Ok I admit I'm kind of losing motivation to post updates on this story. Even a few reviews with some constructive criticism would probably prompt me to update a lot faster. Alas it's probably not going to happen is it? Oh well Merry Christmas to all!
Of course on Sunday they were delayed leaving because Simon had forgotten his luggage. He had been certain Robbie was loading it into the station wagon. But finally they were on the plane, and eventually in the air. Eric and Annie sat in the center aisle which had four seats abreast with the twins in between them. While Simon and Robbie were on the east wing of the plane and Ruthie and Mary on the west wing of the plane. Annie reached into the tote bag she had brought for juice boxes for the twins but as she got out the Sesame Street Juice--their current favorite she noticed that she had tucked the Stewarts Christmas letter in the outside flap. She opened the letter again and began to read. She was struck by the paragraph about Laurel, and overwhelmed by their compassion. Their other children seemed accomplished and successful. Not usually the type of people she pictured Lucy befriending. She refolded the letter and tucked it back into the tote bag and then reclined back in her seat. She had been up most of the night packing and doing laundry and their home still looked like a cyclone had gone through. Fortunately their neighbors had agreed to keep their dog "Happy" as there wasn't time to arrange a kennel.
It was five pm local time when they landed in Springfield, MO. Eric's great itinerary unfortunately required them finding overnight accommodations. For convenience they decided to stay at the Holiday Inn at the Airport and once the family had settled in their three consecutive rooms they met down in the attached Denny's for dinner. Dinner was the typical debacle it often can be when eating out with small children, especially if the service is poor so you are waiting forever as was the case on the Sunday before Christmas. After dinner Eric and Annie adjourned to their room to attempt to get the boys settled in for the night as it would be an early morning.
In Ruthie and Mary's room Ruthie lay sprawled across one of the double beds on her stomach channel surfing. She actually was enjoying the trip so far, it was her first time flying that she could remember although her mother assured her they had gone out to see her grandparents the summer she was two and she had been on a plane then. Staying at a hotel was fun too she decided. Across the room Mary was gathering up her coat and heading for the door. "Where are you going?" Ruthie called.
"Out, and you can't come!" Mary added as an afterthought.
Ruthie scowled at the closed door, Mary didn't have to be so mean about it. Couldn't her sisters see that she was trying to grow up as fast as she could. She thought back to the last conversation she and Lucy had. Lucy had been complaining about being fat and Ruthie had told her that she was too thin, she had thought it would make Lucy feel better and she had heard some people talking about that at church over the summer. But it had been the wrong thing and Lucy had spent the next twenty minutes refuting Ruthie's statement and Ruthie had tired of the conversation and then Lucy got cross and then she had stopped calling. Ruthie secretly wondered if it was her fault.
Outside the hotel Mary lit her cannabis and inhaled deeply. She had been waiting the whole day for the opportunity to escape the rest of the family. She couldn't believe she had agreed to come along on the trip all because oversensitive Lucy was having yet another of her temper tantrums. Mary shuddered finished her joint and then went back into the hotel.
Ruthie was already in bed when she returned and Mary got ready for bed in the bathroom and then crawled into the opposite bed. "Mary?" Ruthie whispered.
"What?" Mary asked crossly
"Do you think Lucy is ok?"
"Lucy is fine. She's just having another one of those moments where she's realizing the world doesn't completely revolve around her. It's hard but she'll get over it." Mary said and then pulled the pillow over her face and went to sleep.
In Simon and Robbie's room the boys were also not asleep. "Something is wrong I can feel it." Simon said.
"What do you mean?" Robbie asked.
"I don't know it's just a feeling I have. I think this trip will change things forever." Simon said.
"You're being melodramatic man. Go to sleep!" Robbie said pelting his spare pillow at Simon.
In the morning none of the kids wanted to get up and of course it took longer to repack everything and once again the Camdens were racing through the airport late for their flight. However they got to the gate just as final boarding was being called and then clomped aboard the plane. But eventually once again they were in the air.
