Midwest Wonderland
Chapter 1
Trip Planning, Oklahoma, and Kansas
This is the road trip to going through Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa and finally to Chicago to visit Stan's family for Christmas. Since the Mentalist has mentioned Iowa a couple of times and Grace is from Iowa as well as me, I wanted to do some showcasing of a few sights there that we are proud of including one that is in a famous movie. I'm doing this story in three chapters since I had to divide it up because it was going to be too long at one time. This is part of Our Life From Now On but I decided to have it a separate story. I decided to do something different for a Christmas story.
Disclaimer:Don't Own Anything
December arrived with Jane and Lisbon planning their trip to Chicago. Lisbon got the hang of work again. She had been working cases, though some of the time she spent doing desk duty to ease her into field work. Stan had called and asked if they really were going to make it for Christmas. He said he would understand if they couldn't with the baby. Lisbon reassured her brother, that both she and Patrick wanted to get away for a little while and that they were looking forward to spending the holidays with their family. Lisbon sat the end of the table feeding Lisby Michelle a spoonful of baby food since she had started on solids recently. She noticed her husband had the atlas pulled out on the table with the US map opened up.
"We should go on a road trip to Chicago, maybe a tour of the Midwest." Jane said
"Jane, it's the dead of winter there. We're not going to see much." Lisbon reminded looking over her shoulder. "And it's not going to be easy to travel that far with an infant. We need to take a plane."
"She does well in the car." Jane said.
"To town and back, not 18 hours." Lisbon said.
"We'll just plan accordingly. Look, we can go through Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa and then Illinois. It'll be another mini honeymoon." Jane pointed on the map to the states.
"Oh, how romantic. The Midwest." Lisbon sarcastically said and rolled her eyes. "I thought you wanted to go to Fiji?"
"I do, but we need to plan a little more on that. Come on, it'll be fun." Jane begged.
"We do have to eventually get to Chicago for Christmas at Stan's." Lisbon reminded.
"And we will. What we need to do is plan for motel stops." Jane said.
"Jane, we have to think realistically. We can't go on a road trip when the weather's questionable in that area and we may be limited on time." Lisbon reminded.
"Teresa, think about this, it's going to be difficult to limit the baby stuff. She needs everything that's mobile with the exception of the crib and changing table." Jane reminded.
"Stan did say we can borrow some of their baby things." Lisbon confessed. "We'll see plenty in Chicago. Flying is faster."
"It'll be more fun going on a road trip. Unless Cho's not going to give you time off." Jane said. "You're right, flying is faster, but it still takes time."
"Let's drive there but we need to really plan it out." Lisbon said putting a spoonful of food in Lisby's mouth, however the baby spit the food back out and it went all over the high chair table. "Lisby, you made a mess."
Lisbon walked into Cho's office the next day at work. He took notice of her. "Hey, Lisbon. What can I do for you?"
"I told you we were going to Chicago for a couple days for Christmas. Our plans have changed." Lisbon said as she took a seat.
Cho looked up from the desk. "Because Jane changed them." Cho assumed.
"Yes, he wants to drive to Chicago instead of fly like we originally planned. He wants to tour the Midwest." Lisbon admitted.
"Isn't it cold in that area now?" Cho inquired.
"From growing up there, yes it is. I'm sorry, Cho. You know how Jane is. Once he has something on his mind it's hard to stop him. It'll take a few more days. If it doesn't work out for me to be gone it's fine." Lisbon said. Part of her she wanted Cho to say no, she couldn't be gone that long.
"Well." Cho started. "I could tell you that, Lisbon, but I do know for a fact Jane will be knocking on my door to convince me to let you be gone." Cho said." It's fine, Lisbon to take a few days. See your family and do whatever wild goose chase Jane wants to do."
"Thank you, Cho." Lisbon said. "I appreciate it."
"You're welcome. Just let me know the days. Aren't you worried about a snowstorm?" Cho asked.
"I hope we don't get into any bad weather. See you, Cho."
"See you, Lisbon." Cho replied.
A couple weeks later, Jane and Lisbon were in the middle of the floor with bags scattered on the floor and their clothes and necessities were strewn on the floor along with several baby items.
"How are you doing on packing?" Jane walked in the door bringing a couple of sacks of groceries.
"It's exhausting. This little girl has the majority of the bags." Lisbon said pointing to Lisby in a baby bouncer looking at the toys sat on the floor folding baby clothes and putting them in a bag. She started putting her clothes in her bag.
