Second chance at life (sequel to An Adventure of a Lifetime)

chapter 5

Except for the radio, the car ride was painfully silent for a while. Andrew fell asleep in my lap and was lolling all over the place, which was slightly distracting, so I put him in my Ugg that was sitting on the floor. Around 1:30, I realized that we were in the middle of nowhere and I was famished. I started looking for exits, places where we could stop at a fast food place, eat really quickly, and get back on the road. I waited another 20 minutes before spotting a sign for McDonald’s.

            As I started to open the car door, I realized that I had forgotten to put my shoes on. I pulled on my left Ugg, and then leaned over to tug on the right. As my toes touched down, I felt something…and remembered a tiny sleeping Andrew was in my shoe! I quickly jerked my foot out of the boot. Shit. That was really, really close Paige. Gotta watch it! I scolded myself.

            I reached in and tried to pull Andrew out delicately, hoping that I wouldn’t wake him up. I failed. As I was scooping up his puny limp form, I wacked his face on the top of the inside of the boot, giving him a nice mouthful of fur. When I finally had him out, he was sitting up and did not look very pleased. He raised an eyebrow at me.

            “What?” I asked “I was driving and you were lolling all over the place and it was really distracting!”

            “Oh, so you put me in your SHOE?”

            “Yeeeeeees…” I trawled.

            He sighed. “Only you…Where are we anyways?”

            “McDonald’s. I was starving.”

            “Ohh! Can I have a big mac?” He asked.

            “Dude! You’re like an inch tall. There’s no way you can eat a big mac. Remember the cereal?”

            “Aww…” He sounded disappointed. Then the quickly brightened. “Can you get a big mac and I can have a piece of it?” He pleaded.

            “Alright, fine. But if you didn’t want one, I would be getting a salad.” I told him.

            “Thank you, Paige! I wove woo.” He said like a baby.

            I face palmed. “Just get in my pocket.” I replied irritated, but I knew that he’d gotten to me. 

            “Can I ride in your back pocket so I can at least see everything?”

            I didn’t really think about it before answering. “No.”

            “Pleeeeaasssseeeee?” He begged as though he were 2.  

            “Fine! But don’t let anyone see you.” I slipped him out of my front pocket and into my back.

            I walked up to the front counter, ordered, and then waited for our food. There was no way I could take Andrew out and let him eat here so we would have to eat in the car. I only had to wait a few minutes before our food was ready. I was just hungry, and I wasn’t thinking about what I was doing as I sat down on the seat of the car. I felt something in my pocket and suddenly remembered Andrew! “Aww shit!” I yelped jerked him out of my pocket and onto the passenger seat. “Andrew are you alright!?” I was hysterical.

            Andrew had this wild-eyed look, like he’d gone insane. “Don’t touch me.” He curled into the fetal position. “Come here, Ace.” It was his nickname from way back.

            “Just, just leave me alone for now, ok?”

            I sighed and reached for him. He scrambled away.

            “Don’t touch me! I don’t wanna get crushed again!” He stuttered

            I reached for him again, frantically apologizing. Suddenly it turned into a mad chase in the closed car, Andrew trying to get away, me trying to grab him. Finally, after at least five minutes of doing this, he had jumped up on the windowsill and was trying to roll it down where he was cornered and I grabbed him. He still struggled for a while until I held him close to my heart so he could hear it beating. After a while of this, he calmed down, stopped crying and fell asleep. I lay down across the backseats tired, hungry, and sad.

            This trip was turning from just plain bad, into a disaster. And it was only day one.