I waited until I was a decent distance from the door to let the strain
show on my face , the lead was demanding to get down off my arm . I
capitulated a little to my pain by using my right arm to help the left
one . Since someone might be still watching me I kept my gait straight
and cowboy-like till I got to the car which luckily wasn't parked too
far away . Elbow was looking at me with his dog's concern making his
brows bunch up . Puffing a bit I set the lead on the car trunk , (yes!)
.
I fished out my key and opened the door . This key, the only
one that I have for the car, is destined to break off in the door or
ignition soon , it is cracked and bent from being in my pocket while I
crawled around in the cargo bay . It worked one more time and I got the
door open . I began throwing the lead on the back seat when I
remembered the bird , just missed the refried bean box with the bag of
ammo . I ducked out of the car and closed the door , thinking that
young clerk might just need an injured bird to nurse back to health .
Wary of my fragile key I left the car unlocked and went back in the
store , the clerk was tied up with a couple customers , so I looked
around for a kindly face . Another young woman, who looked like she
worked there, was walking by and I caught her eye . I said , " do
you know anyone who takes care of injured animals ? I have a bird I
rescued from the tide at Des Moines in my car . " Her face went all
soft and sweet and she gave it some thought, " No , I really can't
think of anyone around here . My girlfriend would be perfect for that ,
but she moved . "
My next question put her back on her guard . " How about you ?
" . Her reply one and a half beats later was a panicked " No ! I
work thirty hours a week here and go to school full time , nuh-uh , no .
" I thought maybe she might reconsider if I threatened to touch the
stuffed bear , but she probably figured he was management's problem ,
the way this bird was my problem . I liked her for even considering it
and mumbled something about the zoo, . "Yeah " she said relieved " the
zoo'll know what to do ." as I left the store . I knew I wasn't going
to the zoo , there just wasn't the time for that so l got in the car and
headed north out of Fife .
The weather began to get worse on the ride up 167 . I have been
in some real cloudbursts in the tropics , raindrops so big and fat that
they feel like slaps when they hit , this was getting close to that ,
unusually hard rain and a lot of wind . My wipers were on full speed
and it was still hard to see . I am a fan of heavy weather and felt a
rush of excitement as it poured and a large thunderclap went off .
Elbow was at the window , his nose stuck in the breeze of the small gap
in the roll down . He made a wuff sound , his way of getting my
attention , not a warning , just 'hey look' . There was someone in
yellow rain gear alongside the freeway , standing there . We were a
long way from the last on-ramp, I was already going slow so I pulled
over , this rain was too miserable to let anyone be out in it . Leaning
over to open the door ( it's still broke ) I told Elbow to get in the
back , he looked at me once and jumped back there with all the other
stuff . His nose reappeared in the front , curious . " Hop in " I
say . The wind and rain is blowing all around us , some of it comes in
with the lady getting in the passenger seat . " Oh hi Diane , I thought
it might be you "
" What's going on here ? , one minute I'm...I don't know
where..., what day is this anyway ? .. And then I'm standing in the
rain on the freeway with you pulling up to give me a ride ." She
didn't looked frightened but was on the verge of getting angry , if I'm
any judge about other people's moods .
" I'm afraid it's the writer thing expressing itself , Diane ,
I wanted to show you the power words have to create a separate reality .
If I get the words right , almost anything is possible " I could tell
this wasn't going to be good enough , she was looking straight at me .
" You really need to ask before you pull someone into your story
, Joe . " Her tone was a little softer than the expression on her face
.
" Lo Siento , Diane " I put on my most regretful face .
" What's that ? 'You're Sorry' in Spanish? , I haven't even
gone to Mexico yet." I'm not sure I like this ." This was getting
seriously out of hand , not the way I thought it might be at all .
" I'm sorry , it means, I'm sorry . And you wont be reading
this until you get back , the time thing gets a little confusing " This
was exactly the wrong way to go here , I knew it as soon as the words
left my stupid mouth .
Diane's look was to kill , but her words weren't connected to it
at all . " So now that I'm here, what did you have in mind ? "
"I thought we could take the coast road along the Pacific in a
time system where the Pleistocene era never stopped, we might see
mammoths , giant bison, dire wolves, things like that " I was getting
into the meat of my hard-sell routine . "Or we could drive off this
freeway into a world where people are really rational and use their
highest efforts in science and technology to improve their lives ,
rather than try to gain some advantage by killing each other ."
"Tch!" The sound came from the back seat , startled, we both
turned and looked , only Elbow there, his muzzle resting on his paws,
eyes half shut . The storm ratcheted up in intensity, rain was pounding
hard against bottom of the canoe which was tied to the top of the little
car . Lightning flashes followed quickly by loud booms shook the air .
An involuntary shiver went up my back , I heard Diane let out a breath ,
that close one must've got her too .
"Look , Joe , " There was a strain of tenderness in her voice
" We need to get to work sometime today , I have a ton of things to do
and I really need to think about this , so just drop me off at the 7-11
OK ? "
"This is the freeway, there aren't any 7-11's on it . " My
plans for a great adventure turned to smoking ruins , the disappointment
is thick in my voice .
" I understand the nature of fiction , Joe , 'almost anything'
sure enough does cover 7-11's." Her logic was tight on that level . I
pulled into the convenience store on the freeway , just south of the
big dairy farm . " It seems that there might be some risk here as well
, Joe . Is there ? " She was opening the door and getting out now .
A tiny "yes" escaped my lips before I could dress it up or
qualify it . Diane pulled her hood up and had her eyes fixed on me ,
she let a smile come across her face as the car door closed .
"See ya" I read her lips , I couldn't hear through the door and
the noise of the storm . And then she was gone into the store , I
drove back onto the freeway .
"You weren't much help , Elbow " he had resumed his place in
the passenger seat .
"Did you think I was going to do the talking dog routine to pull
your chestnuts out of the fire ?" His tongue was hanging out and the
corners of his mouth were curled up in that smile only labs or part labs
can do . " I figured you wrote your way into that mess you could write
your way out of it . Diane seemed a little upset with you , you'll be
lucky if she doesn't throw rocks the next time she sees you ."
"That, ' Tch! ', was enirely unnecessary , humans find that
sound insulting , in case you didn't know . " My eyes left the road
long enough to see his smile get larger , He was gloating .
"OK you're my master and I love you , but when you started in on
the 'science and technology making a better world thing' I thought some
of that cheap dog food you've been feeding me was going to come up ,
'tch!' was mild compared to what I felt like doing ."
"Well, I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that again . " I try
to keep my eyes on the road and not feed into his needling expressions .
"tch , tch, tch ," three quick ones
I am boiling at the sound . " Hey!! , knock it off I told you !
"
"Wasn't me " Elbow in his most servile voice . " It's the bird
, he's just trying to get me in trouble " to prove his point he looks
into the back seat . A check in the rear view mirror and I see the
bird has his head stuck out of one of the finger holes in the refried
bean box . I say " That's a pretty ungrateful sound coming from someone
who was just rescued from drowning "
"The dog said he was going to eat me if he got hungry enough,
how do you like the payback bowser ? " The bird pulled his head in as
Elbow tensed to go back there .
"Elbow ! Don't.... " he relaxed and went back to looking out
the window . The bird was back at the hole in the box looking out .
The storm let up and I could see clear skies to the north , "So what
happened , Bird ? " I was curious .
"What do you mean what happened ?" he had his neck stuck out ,
beak open and was giving me the one-eye bird stare .
"Forget him he's a bird-brain" Elbow growled