"I'm sure that's not going to be the end of it."Jane said immediately went to the baby and leaned. "I'm starting to get creaky. Isn't that right, little girl. You'll always going to require a lot of stuff, princess."He picked up his daughter and smiled and made funny faces to her. She giggled in return.
"Patrick, you haven't packed. And here you want to take this long trip." Lisbon reminded her husband.
"You know I can get by with one outfit. I always have." Jane said.
"You need to bring more clothes." Lisbon ordered.
"Yes, boss." Jane said carefully set Lisby Michelle back in the bouncer.
Jane picked up the sacks he brought in. "Oh, I bought some of these for the trip." He took out of the sack two packages of ready to serve formula bottles and extra diapers in the other sack.
"Is Wylie going to be checking on the cat? We need to make sure she has enough food and water." Lisbon said.
"I talked to Wylie today and he is very excited about the job. Actually he's staying at the house when we're gone. I bought cat food last week so there's plenty." Jane explained. Finally, after a few minutes they completed packing and they got everything together and prepared to be taken to the car.
Heading out in the morning, they wanted to leave early, but ended up going at 8:00AM. A few hours later, Jane and Lisbon arrived in Oklahoma City. They explored the downtown. They stopped at a gift shop which Jane wanted to look at. Jane looked around at Native American souvenirs and the postcards. "Teresa, did you know the state flower is mistletoe? Quite fitting for Christmas. The bird is scissor tail flycatcher, the meaning of the state name is a Choctaw word meaning red people." He read off a postcard.
"That's interesting to know." Lisbon said remembering her husband's interest in random facts and looking at the card while she held Lisby Michelle.
"Wouldn't she look cute in these?" Jane then held up a tiny pair of moccassins.
"Really, Jane?" Lisbon questioned rolling her eyes.
"We have to have some reminder of Oklahoma, don't we?" Jane said. He looked around some more Native American things. As they were checking out the postcards and the moccasins. Jane noticed an advertisement telling about the Christmas train the next day and Saturday on the door at Oklahoma Railroad Museum.
"That looks fun, we should do that. We need to do something Christmasy." Jane said as he stood aside as other people excited. Lisbon followed her husband.
"I'd like that. You've never been this into celebrating Christmas before." Lisbon questioned remembering Jane's main focus those years she'd known him was Red John.
"Because I never had a reason to, Teresa." Jane confessed.
"You've always had me those years at the CBI and the team." Lisbon said.
"I know. I felt guilty and I couldn't let myself celebrate." Jane confessed. "It used to be my favorite holiday before..." Jane said trailing off.
Lisbon looked at him with sympathy. "So, you want to bring Christmas back to your life?" Lisbon said.
"Yes, exactly, now I really have you and Lisby and Michelle and your brothers and their families. It's going to add so much more to the holiday. I have a family now." Jane said as he opened the door to exit the building.
"Yes, you do." Lisbon smiled.
"As I recall from the Santa case you didn't seem thrilled with all the guy's Christmas stuff." Jane remembered.
"Well, like you, I didn't have any reason to celebrate. I didn't see my brothers as often. Work was my life. It's changed." Lisbon admitted. "I should call Jimmy."
"Oh, yes, he lives here." Jane remembered.
Lisbon pulled out her phone and dialed her brother's number.
"Hey, T. What's going on? What brings you to call your dear brother?" Jimmy said.
"We're here in Oklahoma City." Lisbon said.
"You came all the way from Austin just to see me. I'm quite touched, Sis." Jimmy said.
"Patrick and I are driving to Stan's for Christmas. Oklahoma City just happens to be on the way." Lisbon said.
"So, you really didn't come to see me." Jimmy said disappointed.
"I called you, didn't I? Yes, we want to see you." Lisbon said rolling her eyes.
"Well, it's just me, myself, and I right now. Julie's in California visiting her parents. I was busy, so I couldn't go with her." Jimmy said. "We could meet for dinner."
"Sure, we'd love to, Jimmy." Lisbon said.
"If you wanted to, you could stay at my house. I have an extra bedroom. Julie insisted I fix that place for guests. So, I bought an whole new mattress and everything." Jimmy explained.
"I suppose we could." Lisbon reluctantly.
"Don't worry, sis. I don't have a secret drug stash or anything." Jimmy said.
"Jimmy, that's not a smart thing to say to an FBI agent."Lisbon rolled her eyes at her brother's sarcasm.
"Yes, boss." Jimmy said. "Or to your big sister."
