transportation because Iâll be going back and forth from campus to the Motel 6 where Iâm staying all week. So, Iâll be driving.â
âYeah! Pretty great, huh, Jerri?â I piped in. Gus sort of kneed me in the thigh.
âIâll be driving, so really Felton should just catch a ride with me,â Gus said. âNo reason for us to pump double the carbon dioxide into the air. I guess more like quadruple, really, since youâll be driving back to Bluffton, then returning to Ann Arbor to pick Felton up.â
This was very smooth operating by Gus. Best way to break a nice person like my mom is to make her think doing what she really wants to do is going to harm the environment and stop all future generations from existing.
Jerri shook her head, put her hands on her hips, and looked up at the ceiling. She said, âI was really looking forward to this drive for some reason.â
Of course, I knew why. I didnât know know (didnât think they were going to be likeâ¦boyfriend and girlfriend), but I knew she wanted to see your dad. Before Gus could stop me from talking, I said, âJerri, I think maybe you should just visit Ronald this weekend even if Iâm not with you. You could stay a couple of days, then help him move stuff back here for the summer session.â
Jerri looked at me. Squinted a little. âYou think, Felton?â
âOh, yeah. If I could visit Aleah, I sure as hell would,â I said. (I really didnât know they were becoming a couple!)
âNice language, son,â Jerri said. âMaybe I will.â
âChicagoâs not far,â Gus said.
âShut up, Gus,â Jerri said. âEnough rhetoric, okay?â
âHuh?â Gus said, as if he didnât know.
This was definitely the weekend when our parents became an official unit, Aleah. You have my lying to thank for it.
Anyway, it was a done deal. There. We did it. Gus was driving me to Ann Arbor, except not to Ann Arbor at all.
Out on our driveway Gus whispered, âWhatâs up with Jerri? Sheâs kind of mean these days.â
True. Jerri was not acting the part of the Jerri Iâd known my whole life. This was not a bad thing. âI think sheâs snapping out of the depression sheâs been in for like eleven years, maybe. I donât know, exactly.â
âOh,â Gus said. âI like it.â
So, we were all set up with lies and bull crap, all set to hit the road. Apparently I have enough courage to seriously, crazily lie to my mom, even if Iâm scared to go to a camp by myself.
⢠⢠â¢
Oh Jesus, Aleah, the plane is bouncing up and down. I think weâre possibly crashing. Seriously. The big dude just spilled a tiny bottle of wine all over himself. This is a disaster. Oh God. Jesus.
Turbulence. The big guy smiled at me. âF-bombing turbulence.â Now heâs reading what Iâm writing: Hello, man. My name is Felton .
He just said, âHiya, Felton!â I think heâs had four tiny bottles of wine.
No, only three. âThree, Felton!â he said.
He is saying out loud anything I type.
Iâm a big, drunk jerk!
He didnât say that.
Sorry .
He said itâs okay.
The girl with the zombie book is laughing. Why canât she be my girlfriend, Aleah? Sheâs right here. Sheâs cute.
Sorry. I donât mean it.
The man just read that whole thing out loud to the girl. She laughed at me.
Iâm going to close the computer.
August 16th, 2:35 p.m.
On the Way to Charlotte, Part II
The big drunk guy is snoring like Grandma Berba when she has a cold.
Chainsaw McGraw.
I almost fell asleep, but then the little girl in front of me moved her chair back and smashed my knees at the same moment my favorite big drunk ripped on his chain saw. I woke thinking I was in a horror movie (with zombies chain-sawing through the door of the tiny, smashed closet Iâm hiding in).
No.
Avery Aames
Margaret Yorke
Jonathon Burgess
David Lubar
Krystal Shannan, Camryn Rhys
Annie Knox
Wendy May Andrews
Jovee Winters
Todd Babiak
Bitsi Shar