The Serpent Queen

Take a Right | Part Two

The guys helped Tommy out of the hospice centre by simply holding the door open for him. However, the sick man felt strange with all the walking around eggshells with him.

"I got it. I got it." He said, while walking out of the front door.

Walking down the steps, Jimmy took out his car keys. "Hey, I can drive." He offered, eager to start the road trip.

The other four friends looked to the car and began laughing out loud. Bobby's car was a sky blue five door Suzuki.

"Look at this thing? Did your wife take your balls too?" Johnny remarked.

"Hey! This is the safest car in its class." Jimmy defended it.

Even Tommy made fun of the car, "You said you had a pussy wagon. Not a wagon for pussies." His laughter set Bobby off. He began laughing as well and hit Tommy's arm in a joking manner.

George chuckled, "Jimmy, I'll give you a couple grand and I'll take it off your hands and I'll give it to my daughter. Even then, I think I would be paying way over the price point."

Jimmy looked over to the religious man of the bunch. "Alright, back me up. Isn't it a sin to make fun of another man's ride?"

"Jimmy, even God doesn't like this car."

Tommy chuckled at Bobby's comment.

"How I find it, do you guys have something better in mind?"

Johnny thought for a moment and a smile appeared on his face, "I have an idea."

"Um...let me just call my wife and let her know what's happening." George took out his phone from his pocket, tapped on the screen a few times and held it to his ear. He walked a few steps away from the guys. The line rang and was picked up by none other than his wife. "Hey, Soph. I'm going on a road trip with Johnny and the guys I was friendly with back in the day."

"When is this road trip?" She asked. She was luckily on her lunch break when her husband had called her. Most people who knew Sophie knew that she couldn't have her phone on her during working hours and if they really needed to get in contact with her, to call the hospital if it really was an emergency.

"Right now."

"Now? It's quite sudden and out of the blue, George."

"I know, I know. It's just...." He glanced over to his friends and lowered his voice. "...Tommy...he's dying of cancer and we don't know how much time he has left. He's signed out of the hospice for twenty four hours. I can't say no, Soph. How can I?"

"Just be careful and text Phoebe. See you tomorrow at some point. Love you, George."

"I love you too, honey. Bye. Bye." George ended the call and walked over to his friend. "I just told my wife, Sophie, about this." He quickly sent a text message to Phoebe about what he was doing and that he would she her sometime tomorrow. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yes, we are."

"Wait, wait. Do you want five minutes to have a smoke first?"

"Nah, man. I quit smoking many many years ago. Haven't touched one since and never will again."

"Are you kidding? Wow, George. Well done! That's an achievement for you."

"It must have been so difficult."

"It was at the start, but now I'm not interested at all."

"Your lungs will thank you for that."

"I'm sure they will, Tommy."