Cross Country: Chapter 7
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The day dawned gray and misty up in the mountains of eastern West Virginia, preventing a trip to the pool for the kids one more day. The girls just took it in stride but GJ was incensed by the prospect, even though the rain made the already cool mountain air almost frigid, at least to a group of people dressed for high summer. The fact they all had to go back into their rooms and change into long pants instead of shorts didn't sway the small boy in the least. It was summer, they were staying in a motel, and that meant a visit to the swimming pool to him, and anything less simply was not to be.
Kim took it all in stride, letting his tantrum play itself out before they piled into the SUV to find breakfast. Ron was all for tanning his hide, but she just held him back, convincing him to let their son burn out naturally instead of simply adding to the problem with a punishment which would have him sulking all day.
She was feeling especially good that morning, having gotten the best sleep she had in a while. The combination of Ron's ministrations with the calamine, the antihistamine and what she thought in the morning light to be an ill-advised session of married affection turned out to be just what she needed. Apparently she was either not as allergic to the poison ivy as she seemed, or the combination of all that, plus a good shower, did the trick. She was in too good a mood to let an irritable four-year-old ruin it. If he did that later in the day when there were other people around, then she would have something to say to him, but while they were still at the motel she could send the girls to fill up the cooler at the ice machine while he had his little fit.
To make it up to the kids, Ron found one of those places that would bring out mountains of pancakes, something that was always universally pleasing to everyone, though he did act up again when they wouldn't let him order a stack of pancakes a foot high. Things got worse when Ron tried ordering that for himself, only to have it firmly vetoed by Kim, who still had to keep close tabs on what he ate.
"Aw, come on KP. It's for Rufus too, you know." He patted the cargo pocket Kim's mother had sewn onto his jeans for him, where he had been sleeping for the great majority of the trip. She knew the vet had said it would be normal for him to slow down at that age. Naked Mole Rats had been known to live as long as thirty years in captivity, but that was the exception. By all rights, he should have been getting on in his years, and really did sleep most of the time anyway, even when he was in his prime. Yet, when food was mentioned, he was there, ready to go.
He popped his head out of the pocket, probably hearing his name. Either that, or he could smell the delicious breakfast smells that permeated the establishment. In a flash, he was out on the table, tying a paper napkin around his neck as if it were a bib. "Uh huh. Pancakes." He squeaked quite clearly. The longer Kim was around him, the clearer his strange speech got, though others would claim all they could hear was his rat-like chittering.
Amethyst's blue eyes lit up when he appeared. CJ and GJ tended to be unconcerned about Ron's long-time pet, but the waif-like girl absolutely adored him. Her reaction when she saw him was much like Kim's cousin Joss had when she first met the little pink animal, to the point the young woman had given the little girl her large stuffed Rufus when she first moved in with them.
"You know what the vet said about his diet, Ron. Human food just has too much carbohydrates in the for him. He needs lots of lean protein and vegetables."
That made Rufus put his tiny hands on his hips and glare at the woman he considered one of 'his humans.' It was one thing for her to watch what her mate ate, it was quite another for her to keep him from eating his favorites, which tended to be just about anything edible.
"Aw, come off it, KP. Vacation rules apply here. You want pancakes, Rufus?"
"Uh huh, uh huh." He squeaked, nodding his tiny head vigorously.
Before he could say anything else, Ammie picked him up and cuddled him against her cheeks. Rufus just ate up the attention. Being held by the little girl was one of the high points of his day, and he always came away brighter and more cheerful from her affection.
"Besides, Kim, who would trust a skinny chef?" He leaned over toward her and gave her thigh a little squeeze. "More of me to love, you know."
She rolled her eyes, still in too good a mood to let him draw her into the old argument. If they were home and the kids weren't there, she would have reminded him that executive chefs who just happened to own the restaurant didn't need to be fat, if the food was good enough, and she wanted to still have all of him to love when they were in their eighties.
"I'm starving." Amethyst said, eying an omelette that another patron was digging into.
"It won't take them long." Ron said, spreading a napkin on his lap. "These places make their money by turning the tables as fast as they can. They have to do that, or the people waiting would just head to the fast food joints out on the highway."
Even though it was technically bad manners, Kim leaned on her elbow, looking at the kids with hooded eyes, smiling softly. Amethyst being hungry at breakfast time was a little odd. She normally ate like a bird, and her tiny frame could testify. She wasn't a fussy eater, just a light one. Still, every now and again she would be ravenous, putting away enough food for all three children at one sitting. Kim just figured she was making up for all the times when her appetite was nearly non-existent. Those times also seemed to coincide with the mornings when it was hard to rouse her out of bed. She woke up that morning after much prodding, and still was dragging after she got dressed. As if on cue, she yawned mightily, putting Rufus back down on the table.
"Didn't you get enough sleep last night Ammie?" Ron asked.
"Yeah. Just slept really good…and I was having the greatest dream."
"Talking about dreams before breakfast is bad luck." CJ chimed in. She was still scanning the menu, which was printed on her placemat. "I really would like some meat. Don't that have anything that's not made from pig?"
