Chapter Twenty
The little boy kept hurting his sister. But every time the cute little girl complained to her dad, the dad either completely ignored her, or tried to tell her it was her own fault. The boy had the seat by the aisle and would lean over and was either poking or pinching his older sister. He looked to be about eight and she was maybe ten. They were sitting across from Pete and Issy and one row ahead. Pete was in the aisle seat, so though he didn’t have a full view he saw enough to know what was going on. Other than that little distraction Pete was enjoying himself.
He had never been on a big bus like this before. This was much more comfortable than a school or city bus. He had heard people insult the idea of travelling by bus but he imagined that it wasn’t much less comfortable than being on a plane. He sure hadn’t been on one of those yet either. And he was getting a little buzz on as he was drinking a large rye and Coke out of a one litre plastic bottle. He’s just got to keep reminding himself that he’s going to get his car back soon.
“Ouch! Dad he did it again!”
Dad finally stood up, went to the seats behind his and looked down at his two kids, “Now stop it you two, you are embarrassing me. I swear this is the last time I am ever taking you anywhere.” The father then, without another word, or waiting for any response from either of the children, sits back down. He continues to flirt with the young lady sitting beside him.
The little boy then slowly leans back, and looks right at Pete, giving him a dirty look he sticks his tongue out.
“That frickin kid is too much,” He whispers to Issy.
“Ya well I sure hope you are going to be a better father than that jerk.”
“Yes pumpkin I’m sure I will be, but it sure can’t be easy being a parent sometimes.”
“No it won’t, but it will be real nice if we get the chance someday.”
“You know I’d love that too. What do you say to us getting married next summer? That way we’ll have time to first get settled properly in Seattle and move out of your uncle’s house.”
“Oh Pete I’d love to,” Then Issy rewards him with a long delicious kiss.
Pete goes to take another swig of his drink but notices the kid glaring back at him. Pete smiles smugly and sticks his tongue out.
Jeff passes a sign that says that Spokane Washington is only fifty miles away. Finally he will then be heading north towards Canada. He had recently come up with a different answer than fuck fuck fuck. But it was not much better. It was now more like wah wah wah. He wasn’t angry anymore, now he was just really really sad. At one point about an hour ago he even got off the highway and considered heading back east. He was going to prove to Monica just how much he loved her. He would ride beside her bus trying to figure out where she is sitting. He would follow the damn bus all the way back to Ottawa if he had to. But he knew that was a stupid idea.
No! He was going to B.C. as they had been planning for months. He’s still going to go to a ski resort this winter too. He’ll hook up with a real cute snow bunny. He then remembers how good Monica’s ass looks in her ski pants. Damn! She’s the only snow bunny he wants. Wah wah wah. Jeff fights back the tears he feels threatening to start and looks up again at the beautiful mountains all around him. My God he is glad he came here, he just hadn’t thought it would be like this. He needed a drink, a really stiff drink! But it could wait a couple more hours. He wants to be closer to Canada. Tom’s going to start worrying as they are behind schedule. He’ll probably phone him when he finds a campground. Then he is cracking that bottle of rye and getting fucking hammered! Tomorrow he’ll start all over again.
Working hard at the farm and enjoying the mountains will help him get his mind off of Monica. Ya that’s bullshit! He’ll just keep thinking how much better it would be with her there with him. He is glad he isn’t driving a car and listening to the radio. Jeff remembers when his first girlfriend Terry broke off with him, he was only fourteen. Every song on the radio seemed to be about being in love or getting your heart broken. Man that made it even worse. Wah wah wah!
Finally! Three hours is up and Monica can phone home. She had spent the time wandering around Butte. Since she has the cash Jeff gave her she treated herself to a nice lunch at a decent restaurant. She then went into the Walmart to check to see if her money was sent. But it hadn’t arrived yet. The said something about having to answer a security question to retrieve her money.
When she phones home this time someone else answered. “Hi Monica.”
“Hi daddy.” Uh oh!
“I am glad you have come to your senses finally. But I don’t like how it’s costing me so much money. I phoned and found out it costs $572 for a bus ticket from there to here. Your mother says that Jeff had paid you for part of it. He should be paying more than $100 don’t you think?”
Monica reminds herself to remain calm, “Daddy he gave me a hundred and fifty dollars, but I figured I would need some money for food, since it takes more than two days on the bus to get there. I promise daddy I will work hard to pay you back. I will be a good girl you will see. You promised to pay for tuition for university and I will get a part time job.”
Leo lets out an audible sigh, “Fine I guess, it will be a blessing to have that bum of a boyfriend across the country. I sent the money to where you said about twenty minutes ago. We will discuss it when you get home. And your mother is excited to have a little birthday party for you when you get here.”
He is not a bum! “Thank you daddy I would really like that. I’m so sorry for getting you and mommy so upset.”
“That’s fine just get on that bus and we’ll see you in a couple of days.”
“Okay daddy bye I love you...Oh wait! I need an answer to a security question to get the money.”
“The answer is Tony, you can figure out what the question is.”
“Kay daddy bye.”
