Trucked

Chapter 4: Hit the road

The lady was an older lady, she must be the wife of the owner of this place. Audry seemed like the name of a man, I had not met many people with the name before but the ones I had met were all men. I shook my head and nodded to her, she smiled back at me.
She showed her teeth as well, it was probably not something that I even wanted to see either. Her teeth were stained black, I blinked a few times trying to get it out of my head and then I nodded to the lady, I could see some stuff behind her, a couple of coca cola drinks and then some snacks.
I didn't really want to have a snack as my dinner, but I suppose I had no other choice. I really hated being on this side of the country, that was one thing that I knew for sure. I looked at the lady one last time, and then I nodded to her letting her know that I was ready.
"Can I get a Dr. Pepper, and can you give me a bag of doritos?" I asked the lady. The lady looked at me for a few moments, and then she smiled and nodded. She began looking around for what I had asked for.
Dr. Pepper was my favorite drink, it was always the first drink that I would look for when I came to places like these. The lady was taking her sweet time, looking around the small little area as if she could not find what I was asking for.
I rolled my eyes, I could see both the Dr. Pepper and the Doritos... She was the one that actually worked here, she should know where everything was. I sat there for a few moments, almost thinking about walking away, but I was so hungry and thirsty at the same time.
Eventually she found her way to the Doritos, and she easily found the Dr. Pepper because it was in the only fridge that she even had. The lady then turned around and handed the things to me. I nodded to her and then she read out the price to me.
"That is going to be 14 dollars and 27 cents..." She said to me. I looked at her a bit surprised, she was beginning to get a little bit frustrated now. As if I was the one being stupid. There was no way that a small thing of Doritos and a Dr. Pepper should cost me nearly that much.
"How much is it if you remove the Dr. Pepper." I asked the lady, she looked at me for a few moments and then she began typing through her little register, which was slightly better quality than the one that the guy at the gas station had. I was just hungry if I was going to be completely honest with myself I could also saw a working card reader as well.
"Its going to cost you 12.39." She said to me. I looked at her still confused for a few more moments, I was not sure how one thing of Doritos could cost me that much money, even after tax. She rolled her eyes at me and then she began looking at her nails as if she was a young girl.
"So the Doritos are over 12 dollars?" I asked the lady. She looked at me for a few moments, and then she began laughing at me. I looked down at the ground, a bit confused as to why she was laughing at me like that, I just wanted to get a snack and then go to sleep right now.
"No... It cost you 10 dollars to stay the night..." She said to me. I looked at her now a bit more understanding. Most truck stops did not pay you to stay there for the night, I suppose this would make sense. This seemed like more of a private truck stop.
I hoped that my manager would not get upset at me for it, when he saw it on his balance. But to be fair I did have to pay for the gas money, so this would make up for it for sure. I handed the lady the card and then waited for her to put it in and give it back to me.
A part of me thought she was about to say the card reader was not working, just based off of the look on her face, she looked a bit upset like the guy at the gas station did. But she took the card luckily and slid it into the small little machine.
The look that the people had in this state I did not like, the middle part of the country was one of my least favorite parts to go through, it seemed like everyone just hated each other and there was nothing to do around here, I would never want to live out here.
She then handed me the Dr. Pepper and Doritos, this time smiling once again as she nodded for me to head off. I looked back at the lady and then nodded back to her. But I felt like I should say something at least to warm up her day, because no one around here looked happy at all.
"Thank you... Sorry about that, hope that you have a good night." I said to her. She looked at me for a few moments, showing almost no emotions at all. But she did respond however, which was good enough in my eyes I suppose.
"Thanks... You too." She said to me. I looked back at her and then nodded, she then went back into her little stand and she was nowhere to be seen. Much like the guy at the gas station, she did not hand me a bag. I did not say anything about it however and I just began walking back to my truck.
I looked back at one of the other trucks that were with me, once again, I saw the guy at the front seat looking at me with almost a bit of a scared look on his face. I closed my eyes and kept on walking, I almost felt like telling the guy to just go to sleep.
But I did not know if I could even get myself to sleep, today had been a bit of a rough day for sure. The guy that I saw though, he looked a bit afraid, not as if he was more upset at anything. I just kept on walking however, trying not to think back on it too much.
I was insanely tired as I walked to the front of my truck and I opened the door however, when I stepped in, the tired part of me began to settle in. I opened up my Dr. Pepper and began to take a few sips. Everyone always told me the caffeine woke you up, but it seemed like the opposite happened when it came to sodas.
I then opened my bag of my Doritos, eating into it. It did not take me long to finish it, I was so hungry to be fair. I looked ahead of me at the concession stand, the lady I could no longer see there anymore, but the guy in the truck in front of me had his back lights turned on.
It was hard to go to sleep with the lights turned on, so I turned my truck on, and turned on the headlights to my truck so that the guy would understand and he would turn the lights to his truck off. After a few moments, I saw the guy of the front truck poke his head out and give me the finger.
Then he turned the lights out to his truck, I did the same as well, just happy that the guy got the gest. I then turned off my truck and locked the doors. Then I lowered my head and began to lay my head to rest for the night.
The one good thing about my truck was that it was sort of comfortable, so I could fall asleep if I needed to, and when I was driving it was always good to be sitting on. I closed my eyes, and the sleep finally caught up to me fairly fast.