From New York to New Mexico and Beyond

Chapter seven

  "Crutchie! Where is everybody? Where's Les? You were in charge of watching him!" Davey cried, frantically scanning the car. Crutchie's face lit up. "Ohhh...that's what I was supposed to do!"

  "Where is he?"

  "He went to the store with Specs..." 

  "Why would you let him do that?" Crutchie just shrugged in response. Davey rolled his eyes and went into the store Crutchie had pointed out.

  "Les?" He called as he entered the small store. "Over here!" Specs waved from the checkout counter. Davey ran over to them. "What were you thinking?" He demanded as Specs picked up three bags full of snacks. "I got hungry!" Les protested. "You are never gonna do that again, okay?"

  "Specs was with me. Stop freaking out." Les muttered, heading for the car with Davey on his heels. Specs followed, relieved that Davey hadn't started in on him.

  "Here they are!" Jack sighed, leaning back in his seat with his arm around Katherine. "Sorry about that." Davey climbed back into the driver's seat. "It won't happen again. Right Les?"

  "Right." Les groaned. "Hey, Race," Specs whispered. "Switch places with me."

  "Huh? Why?"

  "Cause I don't want Dave to remember he didn't yell at me yet and start hitting..."

  "Dave doesn't hit!" Race scoffed loudly. "Not often, but I can." Davey glared at Specs.

  Soon, Race and Specs had switched seats, Les and Crutchie had started a game together, Jack and Katherine were both scribbling in notebooks, and everyone had their choice of food, causing a restful silence for a while. Until...

  "SLUGBUG!" Les screamed, punching Race in the arm and causing Davey to swerve the car. "OUCH!" Race immediately punched Les back. "Hey! That's not fair! You have to see a slugbug first!"

  "We are not playing that game!" Davey yelled over the arguing. "You almost made me crash the car!"

  "I'm bored though!" Les whined. "Crutchie fell asleep!"

  "No, I'm awake." Crutchie murmured, rubbing his eyes. "Okay, let's play a game that doesn't involve punching, okay?" Katherine suggested. "Ace, every game involves punching with these boys." Jack muttered. "I heard that!" Specs piped up. "Okay, I've got a great game for a road trip." The excitement in Katherine's voice made all the boys pay attention. "It's called the alphabet game."

  "Oh, Kath, we can't play that, Specs doesn't know his alphabet yet." Jack received a punch in the shoulder from Specs for that remark. "Hey! I said this game does not involve punching! Jack, please..." Katherine frowned at him. "Okay, okay, sorry." Jack crossed his arms. "How do you play this game?"

  "Whoever finds all the letters of the alphabet first, wins. That simple."

  "What do we win?" Race asked, raising an eyebrow. Katherine checked her pockets. "How bout a dollar?" She asked, holding up a rumpled bill. "Well it's better than nothing." Race shrugged.

  "Okay, let's start!" As Katherine turned to look out the car window, Les snatched her notebook off her lap and opened it to the first page.
"Abcdefghijk..."

  "Les!" Katherine desperately snatched for her book. "Les, give it back!" Jack said in a voice that Les knew he had to obey. Katherine slipped the book in her bag out of the boys' reach. "You have to find the letters on the outside of the car." She sighed. "Let's try that again. Go!"

  "D, n, p, s..."

  "Race, what are you doing?"

  "Finding letters like you said!"

  "They have to be in order!"

  "You didn't make that clear."

  "Okay, for the last time. On your marks..." every boy turned to look out the window. "Get set..." Race bit his lip in determination. "Go!" And the game was on.

So so so so sorry for the delay! It's been busy so chapters will be on and off...hope you're still enjoying!