You Must Remember This

Chapter 10: A Summer Place

John had already waited five minutes outside his house and was starting to grow impatient and cold. A crow suddenly called out, and he startled. Typically, his parents would have wanted to see him off, but it was early in the morning and they were so confident in his abilities that they didn't even supervise him packing his suitcase. Before he thought about going back inside to warm up a little, a van pulled up, and Tom waved from the passenger's seat. John could see Tom's father shout something at him, and Tom stepped out to help John move his suitcase into the surprisingly voluminous trunk. Tom and his father had spent a few minutes the previous night planning out their route, minimizing travel time in the order they picked up Tom's friends.

"Feel free to sit anywhere you like," Tom's father shouted in no particular direction when John squeezed himself inside the van.

"Thank you for doing this for us, Mr., uh..." John realized suddenly he did not know Tom's last name.

"Langley, but please, call me Steve. Bulldog, if you think that sounds cooler. I'm off the clock," Mr. Langley interrupted with a smile, offering his hand for John to shake. Tom frowned slightly—his dad never let Tom call him "Bulldog," which definitely did sound cooler. John always preferred to sit in the middle seat, or whichever would give him the most leg room. He always felt tense on long car rides, something about the space being confined. John wanted to initiate some small talk with Mr. Langley, but he scared him for some reason; there was just something innately wrong with calling someone else's parent by their first name.

They drove through quiet streets through a commercial area and then to a gated community by the water. Lilac trees were in full bloom, even though it was early in the morning, and some geese wandered on the lawn. Mr. Langley ignored the posted signage politely asking all guest arrivals to wait at the entrance and instead drove straight in, past a line of cookie-cutter houses to an address that Tom confirmed on his phone. John looked up to see Beth lithely squeeze past his legs to sit on his right, waving hello before yawning dramatically. Without any delay, they kept driving, picking up Regina, who sat to John's left and immediately started talking with Beth, leaving his head aching in the crossfire, and Alan, who seemed disappointed that he wasn't sitting in the back with the others.

On long road trips, John typically amused himself by staring out the window and imagining what stories took place in the decrepit houses, gloomy caverns, or endless expanses of green they passed. Seeing a deer or an attractive bird would cheer him up for hours. Unfortunately for him, his view was obstructed by the people sitting next to him, and even though he could stretch his legs, he still felt trapped.

Regina was bursting with excitement—her parents did not believe in road trips, as they believed there were so many interesting sights locally that one could never get bored. This was true, to some degree, but a new exhibition at a local art museum did not qualify as "interesting" in her mind. She was with people who were her friends, or at least partially so—it did not take her long to warm up to Tom's enthusiastic stories of childhood memories, opening presents around the fire, and going swimming in the lake, which all served to convince her that Tom was so generous for bringing her to the best place since Disneyland. Alan struck her as boring, and since he immediately fell asleep to the gentle rocking of the car, he had no way of defending himself. She needed to share her excitement with John at once:

"What are you looking forward to doing most, John?"

John thought sagely, still staring straight ahead, and remarked: "Yes, this will be very relaxing. I am looking forward to it." He turned to Regina, expecting her to make some comment but instead seeing her smile thinly.

"What was the question again? I'm a bit tired." Regina gave up trying to talk with him, as he was proving boring, and continued conversing happily with Beth. John went back into his meditative trance.