Everything He Told Me

o n e

ONE

"ISLA! WATCH THE road, oh my god! We're all gonna die!" Mom shrieked, flapping her arms wildly like she was trying to swat down invisible bugs. She ducked her head which I guessed was her equivalent of taking cover.

"Please stop it Mom! I'm fine!" I argued, taking a left at the next light. "Xavier, what way is it now?"

Xavier - who looked as though he might be sick at any moment - unrumpled the big map that was stretched across his knees in the backseat and scanned it warily. "Um ..."

"Don't you dare tell me we're lost!" Mom span around in her seat, outrage clearly written on her face.

Xavier looked truly mortified as he caught sight of her expression and I knew then that we were officially screwed. "W-we're not lost" he said but in the rear-view mirror I saw him gulp nervously.

"It's okay Mom, I'll just set up the GPS" I suggested and with one hand still on the steering wheel, I leaned over to fiddle with it.

"NO!" Mom screamed, reaching down and slapping my hand away harshly. "Keep your eyes on the road, Isla, before we all crash!" she ordered forcefully.

Sighing, I wrapped my fingers back around the steering wheel tightly. "You have no faith in me" I muttered grudgingly.

"Isla, sweetheart, you barely scraped through your driving test. Plus, in case you've forgotten, this isn't our car" Mom explained, patting my knee with sudden tenderness.

True, this wasn't our car. It was a rental that we'd ordered as soon as we'd gotten out of the Charlotte Douglas Airport. It was a decent car (for the price Mom paid for it, it better have been otherwise she probably would have sued) and it had fit both my suitcases and three holdalls in the trunk which was a bonus. Xavier was worried he might have to balance one on his lap.

"Mom, you're not exactly one to talk" he piped up from the back, now.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, craning her neck to give Xavier the beady eye.

He stood his ground and told her truthfully, "well you're not the best driver, are you? You get tickets basically every couple of months."

"I disagree!"

"He's got a point Mom" I chimed in. "It's a miracle we've survived this long."

"You should be grateful for me, driving you both places!" Mom insisted.

"I'd rather have walked" Xavier joked from the backseat, making me laugh.

Mom was too busy sulking, folding her arms in the passenger seat. I reached over and shook her arm softly. "Lighten up Mom! We're only messing with you - though you are pretty appalling so now you know where I get it from-"

"ISLA!" Mom suddenly leapt to attention, screeching.

I whipped my head forward and saw that I'd just driven through a red light, almost taking out an old woman walking her Chihuahua on a leash. "I'm sorry!" I exclaimed loudly.

"Don't apologise to us! Apologise to the old lady!" Xavier said.

"I can't exactly circle back around on a highway now, can I Xavier?" I shot back sarcastically.

"Stop it! Stop it both of you!" Mom shouted but after we'd finally quietened down, it was her who burst into laughter first. "You two are incorrigible" she muttered good-naturedly.

"Ooh incorrigible, write that one down Xavier!" I teased.

The rest of the drive was taken up by Xavier and I playfully making fun of Mom and her drowning us out with her horrific laugh (if it could even be called a laugh - more of a cackle or a crow of some sort).