Author Note: …have you ever taken a drive and it just turned out to be one of those days?
T7S
Chapter 9 – It's a Carpool!
T7S
Eric squeezed in the ice chest and slammed the tailgate shut. "Are you sure you only packed for a weekend? I mean there's enough stuff in here for a whole week!" He exclaimed.
Jackie laughed, "I'm going to a girl's party and we don't wear the same outfit twice. I'll bet you have one change of clothes in that little backpack of yours."
Eric blanched. How did she know? "Well, I'm just spending one night and coming home tomorrow. I don't need to bring that much."
Jackie patted his cheek. "Well I do, so just deal with it." She looked up to see Kitty running out of the kitchen with a plastic bag of sandwiches. "Oh sweetie, don't forget your lunch. You'll save a ton of money AND gas by not stopping at one of those nasty drive thru restaurants. You know how they never wash their hands when making food…." Kitty stopped and smiled when she saw the pink suitcase in the back of the cruiser. "Oh….it's like a little date…."
Eric and Jackie looked at the older woman. "It's not a date!" They both said simultaneously. Eric collected himself, "It's a carpool." He looked at Jackie who nodded in agreement. "We are just going in the same direction and since Jackie's car is….kaput….we're taking the cruiser."
Kitty's smile wouldn't go away. "Okay then…tell yourself what you need too, but remember your jacket. There's a storm coming."
Jackie looked up at the blue sky with a smattering of fluffy white clouds. "Storm? It's beautiful."
Eric nodded. "See? She agrees with me. Mom, I think you worry too much." Kitty shrugged and held out the bag of roast beef sandwiches. "Be that as it may, I'm a mother and that's what we do."
Eric sighed, "I need to go get my jacket." He said to Jackie. "Apparently, I'm going to need it."
She stifled a giggle and whispered, "I'll be in the car."
T7S
Highway 43 North was like a parking lot. To Eric, it seemed like everyone in Point Place was leaving town on vacation and going to Milwaukee. Much to his dismay the sky darkened and raindrops began splattering the windshield. The sunny temperatures they left in Point Place plummeted dramatically. Jackie reached over and clicked on the radio.
"Welcome to the Saturday afternoon weather report from WWPP radio! Here to bring you the information about the developing storm is our very own Bree Cannon! Bree, what can you tell us about the impending storm front?"
Jackie looked at Eric who shrugged. How did his mom know about these things?
Bree's voice carried over the tinny sound of the AM radio and GM Delco speakers Red insisted on installing. "Thanks Dan, as you know Wisconsin is a state of frequently changeable weather. Right now, we have a late winter storm that has developed in the southern Great Plains and is moving north and east bringing with it an arctic air mass from Canada that is pushing south and east so you know what that means…."
"Tell them Bree!" Dan, the announcer said excitedly. Jackie muttered sarcastically. "Tell them Bree!"
Bree Cannon's voice sounded entirely too happy to announce a snowstorm was on its way to Milwaukee and surrounding areas. "Dan, we can expect at least six inches of snow and you know what that means?"
"Tell them Bree!" Dan, the announcer said excitedly. Eric echoed Jackie's earlier remark, "Tell them Bree!"
Bree shouted, "Snow day!"
Dan laughed, "Oh Bree you are such a cut up! It's Saturday and there is no school but what the heck! Let's unpack those toboggans and mittens folks and go have fun. This has been Dan and Bree and your 3:00 o'clock weather!"
Eric turned the station to a different dial and Michael Jackson's Rock with You played softly in the background.
Out on the floor
There ain't nobody there but us
Girl, when you dance
There's a magic that must be love
Just take it slow
'Cause we got so far to go
The traffic started to creep forward and Eric took the opportunity to slide his right arm along the back of the seat. He hummed with the tune and then felt a hand pick his arm up and deposit it back in his lap. "Too early Eric." She didn't sound angry but there was still a warning in the tone of her voice.
"Okay." He said softly. After driving behind a large semi for a half hour, a wind started to pick up and the heavy rain turned into an icy sleet. Eric turned on the heater and was glad his mom suggested bringing a jacket. "Are you warm enough?"
