Everywhere: Book 3 of the Nowhere Trilogy

16. Oklahoma Morning

It puts Oklahoma sunshine in your soul - Charley Pride

1:17 AM, Sunday, November 28, 2021

The humongous gas bubble that had been building up in her abdomen since eating those two Rocky Mountain oysters threatens to overwhelm a million air fresheners if she lets it loose, so she tightens her sphincter in an effort to keep it in. Shifting positions, Chele attempts to talk her body out of the fart that's sure to be both loud and noxious. No one had covered bus etiquette with her, but it's an enclosed space. If she releases this monstrosity, the entire band will kick her out of the bus and leave her on the side of the road.

Painfully, she climbs out of her bottom bunk, and tiptoes to the ridiculously tiny bathroom. Maybe she can perform a "controlled release" or at least contain the scent in the smaller space with the hope that it doesn't escape.

1:58 AM, Sunday, November 28, 2021

Flipping over, exasperated that she still can't sleep, Chele opens her computer. The picture of her and Harry back in Nowhere comforts her. Hearing a shuffling noise, Chele holds her breath. Holy perilous pictures! If someone on the tour bus were to see that photo, she would be outed. Best to change her background. When she finds a pic of the Ps instead it makes her smile and brings her some comfort, so she resets her screen. Now there won't be a problem should someone see. Plus the smiling faces of Patrick, Phee, and Peanut might be exactly what she needs to help her sleep. Closing the computer, she also shuts her eyes.

2:45 AM, Sunday, November 28, 2021

People should NOT breathe so loudly! Chele covers her ears with her pillow when what she really wants to do is find the snorer and smother him. Can't be Harry. She's shared a bed with him twice, and she knows exactly how he sounds when he's sleeping, and it's nothing like this wheezing. At first, she thought perhaps a motorcycle was revving its engine next to the tour bus. Then she worried that there was a major storm with some of the loudest thunder she'd ever heard. By the time she realized it was someone snoring, she'd been awake for an hour.

There's a snuffling sound, a gasp for air, a giant yawn, all followed by the creak of the bunk as the person rolls over, beginning to snore again, but at a lower volume. Relieved, Chele twists around in her bed, trying to re-sort her covers before she drifts off to a restless sleep.

3:22 AM, Sunday, November 28, 2021

How can one person's feet be so cold? Despite wearing her sweats and a hoodie, her toes are likley turning blue. She's looped the blanket around them twice, yet they're still like ice cubes. In order to get her socks, she would have to find her suitcase which is buried in the cargo hold somewhere. ARGH!

7:17 AM, Sunday, November 28, 2021

Why? Why has someone opened a curtain somewhere and let the sunlight in? These people are sadistic! Chele is going to have to find some other way to travel from town to town. This will not work.

"Rise and shine!" Harry whispers into her bunk. "I'm off for a jog with security if you want to come."

Without malice or forethought, she hurls her pillow through the split in the curtains, hitting Harry smack in the face. Never has she felt more proud of herself. Until she rolls over and attempts to go back to sleep. Without a freaking pillow.

8:07 AM, Sunday, November 28, 2021

The smell of coffee wafts through the bus in her direction, followed by a "Good GOD! Who stunk up the toilet?"

Chele feels somewhat vindicated for causing the stench since these idiots have kept her awake most of the night.

8:33 AM, Sunday, November 28, 2021