real beer.”

  Jeff is carrying his twelve cans of Molson Export and Pete has his twelve of Budweiser. They agreed to try a couple of each other’s beer. They are waiting for the traffic to clear so they can cross the street and get back to their girls. Jeff looks around and marvels at his new surroundings. He has travelled very little in his life and this is the farthest he has ever been from home. They are in Fargo North Dakota, about half way to their destination. They are walking by their car and bike parked beside each other in front of the door to their room. Jeff looks over at Pete, “Thanks for buying the beer for me, I forgot that I wasn’t old enough to buy beer down here. You haven’t said how old you are, what? Twenty-five, twenty-six?”

  Pete’s putting the key in the door handle of the room and looks to Jeff, “Close, twenty-seven.” Then he pushes the door open and enters with Jeff right behind him. Pete puts his beer case on the dresser at the end of the two beds. He hands a beer to Issy who is leaning against her headboard now, “Did you order that pizza?” He then sits and opens his own beer and looks up at Monica on her bed, “You should drink some beers with us, we got lots, Issy here is only good for three or four.”

  But before Monica can answer, Issy gives Pete a little kick on his thigh, “Hey leave her alone! She found a pizza menu in that little desk, and we ordered you a pepperoni and meatball pizza. And she even told them to put onions on it so be a good boy and drink your beer.”

  Jeff is settling in beside Monica against the head board after giving her a quick kiss on the lips. He cracks his beer open and says, “Uhhhh... is that the only pizza you ordered?”

  “Don’t worry you
are getting your own medium Hawaiian. Theirs sounds more yummy to me, so we ordered an extra large of that one. It turns out that Issy is like me and loves eating cold leftover pizza for breakfast, so hopefully there’s a few pieces left over.”

  “Sounds expensive, we’re sure blowing our little travel budget tonight... oh well we deserve it.” Jeff decides, and then raises his beer to the sky before emptying more of it into his mouth.

  Pete gets up and puts his beer on the dresser. He then bends down, opens his sports bag on the floor, and pulls out a little bag of big trouble.

  “AHHH SHIT!” Monica reacts instantly, as soon as she realizes he is pulling out some stinking marijuana. She knew it! They should have stayed by themselves.

  Pete stands waving the baggy, “What? You guys don’t smoke reefer up in that little hick country of yours?”

  “Their country is bigger than ours actually Pete.” is Issy’s contribution.

  “She doesn’t have a problem that you smoke that shit. It’s me she’s worried about. I used to smoke quite a bit, but I quit over a year ago. So she doesn’t like me being around it, but you go ahead smoke your brains out.” Jeff pauses to lean over and nibble and kiss the neck of a tense looking Monica. “Don’t worry baby, I am good just drinking some beer... Have one it will relax you.