The flight was Annie supposed as uneventful as could have been expected. Traveling with twin almost five year olds was just not a calm thing. Sam screamed during takeoff. David screamed during landing. And of course there was the moment when they chased each other down the main aisle of the cabin and ended up causing a stewardess to dump her tray of drinks onto some poor bald guy.
Annie was glad when they were finally in the minivan on their way. Of course the kids were starving as they had only been served a snack, as Robbie put it , not a real lunch on the plane so they stopped at a subway for sandwiches to go. As they cruised along I-95 Annie found herself drifting off to sleep in spite of the commotion in the back of the van. Ruthie and Mary were squabbling over who got the extra sandwich. Sam and David were discussing Veggie Tales.
When Annie awoke it was getting dark and they were still on a highway somewhere. Eric glanced over and saw she was awake, "You must have been exhausted you slept through me pulling over twice to settle the boys skirmishes,".
Annie wondered if he had expected her to be the referee. She realized that was her typical role in the family and she was sick of it. Just then the boys began clamoring from the back "Hungry, Hungry"
"Yeah I'm starving!" Ruthie added in.
Annie looked at the clock on the console which said it was 6pm so they had been on the road for about three hours she had thought they would be there by then. She was anxious about seeing Lucy. Grimacing Eric pulled off the highway at the next rest area which had a McDonald's. "I guess we need gas anyway," he admitted but Annie didn't notice his brow unfurl any. She had noticed a sign that said they were forty miles from Pembroke just before they pulled off the highway so she anticipated at least another hour or so and that would be unpleasant if the boys were cranky.
They ate quickly and got back on the road. Finally Annie saw the first exit for Pembroke. "Eric, I think it's this exit."
"Well there are two exits how should I know which one to take?" Eric said proceeding on past the first exit. Well because I used their address and mapquest said to take the first exit Annie thought but she didn't say that aloud. Her husband's lack of rational thought perturbed her at times. She wondered if he was planning on just driving around until they spotted Lucy on the street or something. She decided to not ask him that either.
Eric took the exit off of the highway and found himself on FEDERAL AVE. near the EXECUTIVE PARK OFFICE COMPLEX. He proceeded along passed through a covered bridge which the twins of course thought was incredibly cool and then proceeded along Rte 372 past signs that welcomed him to the town of Deering. "I think we should have taken the first exit." Annie suggested.
"Well how was I supposed to know? Well lets see if there is somewhere we can stop and ask for directions." Eric said.
"You go Reverend Camden! Real men do ask for directions." Robbie quipped.
"That was so not even funny!" Mary and Ruthie said practically in unison.
"So not even funny, so not even funny" the twins mimicked.
"Arrrrrrrrrgh!" Simon screamed replacing his earphones and trying to drown out the rest of the family as the minivan continued to cruise west.
"Now we're in Harrison." Ruthie observed reading road signs.
"Harrison, Harrison" the twins echoed.
Eric felt his blood pressure rising. Why couldn't anything be simple? He looked down at the fuel gauge and realized they were running low on fuel and chided himself for not filling the tank when they had stopped at the rest area but the prices had been ridiculous. He took a deep breath and looked back up as he heard Ruthie scream "Daddy" just in time to see a large white animal scamper out of the path of their vehicle.
"What was that?" Ruthie asked.
"I think it was a cow dear." Annie said
"Good going dad. Hit a cow why don't you?" Simon yelled
"Hit a cow Hit a cow" the twins chorused.
"Now if he were to hit a cow would that be worse than having a cow?" Mary wondered sending her siblings into gales of laughter. Eric however was not amused. Nothing about the trip was going as he had planned. He wasn't exactly sure how he had planned but that was another matter.
He pulled the van over the side of the road and when he turned to face the children Ruthie would later swear that there was still steam coming out of his ears. Just as Eric was about to explode he noticed a rap on his window and turned to see a farmer or what he assumed was a farmer standing by their van.