“Bye.” Monica sighs with relief as she hangs up. Her dad didn’t seem so mad. It will probably be a different story when she gets home though.
She checks the time and sees she still has over three hours to go before her bus comes. Oh well! She’ll head to get her money and then more wandering around town she figures.
Jeff drives through Spokane without stopping. This is where he and Monica were going to say good bye to Pete and Issy. What a fucking mess it is now. On one hand it felt fantastic to be heading back to Canada, but on the other hand it felt just plain awful. He knew he now had only 250 miles to go. So he could get there tonight if he chose to but to hell with that. He’s going to find a campsite in another hour or so and light a big ass fire and get completely bombed. He even kept the Tylenol Monica gave him so he can wake up tomorrow, pop a handful of those and arrive at Tom’s farm at a decent hour ready to take on his new life.
He still can’t believe how beautiful the mountains are. He can’t wait to try some mountain biking in them. And the skiing is going to be awesome. How can Monica come to the mountains and then turn around and go back? If only he didn’t smoke last night. He didn’t even really enjoy it, he was too drunk to appreciate the buzz. Fuck he’s such a dummy! Maybe she’s right, maybe he should give up drinking. So that’s the new plan. He’ll get shit faced tonight and tomorrow he’s going to start totally fresh. He’s going to find lots of new natural highs.
He looks up at the towering mountains all around him again. Ya! And this is the place to do it. And he then realizes that tomorrow is the perfect day to do it, Monica’s eighteenth birthday. How perfect! Ya, he’s actually starting to feel better. It was his fault after all, she did warn him, and he fucked up. He’ll make tomorrow his first real sober day. That’s it! He’s going to prove to her how much he loves her, and that he’ll do whatever he can to get her back. It then dawns on him. What if she goes to university in Ottawa this fall? He’s crazy about her, but he’s not crazy enough to wait four whole years for her to finish her degree before she comes back out west. Should he go back to Ottawa then? He studies the
mountainside once more. No way. This is where he belongs. And she belongs here too, with him.
He has to convince her to come back before she starts school. He’s got to convince her to go to school at the University of British Columbia. That’s in Vancouver he’s pretty sure. Hey! And then they would be real close to Pete and Issy in Seattle. Ya, that the next obvious step in the plan. Hell, maybe even Jeff will go to study there too. Nah, probably not. But that is where they will build their great charity. From Vancouver and Seattle they will branch out to the world. They would have good access to big bad China from there. Ya! The plan is taking shape.
Monica feels the bulge in her front pocket. She’s never had near this much money in her possession before. Her dad came through with sending the $470 dollars and she still has a hundred and forty from Jeff. She goes into the store wishing she could spend all six hundred bucks on some cool stuff instead of a stupid bus ticket and food. But she figures she deserves to buy herself a couple of little souvenirs before she heads home. She had already walked all over the downtown core of Butte and finally found a little store that looked perfect for picking out a few souvenirs.
She first picks out a few postcards. All featuring pictures of the mountains of course. It will be fun to see if they get to Ottawa before she does. She’s going to mail one to Christine, one to her mom, and one to Juniper. Juniper’s has a fierce but beautiful mountain lion on it. She then slowly checks out the various t-shirts that they have on display. She doesn’t see any that appeal to her though. She is planning to buy some groceries to take on the bus with her. That will make the bus ride more bearable, and it will be much more comfortable than on the back of the bike. The trip back won’t be the same without Jeff though. Why did he have to smoke? Did she really tell him it was okay? That shouldn’t really matter anyway, he knew she was drunk.
Damn! She wishes he wasn’t a drug addict. And they do say that once you are a drug addict you are always a drug addict. But it is only marijuana. But it is against the law still. She is so confused. She tries to concentrate on finding a t-shirt amongst the silly ones that she sees. She better get something special for Christine. And they should have something fun for her cat, a toy mouse or something. She goes deeper into the store looking. Looking for something.
Jeff pulls into the campground off the highway. He figures he is only about an hour from the Canadian border. That will leave about a three or four hour ride to finish the whole trip tomorrow. He still can’t believe that Monica isn’t with him. Fuck life sure wasn’t fair sometimes.
First thing he does when he gets to his campsite is crack open the bottle of rye that Pete bought for him. He grabs one of the little plastic cups that came with his little camp cook set and fills it almost half way with the rye. He tops up the rest from the bottle of Coke he had just bought before he arrived at the campground. He is determined to get drunk before he even thinks about setting up the tent or building any fire. Or doing another damn thing.
Thank god for alcohol. Ugh! This stuff is gross without much mix. He chokes down a few sips and then adds some more mix. He had bought a big bag of Dorito chips and a large Coffee Crisp with the Coke. Yep that’s all he needs to get through the night. To hell with eating properly, that would only interfere with his main goal of getting completely bombed.
As he’s pouring his second drink he wonders if Monica is on her bus yet. Why did she have to go back? She could have at least come to the farm with him. Fucking chicks! You can’t live with them, you can’t live without them. Or is that shoot them? Ya now he’s starting to feel better.
