This chapter is one of those that I love. It's also the second last chapter in the story. *cries*
The disclaimer is something everyone knows I'm not repeating. For the twentieth time.
Starring Percy Jackson
Guest Stars of Sally Jackson and Gabe Ugliano
Percy pulled his mother out of the way and whispered to her, "Mom? Why do we have to go with him?"
Sally squatted down to her eight-year-old's height and tried to make him understand. "Because his '78 Camaro is very special to him, and we're going somewhere very far," she said. "And he doesn't want anything happening to it… us," she corrected.
Percy's face contorted with confusion and complaint. "But… two hours?" he asked.
She placed her hands on his shoulders. "Maybe one and a half if the traffic isn't bad," she told him. She stood and offered him her hand. "Come on."
-o-O-o-
The traffic wasn't bad. It was merciless.
Sally had simply needed to retrieve some documents for Percy's next boarding school. But Gabe wanted to come along too, and for some reason insisted on driving.
"But I should drive," Sally protested. "I know the way."
"I'll figure it out," Gabe retorted, with a wave of the hand as if it were no big deal.
"But you don't even know where to start to look!"
Gabe pointed to himself. "My car," he said pointedly. "I drive."
Sally stared at him. "Percy, get in the car," she ordered without looking at him.
Percy didn't understand that the argument was about to get worse. "Why?" he asked, leaning against the underground parking lot's wall.
"Percy," his mother repeated sternly, "get in the car."
He did. She was using that tone.
He couldn't hear what continued outside, but Percy could tell his mother and Gabe were having a very heated discussion over who drove. Did it really matter in the end? It mattered to Sally, apparently. Once Gabe began to yell at her, Percy turned away and plugged his ears. Seriously?
Finally Sally relented and allowed Gabe to drive. He pulled out of the parking lot and drove out of the city, following his 'gut instinct' on where the place was. Percy could tell by his mother's angered expression that he was driving in the wrong direction. She'd sort of huff out of her nose heavily whenever he made a wrong turn, and then he knew he had to go back.
Finally Gabe couldn't take it any longer. "What do you want from me, woman!?" he demanded.
"To let me drive!" she exclaimed. "You have no idea where you're going!"
"Yeah, I do! To that place you mentioned earlier."
Sally closed her eyes and rubbed her eyelids with the pads of her fingertips. "Gabe, you can be so infuriating sometimes…"
They reached a train crossing and Gabe had to stop, and they were seated in an angered silence. Percy felt like he shouldn't be there, listening on to their arguments. After a minute or two Gabe looked down both sides of the track and announced, "I don't see a train coming."
"So?" Sally asked.
"This is wasting my time."
She then seemed to realize what he was considering. "Gabe, don't even think about it," she ordered.
"No trains are coming," he said. "And look. That space over there? I can totally drive this car around that."
Percy plugged his ears with his fingers and placed his head between his legs in the crash position.
Sally began to say something else, but since Gabe was so angered and annoyed by their earlier discussion he pulled out of idle and drove forward.
"This is why I don't like it when you drive," she said. She trailed her eyes upwards at the video camera watching them. "We're going to die and get a ticket."
"So? I'll add them with the rest."
"Gabe, you have to pay those."
"I know. I just don't."
Percy was the first to notice the train far off in the distance. "Guys…?" he started.
"But that's illegal," Sally tried to explain. "You did something wrong, you pay for it. That's how it works."
"Yeah, but that's not how I work. They give me a ticket, I stick it in here." Gabe reached out and pulled on the passenger compartment, revealing a heck of a heap of driving tickets.
Sally breathed in deeply and held it, displaying the fact that she wanted to rip Gabe's head off but was restricting herself from doing so. "How many of those do you have?" she asked.
Percy reached out and tugged his mother's T-shirt sleeve. "Mom?" he asked.
"Not now, Percy," she dismissed him.
"But this is important…"
She turned to face him. "What?" she demanded, extremely irritated.
"There's a train coming toward us."
Her eyes widened, and she elbowed Gabe in the gut, forcing his foot down on the pedal. The car lurched to a start, narrowly missing the boom gate that was supposed to keep cars from doing what they just did. They skidded sideways out of the way and left black tire marks on the road. The car performed a one-eighty that would have been epic in any other situation, just in time to catch sight of the train rush past where they had just been.
The three of them sat there for a moment, not moving in shock.
Sally was the first to recover. "And this is why I don't let you drive," she said, undoing her seatbelt. "Everyone. Out now."
"Why?" Gabe demanded, but Sally's tone was threatening enough that he did so anyway. Percy opened his door and slipped outside.
"Because we are waiting for the police to come so that you can explain what just happened," she explained. "And then you are going to pay for the charges given, and all these other tickets." She flourished a hand at the compartment of tickets."
"Oh," he said.
-o-O-o-
"So what you're saying is that your step-father drove around the boom gates... because he was mad at your mother because of their argument?" the policeman clarified.
"Yes," said Percy. "If you take him to jail I wouldn't care. I actually encourage it."
The officer grinned. "Well, then, you're in luck," he said, and out of the corner of his eye Percy spotted a protesting Gabe being stuffed in the back of a police cruiser, his hands handcuffed behind him.
He grinned. "Sweetness," he said.
Ah, Gabe. You know, you've gotta remember that there was a guy before the awesome Paul.
For every review is another year Gabe gets to rot in jail! (Not really, but let's pretend.)