Chapter Three: On The Road
They took turns reading the letter. The paper was now wrinkled, and no longer featured the sharp fold lines it did. Only eight hours into the sixteen-hour journey, they needed periodic reminders when they stopped to stretch their legs, or in Madeline's case, vomit violently into toilets in gas station bathrooms.
Once again, Serling and Price on the run.
"Go fuck yourself, baby," Madeline coughed. Unable to pull over in time, Madeline grabbed a jacket and used it to catch what she could. They already felt the temperatures rise, leaving the mountain air of Colorado behind as they traveled further and further south. The heat rising, the humidity with it. When they pulled into Amarillo, the air was heavy and choked them.
"Good ol' first trimester," Ted nodded. He kept his eyes on the road ahead, occasionally reaching over to pat her leg.
"Just pull over so we can dump this. Also, for lunch, tortilla soup?" Madeline said.
"God, you're beautiful," Ted said.
My Ted, the letter began. Handwritten, in swirling script, delivered without a return address, or even their address, just To Ted and Madeline on the front.
It has been many years. I have missed you. You have questions. I have wanted to contact you. I heard what happened and I can only assume you are in a bit of a tough spot. I may be able to offer some small assistance.
He could almost hear her voice, that gentle lilt, as he looked over the letter. She was real. He had no doubts after they opened the letter and the scent hit his nostrils. A smell, unidentifiable, but one that sent him back, one that captured the air in the yard, the cicada hum, the life around them that could only be heard. The letter sent him back, for a brief few seconds, to her house, that small house in the woods.
She was real. She had a home for them.
After they stopped Madeline ran inside for road snacks, Ted filled the car. The odor of spilt gas and spoiled food from overflowing trashcans fought for supremacy. He watched the families piling out of vans and SUV, small figures running circles around adults struggling to contain their offspring's energy, desperate to direct them into the store and out of the parking lot.
That would be them soon enough, Ted thought.
I will need to leave on a brief trip and am in desperate need of a house sitter. It looks like someone finally found you. She seems lovely.
She had found him. That's how Madeline put it. She finally found him, after all these years. Ted watched Madeline jog back to the car, hair pulled back, wearing one of his shirts and a hair of pink leggings with patterns that resembled alligator scales. She said it was a joke purchase, but it made its way into her regular rotation almost immediately.
"Ready to hit the road?" Ted asked.
"Let's boogie," Madeline said.
Back on the road, Ted wondered aloud if they should try to start another business.
"God, no," Madeline laughed. "We're gonna have a kid, we need stability."
"This is America," Ted said. "Stability only exists if you inherit it. Gotta take risks!"
"Well, last time we started business it crashed and burned."
Ted turned down the radio. "Look, lots of entrepreneurs experience failure," Ted said,
"But how many destroy two towns and take thousands of lives with them?" Madeline asked.
"Hey, that wasn't our fault. We were victims too. Remember, that's what we learned in therapy," Ted said.
"I wasn't sure what we got from those sessions, other than involuntarily committed for three months," Madeline said.
"Look on the bright side," Ted said. "For three months we had free room and board! I guess we also lost our apartment, but Aunt Lilith is coming through for us. I got a good feeling."
"Me too, actually," Madeline said.
On the other side of this letter is a small map to my place. I know it's been awhile. I hope you will take me up on my offer and let me help you. It is really the least I could do. I included some money for gas. See you soon? I know you must have so many questions.
Aunt Lilith
They left home two days after they received the letter. Packed what they had left into the back of a 2004 Hatchback and hit the road. They considered stopping in to see Rabbit and Linette, but what would they talk about? What could they talk about besides Tyler and Death, the dogmen and the burning cities? They opted to forgo a reunion. Instead, they headed straight to Texas, to a small blip on the map known as Desert.
For Ted, they headed back home.
* * *
They left the cities. The four-lane highways shrank to two, the shoulders disappeared, and the grass rose tall in the ditches on either side. Trees dotted empty fields crisscrossed with rusty barbwire, empty mobile homes, and small herds of cattle. Clouds of white dust blew over the highway from dirt and white rock roads. Civilization expressed itself only in small gas stations and boarded up restaurants. This area didn't encourage settlement. Keep moving, leave us be, it called with every no trespassing sign and driveway gate.
"I didn't realize you lived so rural," Madeline said. She turned the wheel while Ted consulted the map. The GPS gave up hours beforehand. They grew tired of hearing a cheerful voice chirping "rerouting" ad nauseam.
"Me either," Ted said. "Okay, I think we're on this for a while."
"You don't remember this?" Madeline asked.
"I was a toddler the last time I was here," Ted said. "I don't even know how much of it was real."
"I hope the little garden people are real. And the trees that hand you apples. Madeline Junior needs a little whimsy."
"What if it's a boy?" Ted asked.
"It is, and we're naming him Madeline Junior."
"We'll come back to that later," Ted said. He shook his head and returned to the creased and faded map. "You want me to drive?"
"No, you wouldn't swerve to miss that squirrel," Madeline said.
"Hey," Ted said. "It was him or us."
After forty-five minutes on unpaved roads and three stops to pee, they reached a clearing. The road stopped, the car's wheels crunched the gravel.
"Dead end," