Few things in life are guaranteed and at best most can only be assumed. It is assumed that if the sun rises, it must also set, if the tide comes in, it must also go out, if the moon waxes, it must also wane. Assumptions, every last one.
But the one thing that was guaranteed, was that if Baby was on the road, her Green Cooler would be with her.
Mostly their road trips were the same, starting with the inevitable loadup. Fuel, oil and weapons for Baby and (depending on who was loading up), ice and beer or ice, beer and smoothies. But always the ice and beer for the Cooler. Life was always exciting at the loadup, the hunt was on, the adventure beginning and the road was beckoning. And they knew they were at their best on the road. The road was where they knew their role, and what they needed to do. They needed to keep the two boys safe. They needed to make sure that everything was exactly where it needed to be so that there would be a next adventure, and that the four of them would be on it.
And oh the adventures they had been on, the places they had seen. Long nights turning in longer days, driving across mountains and deserts. They saw the second largest ball of twine in the Continental US. They stopped at wood mills and pine forests, motels and abandoned houses, taking in every moment and treasuring it for what it was; the chance to be the security and safety for the two boys that traveled with them.
Because like everything else in life, they were not guaranteed either.
There were times when the loss of one of the boys was keenly felt, like when the four of them arrived at one of the many beautiful spots, and only three of them left. It was those times when Baby's radio tried to play louder, and the Cooler tried be within arm's reach because if safety could not always be provided, then at least security could be.
Sometimes the Cooler had to be in Baby's trunk because one of the boys needed the back seat. Mostly those times didn't need further examining, and afterwards Baby was filled with loud music and laughter and lighthearted teasing. But other times, when the back seat was needed, the trip away was sad and solemn. They never wanted to think about those trips.
There were times when their own strength surprised them. Baby could be as tough as the largest armored vehicles around, she could take down ghosts, outrun trucks and on occasion she even acted as a very effective weapon in the disarming of the odd bad guy. And the Cooler was known to have acted as multiple pieces of furniture and even had the unenviable task of looking after someone's head. Very few Coolers can share that claim to fame (well at least in public).
No one really remembers when they first met, like most undefinable pairings it was as though they had always just "been". Anyone who remembered them separately had either long since gone or had pushed that unimportant detail to the back of their mind, like you would forget the weather last Tuesday or the name of your workmate's dog.
When they weren't together, things never went quite to plan. There was a period in their lives when Baby disappeared, there one day, gone the next. The Cooler still went on road trips but they weren't adventures anymore, just long ugly drives in short ugly cars. No one was comfortable, and even the boys felt the emptiness. Baby's return was loud, fast and destructive but return she did, and they were back together, just like they should have been.
Ultimately it meant one thing. They were completely, undeniably compatible; like two pieces of lego, salt and pepper and rum and coke. Separately they were great. Very special things that served an individual purpose that in itself was important, but together, that's when they became alchemists, merging metal to create gold.
Guarantees and assumptions. Life has so few of the former and so many of the latter and to mistake one for the other in the world they traveled could be fatal. So they relied on the one guarantee they had, the one set in stone. The guarantee that when Baby was on the road, her Green Cooler would be with her.
And that is guarantee enough for anyone.