Journeys (a short story)

    She could barely think straight, but she was driving.  Driving and driving.  She just had to get away.  Jan was burnt out from the strain of recent events.  Tentatively headed north, she figured she'd flesh out her plans along the way.  Perhaps she'd just visit some relatives, enjoy the change of scene and turn back southwards with fresh perspective.  Or maybe, never return.  She wasn't bound by any strong ties now; after the divorce and her son off to college.  And, she had enough money put aside to buy her some frugal freedom before she would have to settle in somewhere and go back to work.

    Jan looked a mess in a stained shirt she hastily grabbed and hadn't bothered to fix her hair.  The only person she'd planned on facing this morning was the cashier at the 7-Eleven where she stopped for a box of crackers and a bottle of water.  She hadn't had much appetite.  Just yesterday, she and a friend finished putting a pile of her belongings into a storage unit.

    Jan brought her camera along even though this was hardly a fun vacation but she always liked taking photos of interesting sights.  It was a habit; one never knew what you might see on any given day she'd learned.

    The interstate was dull; not much to see but trees.  After a couple of hours, she pulled into a rest stop to get gas.  Then, she sat at an outdoor table near some vacationing families and nibbled on some crackers.  Jan was flipping through an old family album that she had rediscovered the other day.  She stopped again at the photo of Peg.  Peg, her sister, dancing at a wedding about twenty years ago.  Jan had forgotten how pretty Peg was with her wavy auburn hair and deep brown eyes.  They hadn't seen each other for many years since Peg had run away shortly after that photo was taken, at seventeen. 

    Jan could hardly fault Peg for having left.  Their home life was in turmoil back then; and now, Jan was nearly running away herself.  They'd heard from Peg now and then, for the first couple of years after she'd run off.  But after a while, nothing.  They couldn't locate her, had no address.  Jan had been devastated.  Over time, she'd learned to live with the painful loss.

    She browsed through some other pictures.  Lychee, the dog they used to have; a Lhasa Apso.  The sweet photos of him made her think of getting a dog again, when she got settled.  "Man's best friend, why not woman's?", she chuckled softly to herself.  The family next to her had finished their picnic and Jan figured she'd better get back on the road.

    "Welcome to North Carolina", declared the green and white sign along the roadside but to Jan there didn't seem to be anything significant about it.  Only a memory of having stopped there once for dinner during a family road trip.  Afterwards, their son, Eddie, had gotten sick and threw up outside the restaurant.  All kinds of memories had been running wild through her mind lately.  She turned the radio back on for some company.  Sometimes she listened to the oldies station.  A reverend once told them that you could interpret many of the love songs as expressions of a loving relationship with God.  That was a comforting thought for Jan's depression.

    After about a hundred more miles up the highway, the music didn't seem to be helping quite so much.  Jan was starting to doubt whether this trip was such a good idea.  "Where the hell am I going?", she thought to herself.  Neither did turning around seem like a better idea so she decided to take a scenic detour following an alternate road parallel to the interstate, more or less.  Perhaps she would find a place to stop and take some pictures or check in with Eddie to see how his exams had gone.  She passed some fields, pretty old country homes, a few little strip malls.  During a barren stretch of the road, she saw a woman waiting to hitch a ride up ahead.

    Jan thought about how dangerous hitchhiking could be these days, both for the driver or for the one asking for a ride, and especially for women.  Jan drove slower as she approached where the woman was sitting on an overturned shopping cart.  The woman looked somewhat disheveled but then "so do I, at this point", Jan thought.  The woman appeared exhausted and sad, and Jan's heart went out to her.  Against her better judgement, Jan decided to offer the woman a ride.  "After all, nothing these days was ever as it seemed, so how does one ever decide anything", she wondered.  "At least I have my cell phone for emergencies", she rationalized.

    "Where are you headed?", Jan asked the woman. 
    "To my friend's home; it's about fifty miles north", she replied. 

Jan leaned over and unlocked the door for her.  As they headed back towards the interstate, the woman thanked Jan but mostly she was quiet, staring out the window.  Jan glanced towards her from time to time.  "She could be fairly attractive", Jan thought.  She just needs to wash that dirty blond hair and get some decent clothes.  Jan was very curious as to this woman's story but she didn't want to push too many questions at once.  Still, she was starved for a little conversation.  Her husband, "ex-husband", she mentally corrected herself, had always said she talked too much.

    "Have you eaten?", Jan asked. 
    "I don't have much money", the woman replied. 
    "How 'bout Checkers, the dollar menu?" 

The woman nodded.  Jan had seen an ad announcing another Checkers by the next town.  They stopped and ordered a couple of burgers and Cokes.  "Mind if I look at your pictures?, the woman asked.  Jan had brought the album into the restaurant not wanting to leave it in the car.  "Ok" she said.  The woman leafed through a few pages absentmindedly, then she went to the restroom.  Jan threw away the hamburger wrappers and they walked towards the parking lot.  "Well, so far", she thought "this hitchhiker hasn't seemed threatening at all".  And Jan felt a tad more optimistic about things and proud of her decision to pick up this needy soul.  Everyone has a story, she knew.

    "I don't think it's much further", the woman said when they were back on the road.  "My friend lives in Plainview".

The woman directed Jan to the friend's house.  Jan pulled into the driveway and they got out of the car.  It didn't look like anyone was home.  Then, a plain looking man with a beard opened the front door and started walking towards them.  The woman began to cry a little as the man hugged her.  Then Jan's heart stopped.  "Peg!", the man had said.  And in a flash, Jan saw the resemblance.  She had been so preoccupied and out of sorts that she hadn't recognized Peg's features, her eyes.  It had been so long, but now Jan was certain.  The woman was Peg, her long lost sister.