~~~
It was late afternoon by the time Agent Samuel seemed to be slowing down for good and Josh got a chance to really look around him. The past few hours had been mostly long large fields of snow punctuated here and there with a road to practically jump across in the agile monster of a truck. He had drifted in and out of a snooze a few times.
“Coming up on Winnipeg, eh?” Bartholomew grumbled. “I think we probably should stop and get this youngster a bite to eat, don’tcha think?”
“Just what I was thinking!” Peter responded jovially. But it was obvious the last two days were beginning to wear on him too.
It seemed to be getting dark already, over-emphasized by the clouds and threatening snow storms. Winnipeg seemed like a pretty large town to Josh’s eye and the lights of various road signs and the buildings in the distance seemed to be very welcoming. He hoped they chose something good but didn’t want to be impolite and press his own idea. He would probably have chosen pizza or some chicken nuggets with fries at that point, wanting some comfort food. Perhaps it was the distance from home that was making not only Josh, but Peter and Bartholomew too just a little down.
Bartholomew suggested with one hand loosed from his arms folded before him, “I know this great Thai and Pizza place just outside of town in Ile-Des-Chenes.”
He leaned over to catch Josh’s face around Peter’s arms on the wheel, “I’m guessing you like pizza, right, young one.”
The thought made Josh’s stomach grumble loudly, enough so that even at their still fast speed and electronics in the CCV humming Peter heard it and raise one eyebrow to him. He nodded vigorously in reply to Bartholomew.
“Joshua,” Peter said.
After a moment’s pause Bartholomew looked to Agent Samuel and said, “I beg your pardon?”
“The boy’s name is Joshua. You know,” Peter shrugged, “since it might be a couple days together.”
“Right,” Bartholomew answered, seemingly more relaxed. There was a small sense in Joshua’s mind that Agent Bartholomew acted smug, like perhaps he succeeded in getting under Peter’s skin a little for making him go on the trip.
Never the less, he directed Peter towards an apparent province route and on to the road. Peter disengaged the cloak or whatever it was hiding them from view when they were traveling at higher speeds. And before long they were in a small suburban town outside Winnipeg having a delicious bar-b-que chicken pizza with occasional sharing of Agent Bartholomew’s red curry thai chicken dish. Josh was starting to enjoy this little trip more and more, despite the dark winter skies and frequent clouds and snow. It seemed like the right sort of warm-up to Christmas morning for him somehow, like the trip over the mountains and through the woods to Grandmother’s house he’d go. Although, he’d never really made that kind of a trip for the holidays. Maybe this could be a new tradition, Josh thought, and then laughed a little at himself for the thought of it. It wasn’t likely he’d see these agents again. In fact, he started worrying a little that they might blank his mind like they seemed to have done to his parents and the principle at school. He hoped not. He wanted to remember this little adventure.