"The baby will be with us if you don't mind." Lisbon admitted.
"I don't care." Jimmy said. Jimmy shared the restaurant to meet and said his goodbyes.
They arrived at the restaurant Jimmy suggested, a Mexican restaurant. He was waiting on the seats coming in the door.
"Hey, Jimmy." Jane said.
"Hi, sis. It' good to see you." Jimmy hugged his sister. "Hi, Patrick." Jimmy said hugging Jane. "Hello, little girl." Jimmy looked at Lisby Michelle in the car seat. "I remember you." Lisby smiled happily at her uncle.
The hostess soon seated them in a booth. "So, you're going to brave the winter and drive?" Jimmy said getting seated.
"Yes, we want to see a few places along the way. I'm used to travelling from going with the carnie circuit." Jane said.
"Well, I got plane tickets to Chicago." Jimmy said.
Since, Jane and Lisbon decided on staying with Jimmy, Lisbon went outside to call the motel to cancel their reservation.
"How's the electrician business?" Jane asked.
"I've been keeping busy. I've been doing a lot of new houses. How's the FBI consulting? Is that what you do?" Jimmy asked.
"That's what I did for them. Not much of that lately, though. I've been playing peek a boo, making up bottles, and changing diapers. I've been staying home with the baby mostly." Jane explained. "Isn't that right, Princess?" Jane looked at Lisby Michelle in the car seat next to him. She smiled at her father. "Mommy's just been going to work."
Lisbon soon came back to the table. Jimmy noticed his sister.
"So, sis, when did you come back to work?" Jimmy asked.
"A few weeks ago." Lisbon said.
They followed Jimmy and finally arrived at his small house in a suburb of the city. Jimmy opened the door and they followed him in. The house looked lived in with papers on the table and DVDs sprawled on the coffee table and clothes on the recliner. It wasn't excactly neat. "I tried to straighten up after you called." Jimmy said.
"Jimmy, we have baby stuff everywhere in our house, so we're not judging how neat your house is." Lisbon said. "I keep finding pacifiers in the couch cushions."
"Because your daughter likes to hide them." Jane teased.
"She's four months old. She doesn't know how to hide things." Lisbon reminded.
"Yes, she does." Jane said."I give her one and then all of a sudden it's gone."
"She's only your daughter when she does something cute and is good and she's my daughter when she cries and hide things." Lisbon said.
Jimmy chuckled at the sight of his sister and her husband bickering. "You two are a match made in heaven. On with the tour." Jimmy took them more in the living room where in the corner was a small Christmas tree with lights and ornaments. He finally led them to a bedroom with flower bedding. "This is the guest room."
"I'm guessing you didn't pick that bedding." Jane looked at Jimmy.
"Julie did." Jimmy said.
"She didn't strike me as a flower type girl." Lisbon said.
Coming back to the living room, everyone got seated, Jane and Lisbon with the baby on the couch and Jimmy in the recliner.
"So, how did you and Julie meet?" Lisbon asked. "Since we didn't have a lot of time at the Christening."
"It was kind of an ironic thing. It was two weeks after I broke up with Lucy. I was at a bar feeling depressed and Julie was there too. She had just broken up with someone too. So, basically we shared our breakup stories and here we are together."
"You never did say what happened with you and Lucy." Lisbon said carefully.
"Yeah, well, she cheated. And also I decided she wasn't the one for me after all."Jimmy admitted. "I feel more relaxed with Julie and have more in common. I guess Lucy was a little too hyper."
"Yes, she was a little too peppy for me." Lisbon admitted breathing a sigh of relief she didn't have to be sister in law to Lucy and remembering the very perky blonde. Julie was complete opposite. She was dark haired with a blue streak in her hair and she taught English to immigrants. She seemed intelligent and nice. Surprisingly enough, her mother was one of Jane's former clients.
"Hey, T, you remember when we went to the tree farm. I was like 6 or 7 You didn't ask for help, you just chopped and dragged it to the car. I tried to help, but you wouldn't take it." Jimmy explained with nostagia. "And I was the only one you took." Jimmy said proudly.
Jane grinned the whole time.
"I remember. It was fun." Lisbon said.
"I didn't know you were a lumberjack, my dear." Jane grinned.
"I'm not. I had no idea what I was doing." Lisbon said.
"Your sister surprises me. She kept a hammer in her desk in her office." Jane exclaimed.
"I just love seeing you scratching your head." Lisbon smirked. "And you always think you know everything."
