N Gravy
House looked out the window; they were about an hour north of Atlanta traveling on a very old road. It was easy to imagine people in beat-up jalopies traveling to find work during the depression. Old barns stood in the middle of fields and occasionally there would be a house or a gas station or some other random business on the side of the road.
Allison and Alana sat in the very back whispering intently about something. Simon had plugged into the DVD system and was watching X-men, probably for the 100th time. Ben had satellite radio and had tuned in Car Talk. House sighed and took out his Game-Boy. He popped in a cartridge and started his game. Simon glanced over and watched for a few moments. He fished around in his backpack and came up with a link cord. Soon the two of them were playing together.
About thirty minutes south of the North Carolina border, they hit a town called Clayton. Whimpering rose from the backseat, at least that's what it sounded like through the ear buds. House paused the game and took them out. "What?"
"We need to get a card and I think I forgot something. We're stopping at Wal-Mart." Allison explained.
Ben pulled into the parking lot. "We're making good time, but don't take too long." House normally avoided outings to stores ending in 'mart', but this one seemed to have all sorts of interesting things. He followed as the women went down the card aisle. Quickly they grabbed what they needed and moved on to clothing. Ben had gone to use the restroom, "I'll be waiting impatiently at the exit."
House stopped briefly to check out the T-shirts. He picked one with a skull on it in his size and threw it in the cart. While Alana stopped to look at pajamas, House noted that there were sleep pants with the Duff beer logo on them. Those too went in the cart. After a quick trip down the sundries aisle for blue nail polish and three disposable cameras later they were ready to get back on the road.
"Mom, when are we going to eat?" Simon asked, neatly attacking House's man, gaining some of his power. Simon cackled.
"You'll pay," House promised and went after one of Simon's men.
"Let's get across the state line." She said wearily. "How can you be hungry?"
"I'm a growing boy. I have a hollow leg. I'm going to be tall." Simon explained, deftly avoiding House's attack.
Ben chimed in, "I'm hungry too."
Abby sighed; men were never going to be content with a stick of gum and a bottle of water. "Fine. How about Franklin? There's lots of stuff in Franklin. Do we want to sit down, or drive through?"
Alana said, "I'm getting a salad, so we should sit down. I hate eating out of my lap in a moving vehicle."
"Greg? Ali? Any preference?" She wiped her sunglasses with a soft cloth as she asked.
"Nope, none for me. Dammit!" House tried to hit the fire button, but too late, Simon had wounded his guy. "Simon, I'm gunning for you."
"A real threat would come with no warning." Simon said cryptically.
"Crap." House turned his attention to his game.
"How about fast food, but we eat it inside?" Allison aimed for a compromise.
Without looking up from his game Simon asked, "So how much longer? Can I have a snack now? I wish I had a prehensile tail, that way I could eat chips while I played." He bit his lip and smiled, "I've got you Dr. Greg. You're going down!" Three taps on his button and he looked up.
"What did you do?" House tried to bring it back, but all he saw was a funeral procession. "The whole team? Everyone? Even my donkey?" His shoulders sagged. "You cheated."
Simon's cackle made Allison laugh. "Of course he cheated. But you know better than anyone that cheating is just another strategy."
After a quick lunch they drove through another small town. Allison looked out the window, "This sure is pretty. I could live here." She said, noting a small yellow cottage where peaches and pecans were for sale in small baskets on the porch.
"Really?" House was surprised, "there's no way I'd live all the way out here."
"As long as you had Internet access and Amazon to deliver books to you, what difference does it make where you live? She turned in her seat so Alana could put her hair in a french braid. "Ow, not so tight."
"Quit complaining. You've had it tighter for competition. Since when are you so tender-headed?" Alana held her hair in one hand and a comb in the other.
House couldn't help but notice how young she looked with her niece, they could have been sisters. "It makes a difference. I like being near a big city. You know, for the culture."
"Atlanta is only two hours away. It would be peaceful. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about retirement. Just sit out here, rock on the porch and visit with my family. That would be really nice. Besides, your idea of culture is Spam-A-Lot and a visit to Forbidden Planet for comics." She sat still as Alana's fingers worked their magic.
"Hey, that's culture." He said, staring out the window. It was pretty. Pretty remote.
Within an hour they had gone through most of North Carolina. Admittedly, it was a thin part of the state. They pulled into Cherokee and as the name implies, it was the Cherokee Reservation. As they headed towards the Great Smoky Mountain Parkway they went through a touristy part of the small town. There were open air stands selling pottery, plants, Indian souvenirs and other things of that nature. Every so often kids walked down the street holding scaled down replicas of rifles.
"Mom! Can we come down here and go tubing?" Simon referred to happy picnickers floating on yellow inner tubes in a shallow river.
"It's up to your uncle." Abby said from the front seat, "But I don't see why not. That would be a nice activity for you kids. Maybe you could roast some weenies or something."
"Cool." He had tucked away his Game-Boy and put in a new DVD, Hellboy.
"So we're just thirty-five miles away now?" House asked.