Jackie hugged her arms. "Yeah, thanks. I really thought we would have beat this weather and been in Milwaukee by now."
"Me too. Cameron rented a room at the Hyatt and I brought my Spock shirt." He looked at the strange expression on her face and quickly added. "Er….I guess I shouldn't have told you that."
Jackie looked out the window and replied, "That wasn't something I really cared to know Eric."
"Well, it wasn't like I had a big choice of fitting in – you know how popular Cameron is…I didn't want to look like a geek." Eric explained. Jackie sniggered, "Eric, it's a convention – everyone is going to look like a geek. I wouldn't be surprised if Cam wore his pocket protector."
Eric glanced over and saw a smile playing around her lips. "You're kidding."
Jackie laughed, "Of course…Cam wouldn't be caught with a pocket protector – he'd be the guy handing them out with his company logo on it."
Eric turned his windshield wipers on high, "I think I saw a boxful at Kelso's mom's house." The rubber blades swiped inefficiently over the icy glaze on his front window. "It's getting harder to see. Let me know what the next town coming up is okay? I think I need to stop at a gas station and replace these wipers."
Jackie shook her head, "I can't see. It's snowing out there."
"Roll down the window." Eric suggested. He didn't want to tell her that it was increasingly difficult to drive in this mess. He wanted to appear cool and collected. Like Cam.
"I'll get my hair wet!" Jackie argued. Eric rolled his eyes, "Like I can look out my side window and drive at the same time!"
She growled and rolled down the window; freezing wind and soft flakes of snow blowing into the front seat of the Vista Cruiser. "There's a green exit sign up there, I can't read it because of the snow!" She yelled with her head outside the glass.
Eric put on his blinker and swerved into the right lane. Jackie pulled her head back in the car and shook the snowflakes from her hair. "Thanks for ruining my hair." She complained loudly.
"Where's the exit?"
Jackie pointed, "Just get in the right lane. It said Exit 157 or something like that. I couldn't see anything else but that yellow taxi ahead of us." She rooted around in her purse for a comb. "Isn't there always a gas station at every off ramp?"
Eric turned on his signal even though he couldn't see the exit through the frozen glaze of the windshield. "Jackie, stick your head out the window again, you're gonna have to guide me off this freeway."
"Eric, you are really starting to annoy me!" She rolled down the window and the cold air nearly took her breath away. She shouted, "Now! The ramp is only a half block….20 feet…aaahhhh!" Eric quickly swerved onto the shoulder almost narrowly missing the exit. Jackie ducked back in the Cruiser as the back end fishtailed on the icy road.
The Vista Cruiser sailed down the off ramp fishtailing over the ice road. With the windshield iced over, Eric couldn't see and estimated he'd driven some distance before they both screamed as the car bounced over something in the road and landed with a loud crunch. Then there was a thunderous BANG followed by a ….whoosh….whoosh and ended with a series of flap…flap….flaps to which Eric reacted to the jerk of the steering wheel and slammed his foot on the brakes. Wrong maneuver Forman - he was driving blind and with a blown out tire.
The handicapped Vista Cruiser limped to a stop in the center of a service road in the middle of nowhere. He turned off the ignition and the useless windshield wipers stopped mid-wipe. He turned to his passenger. "This is just wonderful."
Jackie looked at him. "I have a party to go to and you give me a flat tire in a snowstorm in God knows where!" She was angry and she knew it wasn't Eric's fault but that didn't make her any less upset. Eric turned with an astonished expression on his face.
"Wait a sec….aren't you the spritely young woman that said…. "Thanks Eric. This will be a trip you'll never forget!" He smacked the steering wheel honking the horn which echoed dimly.
"Thanks Jackie…my navigator – now this is truly a trip I'll never forget!"
The snow fell in a flurry of white fluffy flakes that landed silently on the hood and roof and surrounded the Cruiser. The silence was deafening.
And that was inside the car!
T7S
A/N: Author is not an expert on blown out tires….for the sake of the storyline and the fun that follows….just go with it.
