Chapter Two: Driving Miss Rachel

Finally arriving at the loading zone of the airline that Rachel was flying in, Steve parked the Isetta near the curb behind another person's black truck that was parked there as well.

"Well, here goes nothing!"

Turning the car engine off, Steve sighed for a minute before opening the front door, knowing that he would have to be careful about how he got out.

"With all this snow, you'd think the whole world was shoved in a freezer," Laura shivered, folding her arms against her body to keep warm. Staring out at the deep snow covered ground with various tire tracks and chain marks imprinted on the street, Laura stepped out of the Isetta's wide front door that was held open by Steve and took a few slow steps in the snow that reached up to the middle of her shins to get onto the sidewalk. Looking back toward Steve, whose face was almost completely covered by numerous scarves and his trademark plaid, furry hat, he almost slipped onto the ground as one of his boots came upon a hidden patch of ice. Catching himself on the front door of his Isetta which accidentally slammed shut with a loud thud, he stood up straight to catch his breath and regain his balance.

"Steve, you okay?" Laura asked from under her bright red scarf, extending a hand for Steve to hold.

"I'm okay! Just peachy!" Steve answered, taking a careful step onto the curb that had quite a bit of snow covering it but not as much as the main road. "Just like hammocks and coat racks, I don't get along with ice!"

"Laura? Steve?" A familiar voice called out that cut through the loud, cold wind blowing on their faces. Turning around, both Laura and Steve found their aunt standing there a few yards away with a few small bags in each hand.

"Aunt Rachel!" Laura shouted as she walked toward the figure dressed in matching red coat and pants with tall black boots.

"Thanks so much you guys!" Rachel yelled over the fierce winds, setting her luggage down and reaching out to embrace her niece, the two of them soon after walking over to where Steve and the Isetta were located. "They said the storm should be letting up a little bit, but the planes still won't be leaving until the day after Thanksgiving!"

"That's a darn shame!" Steve exclaimed as he helped Rachel put her luggage on the small rack located above the main seat of the car. "But don't worry; we'll be back in no time!" Steve added as the three of them squeezed into Steve's Isetta and began to drive off and head toward the freeway that led back to Chicago.

"Yeah Aunt Rachel," Laura said. "We want to make sure everyone is here for Thanksgiving! We almost couldn't see you last Christmas because of this crazy Detroit weather! And we thought Chicago was bad!"

"Ain't that the truth," Rachel sighed. "But your Aunt Helen is getting better now, so we believe in a few more months Mother Winslow and I can move back to Chicago after your aunt is 100%!"

"Great!" Steve exclaimed, continuing to keep his eyes on the road as he made his way onto the onramp of the freeway and carefully followed a large white pickup truck into the correct lane of the highway.

"Good evening Carl," Harriette walked into the kitchen and kissed her husband, who was sitting at the family table reading the newspaper. Setting her purse on the counter, she grabbed a small glass and began filling it with some lemonade from the pitcher sitting in front of Carl.

"Good evening sweetheart," Carl said, turning the page of his newspaper with a quiet but still noticeable crinkling noise.

"I can't wait until tomorrow, honey," Harriette's smile grew as she walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, spotting the large turkey sitting in the middle shelf. "This was the best bird in town and I spent hours finding it."

"Me too, Harriette. You know, that was very nice of Steve for willing to pick Rachel up out of the blue like that. I can't believe I even said 'very nice' and had Steve's name included," Carl laughed, setting the newspaper he had just folded up onto the table. "But, Harriette…who knew these things would come up? I still had to carry out some patrols while you were unable to get the day before Thanksgiving off."

"Yeah, and I'm glad Rachel understood that we would be tied up," Harriette said. "Not only were we tied up by our jobs, but also by the duty of getting this Thanksgiving dinner ready. By the time the food's ready tomorrow, we will already have passed out from all the work we had to do."

"You're right about that, Harriette," Carl chuckled, getting out of his seat to walk over to his wife standing by the kitchen counter and put his arm around her waist. "But tomorrow, everyone's gonna be here. Mother's gonna be here. Eddie…Laura…Rachel…and Steve." Carl mentioned Steve's name with a small bitter taste in his mouth, but knew that he was now a part of their family and would do his best to be a true friend as well as father-in-law. Not to mention the fact that he had promised to treat Steve better due to the many positive things he had done to help his family out.

"Don't worry, honey," Harriette reassured Carl, quickly patting his back for a few seconds before leaving his embrace. "Steve is a good young man. Plus, he's your son-in-law now."

"Sweetheart, nine years ago, if you had ever said Steve Urkel would be my son-in-law, I would have asked you to look outside and see any pigs in the sky," Carl laughed as Harriette continued her journey up the stairs. Sitting back down as his usual spot at the kitchen table, he took one last sip of his drink and sighed. "…But I probably would have believed you."

"…Mmmm…" Laura stirred for a few minutes before blinking her eyes, realizing that she had fallen asleep. Looking on both sides, she realized that she was still between Steve and Rachel, who were both wide awake. "Are we almost there, Steve?"

"Absolutely! Just about ninety miles left to go and we'll be back before you know it!"

"I can already picture the dinner we're gonna have this evening…the golden brown turkey…mashed potatoes and gravy…macaroni and cheese…greens…sweet potatoes…" Rachel almost lost herself in her reverie before realizing that she was going on for too long and stopped.

"Keep going, Rachel, keep going!" Steve almost licked his lips as he drove into the lane that would take him onto the first major freeway needed to head back to Chicago.

"Aunt Rachel, are Richie and 3J doing fine?"

"Oh yeah, they sure are, especially my Richie," Rachel smiled. "I let him and 3J stay over with your Aunt Helen, though. They wanted to stay with her, and hearing them say that surprised the heck outta me."

"I know what you mean," Laura smiled back at her Aunt Rachel. "You can't go a Thanksgiving, or even Christmas, without grandma's cooking!"

"You've got that right."

Suddenly feeling the Isetta shake violently a few times, both Rachel and Laura looked at Steve, who was pushing a few knobs and turning a few dials on the dashboard in front of him.

"Steve, what's going on?" Rachel asked, looking at what Steve was doing.

"I was afraid this was gonna happen! It only happens a few times out of the year, and luckily when there's no SNOW around!"

"What do you mean, Steve?" Laura wondered, a bit of worry in the tone of her voice.

"For some strange reason, ever since I added that GPS system I received from NASA, this darn engine turns off whenever it wants to, and turns back on whenever it wants to," Steve answered as the Isetta began to quickly slow down almost to a complete stop. Pulling the car over to the shoulder of the freeway, Steve tried putting his foot on the accelerator to see if it would turn go any faster, but to no avail. "I've tried to fix it in my spare time, but I can't get to the root of the problem…I'm sorry gals, but we may be here for a few hours or so…if we're lucky…"

To Be Continued...