Arlene expertly piloted the bus to a stop among the trees. She sighed deeply and stood up with a groan, her joints cracked. She looked at me and saw my look.
"You have something you want to tell me?"
Apoc snored lightly. It was weird he seemed to sleep all the time now.
I nodded.
"Man I'd swear if I didn't know better than you understand what I'm saying."
I nodded. Keep going.
"You just answered yes?"
I nodded again. 'Getting warmer'.
She rubbed her eyes, "Man I need to lay off the peyote and shrooms. I'm starting to see things." She opened the bus door. "Well time to do your business."
I looked at her and sat down.
She looked at me for a long moment.
"Well suit yourself. You ain't talking and I'm feeling a little weird right now."
I gave her another look.
"You really understand what I'm saying? In English?"
I nodded.
"Do you just nod whenever someone speaks to you? Is that what you do? Good girl?" She used a fake loving baby voice.
I shook my head, 'Ugh no' and I wouldn't be fooled by the tone of voice either. I smelled her surprise. She started sweating.
"So can you talk?"
I shook my head. 'Reooror', I tried but my vocal cords no longer made words.
"Am I tripping out or what?" She smacked herself in the forehead.
I shook my head.
"I'm not high? Or trippin? I did LSD once or twice you know back in the day. You know they say it stays in your fat cells for years." She squeezed her soft middle for emphasis.
I shook my head.
"So I have to ask you yes and no questions?"
I nodded and then tried to shrug. I used my paw on the rug and tried to draw shapes of letters.
"Oh my, are you writing? You're writing letters? Hold on let me get a pen and paper."
A few minutes later she read it back.
"Thank U Arlene. Think we have tracker inside. Help get out?" She read back from her paper. "Well you spelled 'you' wrong but I think I can forgive that one. Tracker? I don't know. I don't really know anything about surgery, I might end up accidentally killing you."
I spelled more.
"Ah yeah I remember those guys in the white pickup that guy waving that cellphone around trying to get a signal. You think he was trying to get your signal?"
I nodded.
"Well hmm... that makes sense. The inside of this bus is lined with lead. It's a long story and has to do with a guy I was dating for awhile. Ha! If you think I'm out there... Well lets just say he made me feel normal in the tinfoil hat crowd. He was very concerned with radiation. I'd forgotten about it till just now but there are thin sheets of lead lining the walls in here. Really like a faraday cage, I can't use a cell phone inside. Which is a good thing, because then there's no chance I'll be texting and driving." She laughed at her joke.
"Well this is a problem. If you have a homing beacon inside you. I guess the best I can offer is to cover you up and hope they don't pick up your signal."
Arlene announced that she needed to "get on the internet to do some research" so I directed her to look up the Alex James' Show on her phone once she got outside.
She stepped outside and quickly infomed me that the original was no longer allowed on YouTube apparently. Something about how it violated some part of their "TOS". I was disappointed because I figured we could cover the ground faster if she watched what he'd already asked even with the slow wireless internet.
When she climbed back on board it was clear she'd read some of the comments on some of the other chat forums and didn't know quite what to make of it all. She glanced at me and then at Apoc. She sat quietly stroking a long stray hair on her chin. Finally, I realized that I did "need to find a tree" and let her know with the writing.
She wrapped me in a mylar emergency blanket and tinfoil. Apoc woke up at the crinkling of the tinfoil. He watched bleary eyed. "Hello, wolfie. Looks like your girl here has figured out that they have trackers inside of you or her. So we are just adding some extra precautions." Apoc shook his head from side to side a little, like he had water in his ear. She crinkled it down over my head.
"Think you can keep this on, while you go?" Apoc laid his head back down.
I nodded a little.
"Ok off you go." Arlene opened the door to the bus and I stepped out a few feet. I saw her look up into the sky and listen. I listened too for a long moment. I got to thinking the longer I was out maybe the easier it would be to find me so I walked to a tree did my business and headed back.
Arlene was just standing there staring. I walked past her and into the bus. "I... I didn't mean to stare. I, I am sorry. I just had all these thoughts and stuff that just popped into my head. When I saw you out there and I really started to think about what you've been through. You remind me of my daughter."
She started unwrapping me. "I just want you to know... although I probably have no right to say this, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you for keeping going when it seems like everything was against you. You are a fighter, no matter what they tried to take from you, they couldn't take your spirit. I bet your parents would be very proud of you."
She stood there for a minute holding the silver blanket and foil and stared at Apoc. A little tremor crept into her voice. "He's a big boy isn't he? Sure does sleep a lot though. Well you should probably wake him up. Nature will not be denied for too long."
I nodded and nudged him. He raised his head tilted, and looked at me shaking it a little. I knew something was wrong with him. I had no idea what. I head butted him and whined. I looked at him and then at the foil. I think he got the message, for he got unsteadily to his feet.
"Ok you ready?"
I licked his nose. He rubbed mine back but he kept his head tilted to the side.
"Ok love birds, here we go." The blanket crinkled but stayed on. She had to add two more strips of foil to close it and keep it on. But he stood patiently and very still while Arlene pressed it around him.
He watched her finish and then took his leave. A couple minutes later he had returned and stood just inside the door. She unwrapped him and set out water for us. Apoc fell back asleep, but Arlene and I talked for the rest of the night. I told her at least part of my story... one letter at a time.
