Crash Course in Shane Mathias

9. Souvenirs

The New Mexico highway bored Shane; it was all the same. He was staring out the window, trying really hard not to lean against it because it was freezing cold in this winter weather. 

Only there was nothing to stare at; it was too bland. There was the occasional ranch, gas stop, dining place. Other than that, there was only the barren desert beauty that Shane was immune to because he'd already had enough of Arizona. 

Suddenly Jugatxi drove into an off ramp that led to a little shop. "Do you want to get souvenirs?" she asked as she put the car in park in front of the little store.

"I guess," Shane told her and got out of the car. He could see dream catchers and what looked like voodoo dolls in the front window. They stepped into the store. It was dark and warm. The woman who sat at the cash register smiled at them. Surprisingly, there was an assortment of items inside the store, from key chains and shot glasses to the dream catchers and voodoo dolls that had been promised. 

Shane walked along the aisles, trying to find a souvenir that he seemed to like. He finally came across little black porcelain monkeys that had little tuffs of black hair sticking out of the tops of their heads. Some monkeys had their hands over their eyes, others had their hands over their ears, and others had their hands over their mouth. "See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil," Shane quietly recalled to himself. The little monkeys were really cute, but other than that Shane didn't know why they had Shane's attention. There was a reason for the amount of attention the monkeys held nudging him in the back of his mind but he couldn't grasp it. Every time he tried, it would float away. 

He kept trying to connect himself with the monkeys, who now seemed to be staring at him, but he couldn't. When he had grown extremely frustrated with himself, Jugatxi appeared out of nowhere. "You found them," she said as she smiled and stepped around him to pick up a monkey.

"Huh?" Shane asked.

"Do you remember these?" Jugatxi asked him, a little hopeful.

"No," Shane said, biting the inside of his cheek and fisting his hands. He was frustrated again. Why couldn't he just freaking remember?

"Oh," Jugatxi said, a bit deflated. "You actually got me one of these on our first road trip, the See-No-Evil one," she said as she held up the monkey in her hand. "Actually, you were the one who broke it a few years later too."

Shane laughed a bit, "I'm sorry."

Jugatxi sighed and smiled a bit too. "I know, you wouldn't stop apologizing after."

"Here," Shane picked up a set of the three monkeys, "I'll buy you all three this time." Shane didn't see, but Jugatxi picked of a set of monkeys too. "Why do you have those three?" Shane asked her at the register.

"This time I'll buy you a set too," she told him, "Just for a little reminder."

Shane didn't know what the three little monkeys could be a reminder of. This trip? His memory? See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil? He just smiled his thanks to Jugatxi.