He gets up off the picnic table and starts unpacking his stuff. He tosses the tent towards the spot where he’s planning to set it up. Okay that’s enough work for now. Just about time for another drink. He gulps the rest and pours another one. He opens his bag of Doritos.
Who needs chicks when you’ve got a full bottle of rye and a big bag of Doritos? Yep this is the life. He grabs the big bar of Coffee Crisp and tears it open. He takes a big bite and then raises his cup and raises it in a toast to himself. He gulps half the drink down with a grimace. Damn, now all that is missing is a big joint. He smiles and shakes his head amused at himself.
He figures he better set the tent up before it starts to get dark, and before he gets too wazzooed to do much of anything. With another quick swig, he grabs a handful of chips and staggers to his tent. He sits down on the ground and pulls the contents out of the little tent bag. He reminds himself that it’s the last time that he’s going to be camping for awhile. Shit! He forgot to phone Tom. Oh well he’ll get there when he gets there. To hell with everyone!
He gets up and goes over and grabs his drink and drains it with his head tilted back. With another handful of chips, he surveys his site. He looks at the fire pit. Damn, it will be a lonely fire tonight he figures. It sure was fun with the four of them.
Jeff finally manages to put the tent up. He tosses his sleeping bag in it and zips it up. He goes back to drinking. He thinks about what to do next. That’s easy. He drinks some more.
He takes a big bite of the chocolate bar and saviors the sweet crunchy snack. He decides he might as well get a fire going. Luckily there are a few nice looking logs left over in the pit by the last occupants of the site. He goes in search of some branches in the forest for some kindling. He doesn’t go very far from his site while doing this though, as every time he finds two or three little branches he brings them back and throws them in the pit. Then grabs his little cup, for a quick sip, before heading back into the surrounding woods. He has built up a fairly large pile of kindling and decides it’s time to light the fire.
But first he sits back down and makes himself another drink. He opens up his chips and spills several of the Doritos onto the ground beside the picnic bench. In his haste and sloppiness to retrieve them his elbow knocks his freshly poured drink over. Ah shit!
He grabs the bottle and admires the fact that he still has over half of it left. He had better not spill that though. While pouring the replacement drink he hears something behind him. He looks back and just six feet away two glowing green eyes are looking back at him. His heart leaps a bit, not expecting this new visitor at dusk. The owner of the green eyes pauses only a couple of seconds and then continues his approach. Jeff spins around carefully and says, “Hey there little buddy.”
The fat raccoon stops and stares back at Jeff. Jeff grabs a chip and tosses it softly in front of the raccoon. The striped little bandit twitches his whiskers looking at Jeff and then down at the offered chip. He pauses only another second before grabbing it with its tiny hands. He sits back on his haunches and nibbles at the chip, but continues to watch Jeff. Jeff chuckles a little and has a big gulp of his fresh drink. He then grabs a few more chips. “I’m glad you came along, I was getting lonely.” He tosses another chip in his new little buddy’s direction. Just then another pair of glowing green eyes appears from the left side. This raccoon doesn’t hesitate, and rushes to grab the new chip on the ground. The first raccoon snarls viciously. The second raccoon snarls back. Jeff backs up and sits on top of the table. “C’mon guys, there’s no need to fight, I have lots more chips to share.”
Jeff instead grabs the chocolate bar and breaks a piece off. He throws the piece at the second raccoon. It bounces off his thick hide with a light thud. The raccoon stops snarling and glares at Jeff. He then snatches the chocolate and scampers into the woods. The first raccoon scampers after him. Jeff just stares and shakes his head. He finishes his drink with a couple of little chugs.
It’s getting dark so he better get the fire going before his furry little friends come back. And he doesn’t want to give them all his chips and chocolate as it’s the only thing he has to eat. He keeps the fire small as he only has the three logs to burn. He figures he will let the first one burn right down before he adds another. And he keeps plenty of his kindling branches on the side in reserve. Jeff sits back up on the top of the picnic table so he isn’t surprise
d by the return of the raccoons. He doesn’t mind sharing a bit of his food with them but doesn’t like the idea of their sharp little teeth digging into his toes.
He sits by himself staring into the fire. He steadily consumes more rye, Coke, chips and chocolate bar, necessarily in that order. The raccoons never return, they must have found more interesting campsites to raid. Jeff misses them, he is lonely. The junk food is finished by the time the third log is burning down. He looks at how much rye is left. Not much. He pours himself one last drink. He looks at it. He promises the cup that it’s the last drink he is having in a very long time. Maybe ever. He’s desperate to do important things in his life. He knows he can’t do them unless he stays clean and sober.
Most of all he knows he has to win Monica back. He wants that more than anything. He drains his drink down his throat. He pours the remaining few ounces of rye onto the fire. The flames roar high briefly to accentuate his promise to himself. He watches the flames die down soon after. He stands up and weaving slightly, he undoes the fly of his pants. He then releases a long stream of urine into the dying fire. It hisses and sizzles. He staggers slowly to his lonely, waiting sleeping bag.