Chapter 2: The Hendersons Arrive
As Courage, Muriel, and Eustace finished their breakfast, something was happening far away on the other side of Nowhere. A station wagon was driving toward the city on the only road that went through town. There were five passengers inside the car; a rather average-looking family and their dog. Driving the car was a handsome man with brown hair and blue eyes. His wife sat next to him, a thin woman with curly red hair and a blue-green dress. She was trying her best to read a huge, fold-out map in front of her. In the back seat sat a 10 year old girl with short, wavy brown hair and was wearing a tank top, shorts, and shoes. She was talking to her stuffed bear who was nestled in her lap. Beside her was a teenage boy who was typing on his laptop computer. He had black-dyed hair and was wearing sunglasses, cut-off shorts, and a T-shirt. (Author's note: This is not Di Lung, the character from the show who has a similar description.) The family dog was in the back with the suitcases.
The woman tried her best to fold the map back up. She turned to her husband at the wheel. "Dear, isn't it strange that there hasn't been any traffic for almost half an hour?"
"Don't worry," said the man. "Vacant roads are very common in this part of the country."
"But what if we're lost?" asked the woman.
"Look, honey, we're not lost. I know we're in Kansas somewhere. Can't you find where we are on the map?"
"I tried, Carl, but that so-called map is incomprehensible!" argued the man's wife.
"Oh, stop worrying, Diane. Fortunately for us, we have our own "cyber-navigator" with us, right Kevin?"
"I'm on it, Dad," sighed Kevin, who instantly started pounding the keyboard keys. Within seconds, he located a website on maps, typed in the coordinates from his personal GPS device, and viewed the result. He saw their location on a small map on the screen and saw that they were headed straight for the town of...
Kevin gasped. He tore his sunglasses off his face, revealing dark brown eyes. He couldn't believe his luck! "I don't believe it," he whispered.
"Where are we, son?" asked Kevin's father, Carl.
"Nowhere," uttered the teen.
"Oh, c'mon. We must be somewhere!" said Carl, thinking his son was fooling around.
"No," said Kevin, with a wide eyed expression on his face. "The name of the town is called 'Nowhere'!"
His parents arched their eyebrows in curiosity. "Really?" asked his mother.
"Hey!" proclaimed Carl, finding a joke. "Maybe there's a tourist attraction in the middle of it," He laughed, jokingly. Diane just rolled her eyes.
Kevin switched off his laptop and put it in the back. His eyes landed on the dog, who was asleep. Kevin woke the dog up and said, "Were arriving in Nowhere." The dog looked shocked. Kevin reached over and lifted one of the dog's ears. He whispered into it, "Maybe now I can finally figure out what all my nightmares mean."
"Mommy," whined the little girl (whose name is Katie, by the way.) "Kevin's whispering to the dog again."
The mother turned to face Kevin. "Now, Kevin, don't you know how weird it is when you whisper to the dog like that?"
"Sorry, Mom," said Kevin returning to his seat. "It's just...well, this dog is, like...the only one who really understands me, I guess."
"Don't worry, dear," said Carl to Diane. "He's just going through one of those teen phases."
"Yeah. Phases, Mr. Furry," said Katie to her stuffed bear.
They had just passed the city limits sign.
Once downtown, the car stopped next to a fast-food place. The man went inside to order some food. The kids were antsy, so their mother told them to go to a small museum on the other side of the lot. "Hurry back, kids. We want to try and make it to California in three days!"
Three days. Those words froze Kevin on the spot, and a chill went up his spine. Under his sunglasses, his eyes widened with fear.
"What's wrong?" asked his mother, who wondered why her son had stopped.
Trying to think up an excuse, Kevin suddenly acted annoyed and whined, "But I don't like Aunt Vivian and Uncle Mike!"
It was his mother's turn to be annoyed. "Now, Kevin, we've been over this before. They just want some of the family to help them move into their new house in San Francisco. We were the ones lucky enough to oblige. Now go make sure your sister's OK. I'll stay here with the dog."
Kevin ran through the door of the small museum. There was a gift shop to his right and one large room in front of him. There were displays and plaques along the walls. It was the display in the center of the room that caught Kevin's attention. Surrounded by glass, there was a pedestal that held up a shiny silver dollar. Behind it, on the wall, were portraits of Joseph Williams and Reginald Baggs. "Just like in my dreams," whispered Kevin. He saw his sister struggling to read a diorama of the town's first plumbing system. Together they read the rest of Nowhere's history (most of which you read in the previous chapter.) By the time they left, Katie was quite bored, but Kevin was quite pleased with himself, finally understanding a lot about this strange town's history.
As Carl walked back to the car with the food, he saw Katie and Kevin coming from the museum. He turned to his wife to say something but was stopped by the strange expression of curiosity on her face. "What's wrong?" Carl asked.
"Y'know, it's funny," mumbled his wife. "It's almost as though there's something familiar about this town. Almost as if a family member once lived here or something."
"Oh, these small towns always leave a sense of nostalgia in people like us. Now c'mon, the food's getting cold."
The family ate their brunch inside the car. Afterwards, the family filled up the tank and headed out of town...in the direction of Courage's house.
"California, here we come!" declared Carl for the millionth or so time. "In about a thousand miles or so."
Kevin looked utterly defeated. He hoped he could stay here to try and find someone who could interpret the dreams he's kept having, but his Mom just said, "Maybe we'll stop on our way back."
He didn't tell her that by then, it would be too late.
Coming up next... Chapter 3: Courage's First Crush