Chapter 6

You know, they say the first date's usually the one where the trip to the destination wrecks your mind. And who am I to rebut that?

Because to put it simply, as that 440 rumbled away under the hood, the air in the cab was almost deathly quiet, with neither Elvira nor I able to speak out of shyness.

At one point I tried to say something, but my mouth felt like it had cotton shoved in it.

When I finally did force a word, the only thing I could say was, "Are you enjoying the weather? I hear Fall's around the bend."

"Yes". She said, "And it's a good thing that you said that. Autumn is my favorite time of year".

"You d-don't say". I said, "Its mine, too".

"What's your favorite part?" she asked.

I said, "That's an easy one. The cold weather."

"How's that?" she asked, seemingly interested.

"Well you see, when the weather gets too warm, I always overheat. And when I get that way I get sluggish and cranky. Cold weather snaps me back to normal. But then, what do you dig about it?"

"Oh", she said wistfully, nuzzling her head up against the window and looking out at the scenery whipping past, "I guess it would have to be the colors. It's just such an exciting thing to see the trees go from green to red".

"Not to mention the holidays are coming up". I added.

"That reminds me," She said, "Do you think it'd be okay if we stopped off in town? I've got to get some wrapping paper".

"So soon?" I asked, "Why, it's only September".

"I know that". She said, "But buying it a good piece before Christmas means not having to screw around with dealer markup".

I started to question this, but instead I just said, "Okay. Where do you want me to take you to get all of this?"

She said, "Well, there was a gift shop in town. I guess that's the best place for it".

"Well do you want to get it before, or after we eat?"

"After sounds good". She said. Lucky for me we'd just rounded the corner across from the restaurant.