Ben checked his odometer, "Yes, but it'll take us about an hour, then another hour once we get to Gatlinburg."
House raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really?"
"The traffic is awful. I feel sorry for the people coming off of 40, getting through Sevierville is a nightmare." Abby confirmed.
The road through the Smokies was narrow and winding, and the scenery was beautiful. Waterfalls and vast expanses of trees everywhere. It was steep in some areas, but it didn't keep the caravan of weekend travelers from coming down or going up.
"Can you imagine coming here as a pioneer? Just look at all of these trees, what would you have made of it?" Allison marveled at the majesty of it.
"I have no idea. I don't think my family has ever been further away from the city than fifty-miles in five generations." House admitted. It was frightening to contemplate in a way. "Seems kind of lonely."
"Or secluded. It's not lonely when you're with your family. Imagine log cabins with well-worn paths between them. Maybe they all got together on Sunday's and holidays." She seemed to have drifted off to that place and time. "This would be your backyard."
"The road is interesting. I wonder why they did this." House mused.
"It's been here since just after the Louisiana Purchase, mostly for lumber and fur traders, but this part of it was a WPA project. But there was talk of having this be a protected park as early as the twenties, mostly by men in an automobile club out of Knoxville." Ben explained.
"Wow." House looked at the hand-built stone retaining wall.
Finally, they came out of the forest and rolled to a stop at a congested intersection. House had to look behind him to believe that he had just been in a wild and secluded national park.
What he saw boggled his mind. Streets chock-a-block with motels, restaurants, and shops. Ben inched the SUV through the town trying to observe traffic rules without letting pedestrians hold him up by streaming across the street. "What are they all here for?"
"I was about to ask you the same question. Besides Ripley's Believe it or Not and the Earthquake ride, what exactly is the attraction?" House asked.
Allison sighed, "When you get into the hills you'll understand. It's beautiful. This is a bit much, but some people like it."
"Gee, I don't know Allison; I don't really want to visit a place where I have to walk more than five steps to buy fudge." House stared at the droves of people eating things out of greasy paper sacks. "What's up with all these places selling swords?"
Simon touched him on the arm, "Between the SCA and the Civil War reenactment people, these guys sell a lot of swords." He stated authoritatively.
They passed a motel advertising a breakfast buffet that included Biscuits n Gravy. House turned around in his seat. "Wow. N gravy. That's high falutin."
"You know, my mother said never go with a guy who'd feed you O gravy. It's N or nothing."
"You know baby, with me, it's first class all the way. Nothing but M gravy."
She laughed as Simon chimed in, "Once, on Iron Chef, the secret ingredient was B gravy."
House joined in, "But you can only get that during certain times of the year, and it's more expensive than gold."
Alana wanted in on the fun, "But forget about P gravy. That's strictly for prisoners."
They all laughed, a but punchy from being in the car for so long. Finally they came out of the downtown area and into the hills. A bit of a drive up and around the bend and they started looking for their turn off. Abby had a paper with instructions written on it, "Look for Hidden Hills Drive."
House laughed and heads turned towards him, "Hidden. How can we find it if it's hidden?" He explained.
Nobody laughed.
Allison patted him on the hand, "Yes dear. That's very funny."
"But not as funny as the gravy." Alana added.
They found the turn and immediately made a right onto a street that seemed to be a ninety degree angle upward. "Yikes, how does anyone get up this in snowy weather?"
"You'd be surprised." Ben said, shifting into a lower gear. They pulled into a wooded area with paved streets. Various log cabins stood in neat rows, nestled into the trees. Each one had a wooden plaque with a name on it. Abby went out and in a few minutes returned with keys. She had a silly grin on her face. "Okay, here we go." She handed a key to Allison, "You've got Love Nest."
House groaned. "You made that up."
"Fraid not." She said, "We've got Gentle Ben." She rubbed her husband's shoulder.
"You made that up." Ben complained.
"Not that either. Okay, just go down that road and turn left." She instructed. The cabins were next to each other.
Simon and Allison got their bags out and they went into the cabin. It was an A-frame made of round logs. The first level was a great room with kitchen, living space, a bumper pool table and television. Downstairs there was a king-sized bed and a bath featuring a heart-shaped Jacuzzi, a fireplace stood in the corner. "Romantic." House said and he poked his head out onto the deck where a hot tub stood. "Very romantic."
House looked around; it was all very clean and not a bit rustic. More like a city-dweller's idea of what a log cabin would be. "It looks like Hee-Haw blew up in here." He said of the décor, which could only be described as 'country casual'.
"I think it's cute." She said, her suitcase thumping as she rolled it down the stairs. "Why don't you hang out here for a bit? Watch some TV or something. Abby and I are going to the store for a couple of things and for some girl-time. If you'd rather, you can go hang out next door."
"I think I'll have a nap. It's been a hectic couple of days. And, you're right. It's very pretty here." He kissed her.
"You want me to pick anything up?" She asked as she grabbed her purse to leave.
"Some gravy. M if they have it, but I'll settle for N."