"You tried to make a good Christmas even though we didn't always have everything." Jimmy said.
Realizing the baby needed a change, Jane took her in the bedroom and also realizing Jimmy and Teresa needed some brother and sister time.
"I'm sorry, I left when I did. It wasn't right." Lisbon apologized feeling guilty.
"Teresa, you don't need to apologize for that anymore. I know I made you feel bad before, I realized you needed to have your own life instead being the parent to me and our brothers. Now you don't have to take care of us, we can just be brother and sister." Jimmy finished.
"I know. I'm glad we can get together." Lisbon said. "Patrick's helped with that."
The next morning, after they loaded up the car and headed back into the house to say good bye to Jimmy.
"Thanks for the room last night." Jane said to Jimmy. "We appreciate it and we enjoy seeing you."
"I'm glad to be of service." Jimmy said.
"Thank you, Jimmy. It was nice seeing you."Lisbon said.
"I'll see you in Chicago at Stan's." Jimmy said. All of them hugged and Jane and Lisbon went off their way and they arrived at the Oklahoma Railroad Museum. Several families were lined up with children of all ages. Jane and Lisbon discovered this was a ride for families. Getting on the train Jane and Lisbon took a seat in one of the booth seats.
"Jane, what did they say they were going to have on this train?" Lisbon asked.
"Oh, hot chocolate and Santa Clause and a story." Jane said.
"It seems like this is more for families and children." Lisbon noticed all the parents and their five or six years old.
"We all are a family." Jane said pointing to Lisbon and their daughter in the car seat.
"She's not old enough to know what's going on." Lisbon reminded. "She's four months old."
Soon a couple of workers with a tray of stryofoam cups came along down the aisle, "Would you like some hot chocolate?"
"Of course, I would." Jane said.
"Yes, please." Lisbon said.
After a couple minutes, once people gathered and took their seats, the train took off for the 35 minute ride. A couple minutes later, a man dressed as Santa Claus came down the aisle.
"Ho,Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas." Santa said. He talked to kids and asked what they wanted for Christmas while they sat on his lap. Some screamed or tried to pull his beard. He finally made it to Jane and Lisbon's seat.
Jane turned the carseat so Lisby Michelle could see the activity. She loved looking at other people and observing.
"Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas." Santa repeated cheerfully and then noticed Lisby Michelle.
"Who's this?" Santa asked.
Lisby Michelle looked at the Santa and giggled and smiled. She excitedly started moving around with her hands.
"Lisby Michelle." Jane said.
"You're a cutie." Santa said. "Most babies cry and are scared of me."
"She likes people." Lisbon said.
During the rest of the train ride, everyone on board sang carols and a worker told the story "The Polar Express. A few minutes later Jane and Lisbon started on the road again after the train stopped.
Stopping at a convenience store/gift store in Kansas, Jane and Lisbon used the facilities as well as a diaper change and feeding time for the baby, they strolled in the small aisles where a few Kansas state t-shirts including baby onesies in blue and pink saying "There's no place like home" or Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore" were folded on a table.
"Why do they have to put girls in pink all the time?" Lisbon asked touching the onesie.
"It's still not your favorite color? You wore that dress I got you at the Bluebird?" Jane asked holding Lisby Michelle while Lisbon carried her purse and diaper bag.
"That wasn't quite pink. Well, it's unnessarily bright." Lisbon answered. "I just don't know how to raise a girl."
"Ah, you raised your brothers and you grew up with sports and rough housing and you ended up becoming a Tomboy. Well, I've had plenty of practice. You have plenty of tea parties. Of course, that's not a problem for me. And doll play and fairy tales..." Jane cut off his words and frowned a little. His sadness of missing his first daughter apparent in his expression. The look he had after his hallucination of Charlotte went away. Lisbon knew he was remembering Charlotte. There were times like these she thought maybe having another girl was a little hard for him, but then she looked at him with their daughter and knew he loved her with all his heart.
"I'm sorry."Lisbon gave an understanding look.
"It's okay." Jane answered knowing what she was thinking. "I still see her once in a while. Charlotte-as a young woman. I think maybe a little tiny dose of the Belladonna is in my system." Jane admitted.
"Oh."Lisbon said surprised moving over as another customer moved past them in the aisle. Jane moved carefully too.
"Yes, it's not too often. I saw her the night of Lisby Michelle's birth. It was after I called your brothers and our friends about her birth. I just sat looking at our daughter in the bassinet, and suddenly I looked up, Charlotte was looking at me smiling. The same girl I hallucinated." Jane explained a little tearful. "I was sleep deprived, so it may have been from that."