"Guess you could have the steak, if somebody wants to split it with you."
"I call dibs." Kim raised her hand. As much as she was looking forward to seeing their old friends, she knew the rehearsal dinner was bound to be overcooked, over-spiced chicken of some sort, with the rest of the fare being only slightly better than what could be found at any school cafeteria. She loved steak, whether it was a pan fried breakfast steak or the filet that Ron's restaurant Chez Kimberly served, and didn't pass up an opportunity to eat them.
"Something wrong, baby?" She asked as Ron fidgeted in his seat.
"I dunno. Maybe I have put on a couple pounds. My jeans just aren't comfortable this morning."
"Try squeezing into them when your belly is getting an inch bigger by the hour." She patted the aforementioned part of her body. Kim hated maternity clothes, especially the dresses but finally gave in during the latter parts simply because it was impossible to get into even the baggy pants she normally favored. The jeans she was wearing that morning only looked like regular denim, being made of a stretchy fabric that relieved some of the pressure on her midsection. The t-shirt she was wearing didn't help much either. Ron bought it for her when she was pregnant with GJ and he took advantage of her good mood to get her to wear it that day. It was sky blue, with a pink decal that spelled out "Baby" with a large arrow pointing at her belly.
Ron's agitation was getting worse. "Be right back, KP. If the waitress comes back, order me the Farmer's breakfast with five flapjacks and a large OJ."
"Vacation rules?" She half-scowled at him. The breakfast in question consisted of eggs, bacon, sausage and country ham, with a side of home-fries or something called grits.
"Yeah. I swear to you, when we get home it's going to be grilled chicken salads and bottled water, but for right now, I'm going to live it up. Gotta go." He said finally, scurrying toward the men's room.
"It's usually the other way around, isn't it?" CJ asked, watching her brother go.
"Yeah, that's strange." She shrugged, knowing for a fact when one has to go, one has to go.
Ron was gone for what seemed like a fairly long time, long enough not only to order, but for their food to be brought out. Finally, she got concerned enough she excused herself and went to knock on the bathroom door.
"Ron?" She put her ear to the door. The place was small enough it had just single stall bathrooms. "You okay, honey?"
"Can you come in here a moment KP?"
"Ew, no. What's wrong?"
"Well, you know, last night, when we…"
"Yeah."
"I think you were still a little contagious."
She rolled her eyes, letting out a little exasperated groan. "Ron, come on out. Your food's getting cold. Well, no, I bet Rufus is eating all of it for you. Quit being such a baby, I couldn't had it that bad if it cleared up so fast."
He slowly opened the door, stepping out like he was play-acting at a dude-ranch. "Kim, it's bad."
"So not the drama, Ron. Come on, we've still got a few hundred miles to make up this morning. Where did it get you."
"Does the phrase 'worst-case-scenario' mean anything to you.
Her mood was fading fast. "You don't mean."
"Oh yes, I do."
"Let's just go back to the table. You can take a Benadryl and I'll do the driving, okay. When we get to the hotel in Durham, I'll take a look."
"Aw man."
"Just…wait, you haven't been scratching, have you?"
"Can't help it. It's…just…the…itching. Why won't the itching stop?"
"Uggh. Just…go back in there and wash your hands. If it gets bad enough we'll think of something, just buck up and come back to the table."
They managed to get through breakfast, though Ron barely touched the huge pile of food on his plates. Ammie and Rufus managed to make up for him, though both of them could barely walk by the time they left. The mole rat had nearly doubled in size, which meant there would likely be extra rest stops for him. It also meant they would likely be running with the windows down for part of the trip, which wasn't all that fun for the three long-haired females in the SUV.
Kim was concerned for her husband. Granted, he could whine like a baby when something was wrong with him, especially considering he rarely got sick or injured. In fact, the last time he had really been terribly ill was during the winter of their senior year of college when he nearly came down with pneumonia after an ill-fated, unexpected winter mission. Then, that spring both of them came down with the flu. Whatever bugs could get through his vaunted 'Stoppable Fortress of Immunity' had to be a whopper.
Since he was bigger than her, and obviously not pregnant, he took too of the pills, theorizing he would need the extra help since there was no good way to put on any calamine lotion. If it was as bad as he said it was, where he said it was, she knew he was in a world of misery. He sat in the passenger seat with his legs as far apart as he could manage, dozing fitfully as the antihistamine took hold.
Kim tried to keep her mind on the road, wondering what else could go wrong with the trip. At least the kids were being quiet for the moment. Their bellies were full and like anyone, they didn't really sleep so well in a strange bed. She was also roundly cursing herself for what was turning out to be a really bad decision on her part the night before. It really didn't help, but she tried convincing herself that she really wasn't thinking too clearly as the medication worked both on her own itching and her mind. Maybe the makers of the drug needed to add something else to the line about not operating heavy machinery when under its influence. She just had to hold out hope that he would get over it as quickly as she had.
