Chapter 35: The Plan and Tiredness
Cycil
“What happened? You two looked like you’ve been through a gang fight” Francis says once we parked in a corner of the nearest pilot travel center.
I shrug and looks at Arthur. He crawls out the driver’s seat, groaning and stopping multiple times.
“You wanna tell him? ” I ask. He waves me off, slowly sitting down on the couch. Francis looks at me expectantly. I smile at him and sigh, removing my hand from under Marjorie’s hand.
”Well, we did out run the cops and avoided jail by pretending to be a homeless nearly blind schizophrenic kid and a nearly dead one. We also sprained an ankle, covered ourselves in dirt and dust, loaded into a cop car and taken to a shelter. A very eventful night” I tell him.
Francis cackles before crawling out and joining Arthur on the couch.
“We legit just ran and ran and ran. Mar had a panic attack… I think. I’m not good in labeling things like that.” I laugh at Francis’s doubtful face.
“Well okay then, though I think we should stop with the late night escaped from now on. Artty do you think we can make it to Washington tomorrow?” I ask Arthur, turning to look at him.
“Not a chance, my ankle hurts like hell and I am not driving until the pain dies down”
“I’ll go buy ice or something” Francis says as he goes out the van, I wait a few minutes before Francis comes back grinning.
“I need-“
“You need money. Yeah I figure, come here” I tell him as I slowly crawl out of bed. I search my pockets before pulling out my wallet.
“Here” I tell him, giving him 20 dollars. Francis’s grin widens before he runs out again. I roll my eyes before walking to a nearby shelf and pulling out a roll of elastic bandages.
“So… you have enough money for us to get back to Waterloo?” Arthur asks. I groan and look into my wallet. We can’t drive back to Waterloo, it’ll cost too much.
“Probably not, though it all depends on one thing” I tell him as I stand up, walking over to him and crashing down onto the couch.
“That is…?” Arthur asks hesitantly.
“Can we afford the plane tickets or not. Because I don’t think we can drive back to Waterloo with your sprained ankle, two 8-year-old and the money I have left.”
“Didn’t you want to go to Washington?” he asks, lifting his feet up to my lap. Arthur leans to the side and undo the bandage.
“I do, and we are still going there, the Old Man told me we should drop off the van in his storage unit in Washington and take a flight back.
“I already called ahead and saved our seats for tomorrow, but I can cancel it easily enough” I tell him as I pull out my phone. Arthur hums and starts to drift off.
“What time is it?”
“5 AM” I tell him, glancing at the time. Arthur nods.
Francis slams the van door open and grins, tossing me a cold plastic bag. I look inside and grins, taking one of the ice creams that Francis bought.
I give the kid a 20 and he buys ice cream and a bag of cold peas.
“Nice” I tell him, handing the plastic bag over to Arthur. I take off the wrapping and laugh when Arthur throws one of the ice creams at Francis. Arthur grabs the cold peas, slowly laying them on where bruises had formed.
“This’ll do it. I don’t think I sprained it too badly, a few days and it’ll be good as new” Arthur says as he starts to unwrap his ice cream.
I nod, signaling Francis to sit beside me. Francis walks over, eating the ice cream, grinning widely.
“It’s 5 you know” Francis says sitting on the ground in front of me, happily eating his ice cream.
“I know” I tell him, as I start to look through my phone again. If I cancel now that’ll give them enough time.
“We’re still going to Washington right?” Francis asks as he looks up curiously. I nod as I search through my contacts. I swear I saved the airports number.
“When are we going?”
“The day after tomorrow or tomorrow, I don’t really know but we’re running low on money so I want to get back to Waterloo as quickly as possible” Arthur tells him, poking me on the arm with his legs.
I put my hand up, a silent gesture to stop. I need to call the airport.
‘Found it’ I thought, pressing the call button. I jump out the couch and walk out as the van as the line starts to ring.
“Hey!!” Francis yells from inside, I ignore him as I listen to the service lady.
“Yeah, hi. I want to cancel a flight, in the name of Cycil Bass… yeah”
. . . . . . . . . .
“Okay now that’s taken care of, Arthur can I see your leg?” I ask him, walking back into the van. Arthur nods lazily, half awake. I look over to the bed, seeing Francis already asleep, sprawled on the bed on top of the twins.
I chuckle and sit in front of Arthur. I slowly lift the cold bag of peas up and look at his ankle, it’s healing nicely. Though the bruise will take longer than just a day, so we can’t leave tomorrow maybe the day after tomorrow.
‘Which is a good thing since all we’re going to do is sleep and nothing else’ I thought as I place the bag of peas back.
Looking around I realize that I should buy some cup noodles, just in case money runs out faster than expected.
I slowly open the van door, sneaking out quietly. I look around as I close the door, Francis must have found a supermarket near here. I start walking, going into a random direction and hoping to find the supermarket.
I look around as I walk, glancing over my shoulder a few times. This is not Waterloo; I should get used to it. I cross the road silently, looking both ways.
I wonder if the Old Man can help us, he has friends all over the country. I turn the corner, seeing a supermarket.
I sigh, rubbing my eyes tiredly. I’m so tired, I wonder if I can get coffee near here, something really strong. But then again Arthur is going to kill me if I drink anymore coffee.
‘That boy is going to kill me either way’ I thought as I grab a shopping cart. My mind starts wondering off as I search for instant food and coffee, thinking up plans about tomorrow or the next day or hoe to go back home.
‘Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m never going to be able to pay rent after this’ I thought as I found the instant noodles.
‘I’ll have to go to the shelter again, just like that one time’ I thought as I start to remember my time in the shelter, when my dad forgot about me for a year or so, leaving me homeless and scared.
That was a long time ago, that was before I can make my own money, before I work as a freelance artist, before I could stand on my own two feet.
I stop, thinking back to the times I had to pay my own rent for a few months. I was fine, I was more than fine, I had survived without his money. I chuckle at the thought, I can live without him, I can live without being tied to him.
‘But can I really live without his help for more than a few months? Maybe…’ I thought as I start to walk again, this time trying to find some coffee.
‘I’ll settle for a coffee packet or something, I just need coffee’ I thought as I walk around, looking at the shelfs.
‘Finally’ I thought, finding the instant coffee. I grab one and walks to the cashier, paying to a dead looking staff member. It is 5 in the morning, I’d look dead too.
‘This is a mess, but what can I do? I can get us home’ I thought, walking out the supermarket. Yeah that’s my plan, I’ll let us rest tomorrow, then we’ll leave the day after tomorrow, go straight to Old Man’s storage unit and then to the airport.
Hopefully there’s a flight without an overlay.
‘I’m tired’ I thought as I walk back to the van. I’m really, really tired.