'I spy with my little eye... something beginning with X!'
I cast a impatient glance at Iggy in the front seat beside me. He reached out to touch my face and smirked. The jerk. The flock had been playing I Spy for the past 67 miles to be exact. And we weren't flying this time around, we were cramped into a very claustrophobic and very old VW camper van. The only reason we stole it from the antique show was because it had a working engine and according to Angel, the guy who owned it had about eight more. But I don't really believe her. Because this camper is pink.
So there we were, driving along like a little travelling circus playing I Spy, running for our lives, because fly-boys decided to show up at what was described by my mom, as a family outing. Well, I hope she got her $40 back.
'Angel, there's nothing around here beginning with X', Gazzy said, after about a minute of searching the sky. The sky. Stupid kid.
'Is there a xylophone around here somewhere?' Dylan asked politely.
'Dyl, xylophone starts with a 'z'. You dummy. See Max, there's reason No. 127 for us to go to school...' I zoned out the Nudge Channel. Lately, she had come with a list of reasons why we should go to school. It all started when Gazzy informed us that we should take a holiday overseas. Well that's not so bad you say. Yah. His example was Albuquerque.
Right now though we were heading south, and I think we were due to hit Tucson at about half past two.
'TACO BELL! MC DONALD'S! KFC! MAAAAAAAX! IM HUNGRY' Gazzy screamed in my ear as we approached yet another food court. Whoever invented those things was going to pay for my ear replacement. But jeez, you'd think the 10 year old would be able to control his impulses. Or at least keep the volume down a tad.
'Oh Max, please, pretty pretty please with like eight million cherries on top and a load of whipp-' Nudges stream of words was kindly interrupted by a small hand belonging to Angel.
You know we're all really hungry Max. Just this one stop. C'mon, please. I could send you a mental sad face if you like. Angel pouted in the back seat and gave me puppy-dog eyes in the rear view mirror.
'Fine. Fine. We'll get something to eat okay? But only Mc Donald's is 24 hour in this place. And no one gets more than 3 deserts.' I was answered by a chorus of 'YAAAAAAAY'. Once again, they were going to pay for the replacement ear. I put the love bug into 3rd and pulled down onto the exit for the food court. This was going to be super fun. NOT.
A tired looking girl not much older than me was sitting up on the counter talking to a bunch of greasy truckers. One of them spotted us and whispered something to the others. The girl hopped off the counter and slid over to us.
'Can I help you?' she drawled, her eyes tracing over Dylan slowly. She leant forward over the till and smiled at him. He looked at her surprised, and turned to look a me with a puzzled look on his face.
'Get us a table guys yah? I'll order for you.' I said, pointing Iggy in the direction of a large booth. Nudge grabbed his hand and pulled slowly. I watched as they walked away. I turned to the girl behind the counter.
'He is one fine looking boy. Is he stupid though?' She asked me. I noticed her name tag. Huh, someone's parents lived through the eighties.
'Can we order now Billie-Ray? Or would you like to continue undressing him with your eyes?' I said.
'Uh, sure. Uh, waddyawant?' I ordered the long list of food that the flock wanted, ignoring the astonished look on the girls face.
As she faced back towards the kitchen, I turned to watch the flock. Gazzy was standing on the table with his butt in Nudges face. She had a napkin over her hair and was cussing blindly at him. Angel, I presume was asking Iggy what the word castrate meant, and Dylan was clutching his side laughing. There was only one thing wrong with this picture. I am sure you can guess.
'Ah hem... Ah so that'll be $97.50 please.' The girl had reappeared, laden down with trays. I handed her the Max Card.
'Give me a hand here Dylan, could ya?' I said, and handed him three trays. I thanked the girl, took the remaining trays and the Max Card and headed over to my incomplete, but happy family.
I pulled slowly into the roadside motel the tallest of the truckers had recommended. The moon was like a beacon it was so bright. The sign said 'M TEL' in luminous green and the lights behind it flickered occasionally. I parked beside a black Escalade, reversing into the space. I turned around to wake Angel and Gazzy up. We had only left Mc Donald's a half and hour ago, and they were already asleep.
'Will we leave them? I can take Gazzy.' Iggy said quietly.
'Okay. Nudge, can you get the bags?' I lifted Angel into my arms, like I used to when she was little. Iggy pulled Gazzy out of the car, and Dylan silently took the bags from Nudge. She ran around the car, and pushed down all the buttons, they had no central locking back then you know. We crossed the parking lot quickly, and entered through grimy double doors. A sleepy looking man greeted us half-heartedly. We got two joint family rooms as close as possible to the fire exit. I handed the other key to Iggy and followed Nudge upstairs. We put Gazzy and Angel into the double in the first one, and I took the single. Iggy and Dylan [ha-ha] had the second double, and Nudge had the single. She's a kicker. We collapsed into the beds and fell asleep straight away.
'Max. No, Max, dont go! Max!' I woke with a start. Angel was tossing in the bed beside Gazzy, her leg thrown over him, the blankets strewn about the floor.
'Max, I'm sorry!' Angel said softly. I got out of my bed, and crossed the room. I gently pulled her legs back down, and covered them up with the blankets. The double doors slid open between the rooms, a long pale hand pulling them apart. It was Iggy, still in his clothes.
'Max', he whispered softly. 'You okay?' 'Sure, Ig. Angel was just having a bad dream. Go back to bed.'
'It'll be fine Max. There's no one outside.'
'Thanks Iggy. Try and get some sleep. I'll take this watch.' I said.
I watched his now 6'6 tall wide body shuffle back to his room. He had grown up so much recently. They all had. Iggy was huge now, 16 years old and 6'5 already and he wasn't stopping. His wing span was close to 15 feet too. Not that his clothes would go to waste either, cause Gazzy though only 10, was already nearing my 5'10. He was the same height as Nudge, who was 13 and looked about my age or more. She had taken a very informed decision and cut her hair up to her shoulders. Mine though was already at my waist and getting blonder and blonder by the day, and not in the stupid way. Angel, my little Angel, was 8, and still pretty set on becoming the president of America before she was thirty. We still had Dylan, obviously. Even though he looks and acts like he is 17/18, hypothetically speaking he really is only two years old. He didn't miss him as much as we did, but he was able to empathize. And it was probably his empathy, the flocks patience and love, my mother and sister and about 3 million chocolate chip cookies, that got me out of bed, 13 days after he left.
I wondered then, like I had always since he left, what he would look like, be like. Would his hair still be floppy, his eyes still bottomless, unending, would smile still be lopsided, his laugh...?... I couldn't think of him now. I didn't want to and I wasn't going to.
I pulled myself up onto the window sill in the bay window of our 'luxurious five star' room and tugged the blankets from my bed around me. Once again, tomorrow was going to be fun. Not.