"It's nice she comes and sees you." Lisbon said smiling.
"Yeah." Jane responded but then turned to the shirt table and grinned. "Well, shall we get this for our little Kansas girl." Jane picked up with his one free hand. It was "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas Anymore."
"Really, Jane. You're going to get sucked into the touristy stuff. She's not going to wear it long." Lisbon said and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, come on," Jane begged. "Please, after all Minnelli called me Dorothy once." Jane said.
Lisbon took the onesie from him and he convinced her to get a couple of postcards at the cash register. "Did you know the flower of Kansas is the sunflower-those are nice, and the bird is the western meadowlark, and and the song is "Home on the Range." Jane read off the postcard walking out.
"I didn't know that." Lisbon said.
They got into the car and hooked up the baby. Jane in the driver's seat started the car. "We're off to see the next stop, the World's largest ball of twine." Jane grinned with his excitement and humming "We're off to See the Wizard.".
"The what!" Lisbon exclaimed.
"The biggest ball of twine. This is something you won't get to see driving the interstate. I just love small town America. They usually have the most interesting attractions."
Jane drove down the highway with patches of snow littering the side in the fields, the trees were stripped of their leaves. The baby sleeping peacefully in the back.
Finally they arrived at the town with the town saying Cawker City and advertising they had the biggest ball of twine. The population of 400 some people. Jane drove around the small town and finally stopped in the middle of a small town square. The town was decorated with Holiday banners that said Tis the Season and lights and garland up and down the treepoles and a little Santa house and the Santa Clause and reindeer outside ornaments. He parked in the space of the town center in front of a large shelter house and right in the middle was a very large ball of twine.
"You've got to be kidding me." Lisbon said astonished. "This is an attraction?"
Jane jumped out of the driver's seat and Lisbon opened the door and went to the back door and carefully lifted the baby out of the carseat and dressed her in a white coat and little gloves and also wrapped her up in a blanket covering her face up. They had specifically bought coats for all them for this trip. She in a very modest puffed jacket with hood and Jane in a brown jacket.
"There's our little Eskimo." Jane said seeing his daughter dressed very warmly. "Let's go see the ball of twine."
They walked up the small stairs and stared at the monstrous ball of rope. "It's really quite an art, don't you think?" Jane stared at the 19,000 pound ball.
"Jane, it's a ball of twine. How exciting can it be?" Lisbon said staring at the crazy town attraction.
"Someone was quite obsessive with their hobby." Jane said.
"Like someone else I know." Lisbon said but then realized her mistake. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, Teresa. I was obsessive with my mission but now I'm focused on you and our child." Jane said.
"It's rather unique, I guess." Lisbon said. "I can't imagine how long it took."
"It's unusual we get tourists this time of year with the weather." A man's voice said from behind them.
Jane and Lisbon turned around to see an older slim man with a moustache and hat wearing a flannel shirt and jeans around 70.
"I'm sure. It's a little chilly here." Jane noted. "It feels fresh. You have quite the attraction in this town."
"Yes, indeed we do. It's all we have. Many of our businesses have dried up. It's hard to keep going in a small town. Where you folks from?" The man asked.
"We live in Austin, Texas and we're heading to my brother's in Chicago for Christmas." Lisbon said trying to cover up Lisby Michelle to make sure she was warm enough in the cool weather.
The man noticed the baby. "You have a beautiful child. Do you want me take a picture? People love pictures in front of the ball."
"We'd be delighted!" Jane grinned taking out the small digital camera he bought for the trip out of his pocket , turned it on and handed it to the older man.
"Hope I can do this right. I'm not quite used to these digital ones." The man said. "I've learned from my grandkids." He balanced the camera and pushed the button. Jane and Lisbon smiled with Lisby Michelle looking curiously toward the man.
"Thank you." Jane said going up to man and looking at the screen. "It looks good. I'm not so great at electronic things either especially computers. I'm still learning about it. Teresa has to show me." Jane admitted looking at his wife.
Next Stop: Iowa
I hope you enjoy my little road trip story. I would really appreciate feedback and I always enjoy reading what people like in the chapter.
The Jimmy part nearly didn't get in this chapter because I almost forgot he lived in Oklahoma City.
I am still working on my other stories, Potential Pocket Rocket, X Marks the Spot and Our Life From Now On. This little story got in my head and I wanted to get it out before Christmas.