Along the Way

Chapter 4

Have you ever had that feeling of nervousness, anxiety, and fear all jumbled up at the same time? A lot of times this happens when you do something new for the first time, like performing on stage, skydiving, you know, things like that. Well imagine that, times 100. That's what I'm feeling right now. I literally just left home without telling my parents, other than the brief note I left behind, and am out to face the unknown world. I don't know what's out here, Alex doesn't know what's out here, but now were walking right through it all. Sure, occasionally we've been to the cities outside of town, but what's beyond those cities? More cities? The middle of nowhere?

The only two things keeping me from turning back were Alex and Remover. So I just kept walking along side her, on our way to see them. The only thing hard about this journey right now was the anxiety of leaving home so sudden, and not having an entirely functional plan.

We'd been walking for a few hours when I asked, "What time is it?" I knew she most likely didn't have an answer, but I wasn't really thinking.

"Not sure," She started, "Maybe about one?" She finished as she looked up at the sky. It puzzled me at first, but then I understood how she was trying to use the sun to tell time.

I nodded in response. "Maybe we should find a place to rest for a bit? Then walk until sun down?" I said it in more of a question tone rather than a statement.

"Yeah, that works," She responded after a while.

We were in the town of St. Clair now, so we had plenty of options. We decided we didn't want to spend the little money we had on an Inn to stay at, so we took a seat on a nearby bench to rest up.

I decided that this would be the perfect time to whip out my ukulele. I pulled out the stringed instrument from it's case and started re-tuning it, trying to get it as close as I could in tune by ear. I got it as close as I could, and started strumming. Not really any song in particular, just strumming in a nice pattern and switching in between chords that sound nice together. From playing for a while, I knew which chords sounded nice with others and which ones didn't.

As I strummed, getting the feel of the pattern of chords and strums I've chosen, I glance over at Alex. She's relaxed, she lay down on the bench right beside me, her eyes were closed, but I knew she wasn't asleep just yet.

Her eyes remained shut, but a smile formed on her lips. I was so focused on her sleeping form, I didn't even realize that someone had dropped in some change.

"Thank you!" I call out to them, hoping they didn't too far to where they couldn't hear me.

Sadly, I got no response. I always try to thank anyone who drops in money because I really am thankful.

Especially now, being away from home, I am really thankful when people drop in money.

I didn't know the exact time, but if I were to guess, it was about 2 or 3.

Alex was still sleeping, and I was still playing. If we wanted to get anywhere else before sundown, we probably needed to leave soon. I nudged Alex awake. She groaned and refused, but eventually I got her to her feet, bag in had, ready to start walking again.

We had a lot more energy after our rest than we did before. We started walking again, continuing our journey to California. Maybe this won't be so bad, walking across the country. Sure, when you think about it, it seems rough, but this wasn't to bad. But who knows, this is only day one out of a lot.

"We haven't eaten since this morning, maybe we could find another bakery or something?" Alex suggested. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until she said something.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," I agreed,
"Maybe to save money, we only eat breakfast and dinner, unless were not hungry."

She replied immediately with a nod. We hadn't made it to far outside of St. Clair, but neither of us wanted to back track.

"It's getting a bit late anyway," She pointed out. She was right, the sun was getting close to being set behind the horizon.

I nodded, and started looking around for ay place that might sell food. We weren't in an actual town right now, we were in the 'in between zones', so it was harder to find things.

We searched until sundown for a food place.

"How will we find anything if we can't see?" She questioned, turning to face me.

"We can't be too far from a food place," I say, but in reality, I have no idea where we are.

She just nodded, and we kept walking. I was getting a bit nervous now, It was just after sundown, but it was already really dark. It might be about 8 or 9, but I still haven't figured out a good way to keep time, especially now that the sun has gone down.

I was relieved when we came across a few small buildings lined up on the side of the road, probably people trying to sell supplies for travelers. We walked quickly over to the closest shack to us.

"Hi, how can I help you?" A deep male voice asked.

"Do any of these shops sell food or water?" I questioned.

"Why yes, one does. Across the road, third building down," He replied.
We thanked him before we turned to leave. We only took about two steps when he said, "Do you ladies need a flashlight to see? I can sell you one for a good price."

Alex and I looked at each other. We whispered a few things,and decided it would be good if we ever get stuck in the dark in the middle of nowhere, kind of like this.

We paid the man, said thanks again, and crossed the road to the shack with food.

This time, it was a younger man, with a slightly higher voice.

"Hello, how are you ladies tonight?" He asked.

Alex decided to talk this time. "Great, thank you. How about yourself?"

"Mighty fine. How may I help you?" He replied.

"We were wondering what kinds of food you could sell us," Alex said with a much more serious tone.

"Of course," He answered, before turning away to grab something.

"This is our cheapest food item," He added, as he held up an apple.

Alex and I bought two apples each, thanked him, and continued out journey, looking for a place to sleep.

We decided that for tonight, the ground would have to do for tonight, because even after walking for about 10 more minutes, we found no civilization. We used our suitcases as pillows, by the way, very uncomfortable, and drifted to sleep after a long first day.