"Are you and your nice family alright sir? I'm really sorry about that I guess we had a little break in the fence and we had just about gotten all the animals back in. Mary always was the stubborn one of the bunch. Again I'm sorry about that."
"You can say that again!" Simon smirked causing Ruthie and Robbie to stifle laughs. Mary bopped Simon on the head with her magazine.
"You can say that again. You can say that again." the twins chorused.
"Yes we're fine. Thank you" Eric said with all of the restraint he could muster. "Actually maybe you could help us. We're looking for the Stewart residence, and uh a gas station"
"Well the Stewart farm is just up the road then turn left go over the Prescott Bridge and you're there. There is a gas station just a little further up the road too but it usually closes at 6:30 and it's after 7 now. No matter Kurt is a good man I'm sure he'll take right care of you and let you fill up at their tank. God Bless and a Merry Christmas to you."
Eric pulled back onto the road and followed the directions until he reached a tidy farmstead with a large white farmhouse with red shutters and freshly painted red barns. On the barn nearest the road was covered with a large pine wreath lit with white lights and as Eric pulled into the driveway. They were greeted by a yellow Labrador retriever.
"Don't hit the dog dad!" all the kids joked. Again Eric was not amused. He put the van in park and glanced at Annie. It was there the moment they had been wondering about for months. Finally they would get to see their daughter and possibly have some kind of explanation. But suddenly Eric was unready for that conversation.
"Well are we going in or not?" Simon asked crossly.
"Yeah I'm cold." Ruthie whined as a man appeared on the porch of the farmhouse.
With trepidation Eric got out of the van and walked up to the porch. Kurt extended his hand, "I'm Kurt Stewart, how can I help you?"
"Eric Camden, Reverend Eric Camden. I was looking for my daughter Lucy."
"Oh you're Lucy's dad. It's nice to meet you. I'm Derek's grandfather. I thought Lucy said you were from California."
"Yes we are. I'm a pastor at the Glen Oaks Community Church, but we came out here to spend the holidays with our daughter."
"Of course. Well did Lucy and Derek tell you they were coming out here. Derek has never been much of the farm type. I guess you can't help but be accustomed to how you were raised and Derek grew up in Philadelphia at least until they took him away from his mother."
"So you're saying Lucy isn't here." Eric really wasn't thinking clearly.
"No, but I'm sure she's fine. She's probably at Matt and Cynthia's now I could call and make sure." Kurt offered as Theresa Stewart appeared on the porch.
"Honey why don't you invite this nice gentleman in. It's cold outside."
"Actually could you just give me directions to your son's house Mr. Stewart. I think we must have had a little miscommunication." Eric suggested stomping his feet in the cold.
"I can do even better than that why don't you follow us we were heading over to the mall anyway. Kati, that's our youngest granddaughter she finally decided what she wants for Christmas so we thought we'd go grab it tonight before the absolute last minute rush tomorrow."
"Finally narrowed down her list a little?" Eric asked remembering the lists the twins had made that were longer than they were.
"No, we seem to have the same problem we've had with her older sisters they get all caught up in the holiday party at the hospital where their mom works and buying gifts for the kids who have to be in the hospital over the holidays. They seem to forget what they might want. Anyway its almost 730 we better let you get on your way."
Eric got back into the van and started to follow the Stewarts out of their own driveway. "Gas dad!!!!!!!!!!" Ruthie screamed. She had been in the car several times when her father had run out of gas and none of those were pleasant experiences.
Eric honked the horn and put the van back in park. Alarmed Kurt also stopped in the driveway and jumped from the truck. "Everything ok?"
"I'll need a gas station before we get too far."
"Oh we can take care of that just follow me." Kurt said hopping back in the truck and pulling over towards the edge of the driveway by a gas tank where he instructed Eric to fill up.
"Wow they have their own gas tank. That's cool" Ruthie observed.
"What's so cool about it?" Mary asked. The trip was turning into one giant bore. She was missing a really cool party for nothing.