Road Trip (2018 Wattys Long List)

Chapter 14

Reg drove the car back to the main highway as they left the junkyard. Stu announced that it was now time for him to have a rest for a while. Reg pulled over to the shoulder of the road, allowing Harvey to take another turn behind the wheel.

"Maybe we should think about stopping before long. Sit down to a regular meal and get a few hours sleep. I think Millie needs a break by now", Harvey suggested to Stu.

"You may be right about that. Now that we have come this far, and our car has fresh license plates, maybe we can afford a bit of a break. I don't know about the rest of you, but my ass is getting numb from sitting on this car seat."

"What do you think, Reg? Harvey asked.

"Sounds good to me, I would love to get Cinderella, here, out of my lap for a change".

Ryan could see that the honeymoon was over between him and Reg, for now, anyway. He ignored the jibe by not responding. They continued driving while Harvey watched for a motel. The rest of the group was sleeping in their seats when Harvey came across "Whispering Pines, Motel and Restaurant" The restaurant looked more like a diner, but that was splitting hairs, he decided. Harvey pulled up to the motel office.

Everyone came awake when the car stopped moving and after a minute of stretching, Harvey, Reg, and Stu got out of the Toyota and entered the motel office.

"Keep your eye on Millie, like she was yer' own granny, comprende?" Reg warned Ryan, as he was getting out of the car.

Ryan just scowled and muttered, "Ya',ya', ya', I got it!"

Inside the motel office, they were warmly greeted by a wizened old man sitting in a wooden office chair. "Wadda' ya' need today, fellas?", the elderly man bluntly asked.

"We need two adjoining rooms. If you have 'em", we would prefer twin beds in both rooms, said Stu.

Ya' I think I can fix you up. Just one night or what?" the old man asked.

"One night is good. How much?", Stu asked.

"Two rooms for one night will set 'ya back one hundred, twenty dollars, plus tax, o' course. Gov'ment needs their share too. Damn shame if they had to go without it."

"OK. By the way, those should be non-smoking rooms.", Stu added as an afterthought.

I got a couple of rooms nobody's smoked in lately. Best I can do," the man spit a stream of brown saliva into a stained and dirty cup that he picked up from the floor beside his chair.

"I guess those will have to do. We will need a cot in one of the rooms, also. There are five of us."

"I could bring you a cot to use without any extra charge, you renting two rooms and all," the old man said, wanting to make the sale.

"Then I guess we'll take them", Stu said, looking at the others. "Do we sign in, or what?"

"Sure do. I'll get you all fixed up." The old man got up from his chair and shuffled over to the counter. He opened a ledger, then asked, "Name?"

"Put it under Feldman", Stu said, glancing Harvey's way.

"Licence number of your vehicle, sir?"

"Now, that I got to check for myself. Never can remember what it is", Stu said as he looked out of the office door to recite their new plate number.

The old man recorded it dutifully, got a home address, that Stu made up quickly on the spot and then he collected the money owing for the rooms. Rooms nine an' ten, just down the way," the old man said, as he took the money, pointing in the general direction he wanted them to go. "I'll come down directly to unlock the door between 'em. No need to check out in the morning, just drop your unit keys into the slot on the outside of the office door when you go. Check out is by ten a.m. if you can manage it."

The trio left the motel office and returned to the car. Harvey drove the short distance to their rooms. He pulled up directly in front of a unit door that had a big number nine on it and they went inside.

"Is this Charlie's place?", Mildred asked as Stu helped her over the threshold.

"Naw, this is a couple of rooms we rented so that we can rest awhile. Why don't you lie down on the bed, get some sleep, before we start to drive again?" Stu suggested. He led her to one of two beds in the room and she sat down on one. The mattress was soft and lumpy.

The room was rather stale after being closed up for days or maybe even weeks. Reg opened the window, hoping to let some fresh air in. It may not have been smoked in lately, but it sure had seen its share of some serious puffing at one time or another. That was obvious by the air in the room. The curtains and the carpets all smelled of old cigarette smoke. The room was sparsely furnished with two double beds, a table and four chairs and not much else. There was an interior door that would open into the identical adjoining room number ten, once the guy at the front desk came and unlocked it. The rooms each also had a bathroom and a simple heating and air conditioning unit below their individual windows.

"Well, it isn't home, but it will have to do", Stu said to the others.

"You homesick for Glenwood already, Stuey?", Reg laughed.

No, I mean our real homes, not that lockup that we have been stuck in for so long."

"Just want to make sure that you haven't gone soft in the head on me or something!", Reg chuckled.

Just then the old man tapped on the motel room door. He entered pushing a folded cot in front of himself. The three men helped him to bring the cot through the doorway. Removing a large ring of keys from his jacket pocket, he sorted through them, trying first one and then another, mumbling to himself, until he hit upon the right one, and the door was unlocked. Reg took the cot and pushed it into this second, adjoining room. Once in place, he opened it.

"There you go, Sting Bean, your own little nest. Just like back in the nursery", Reg said to Ryan.

"Cut it out, Reg. Give the kid a break for once", Stu warned him.