It was amazing how many lonely, two-lane roads that part of the country had. She made a promise to herself to actually do more of the driving, or at least stay awake so Ron couldn't get off the main road. There was no telling how much time they actually lost. Sure, the interstates were the long way around, but they more than made up for it with the ease which you could put the miles behind you.
"Aw, come on." She muttered as a highway worker stepped into the road with a stop sign. Up ahead there was a large earth-mover crossing the highway. The work itself was well off the road, but they had to block it temporarily to move the equipment.
Drumming her fingers on the sill of the open window, she glanced at the traffic backing up behind them. It was still fairly early and they were well away from the town, so the road had been fairly quiet, but the cars were starting to stack up slightly. She busied herself trying to discern the make and model of the vehicles behind her, finding it pretty tough since she really wasn't much of a car person. She knew their big vehicle was probably garnering a lot of attention, and wondered what would happen if she suddenly reset the color of the paint.
No. There were a few high-end cars on the road that used the Freeman color shift technology, but it was something that was normally relegated to either the ultra-rich or one of the crazies that raced hopped up small Japanese cars. Since she was neither, she didn't want to bring that kind of attention, especially on a lonely stretch of country road. Still, the silver she chose the first day was a little on the boring side.
A slightly louder engine snapped her attention back to the traffic piling up behind them. A large semi had pulled into the line, idling while they waited for the equipment to clear out of the way. Whoever was operating the link-belt backhoe was taking his own sweet time. Yet another reason not to take a shortcut without at least four lanes.
She glanced back at the truck again. After three days on the road, she had almost totally forgotten her near panic when she thought the driver might mean them some harm. She had no way of telling for certain, but the truck looked almost identical to the one they had seen in Kansas. Kim shook her head, smiling oddly. There was no way the same tanker truck would still be behind them. It was simply out there delivering its load to the sparse gas stations out there.
It seemed like the backhoe was stalled. She was impatient to get back to the interstate. Once they finally found their way to Interstate 77, the rest of the trip would fly by in short order. She spent almost an hour on the phone with Monique the night before, telling her about their trip so far and apologizing for not being there when they hoped. Not that it would have made any difference. It would have been close to midnight when they got in anyhow and she wouldn't have gotten the strangely good nights sleep she had, before Felix and Ron disappeared to catch up on the last few years.
Finally the lanes cleared. She rolled her eyes as she passed the work site. If Ron were awake he would have been crawling the walls at the delay. He was normally laid back, but when he got behind the wheel his temper had a way of getting the best of him. That made her wonder what his many trips to Bueno Nacho headquarters had been like. The road was pretty much the same as this one, just straighter, but a hundred miles each direction, several times a week had to be tiring, especially since he would only have Rufus to keep him company.
She glanced at the kids. They were all sound asleep again, digesting their oversized breakfast. Thank goodness for small favors. Once their little bodies had processed all the carbohydrates and simpler sugars, they were going to be more than a handful, especially GJ. Kim smiled warmly at the tableau. Ammie's and Little Gene's heads had slumped together. Despite the difference in their age, the girl was small enough that she still looked especially cute like that, more like she was six or seven instead of eight and a half, with the mind of a teenager. Even Rufus was back with them, curled up in her lap, sleeping softly on her violet bellbottom denims.
Kim turned her attention back to the road, hunting for signs that would guide them back to the blessed interstate. She was actually starting to like Ron's new vehicle. It was smooth as silk, and even with the synthetic engine noises, quieter than even her little modified Chrysler. It was also fast, and she had to watch herself. There used to be a day when folks said there wasn't a cop in Middleton who would stop Kim Possible for speeding. That wasn't actually the case, but she did manage to escape getting any fines or points on her license. Chief Hobble stopped her the most during his patrol days, simply to remind her to be more careful.
That wouldn't be the case out here where nobody would know her. She had been out of the public eye long enough she figured most folks wouldn't remember her, unless they had been young girls who idolized her at the time. Now she was a pregnant wife in a doctorate program driving what would be an extremely expensive SUV even if it wasn't for the modifications and being such, a prime target for a patrolman looking to meet his quota.
Still, she was pushing seventy miles per hour, pulling way ahead of the traffic that backed up at the work site. She almost wanted to get the vehicle on a closed track just to see what it was actually capable of once Jean Anne came.
She glanced behind her at the other cars. That's when she saw the truck pull around and pass several of them. That made her a little concerned. It was fine for a vehicle with a top-notch suspension to drive fast on a moderately winding road like they were on. If the trucker wasn't careful, he could hurt a lot more people than himself, and the fact he was hauling highly inflammable fuel…
Kim looked in the mirror, noting he was doing it again, leaving only two other cars between them. She made a mental note to get his tag number when he passed to report him to the company responsible for the tanker.
He pulled into the left lane once more, ducking right behind a rather garishly painted truck with big-foot styled tires. There was something familiar about the pickup, but she dismissed it, focusing on the truck instead.
She could make out the details more clearly on it then. It was a black, long-nosed, long-distance semi with lots of polished chrome…
…including a silhouette of a reclining woman.
Kim's eyes got wide. It was the same truck.
This time there was no doubt it had been following them.
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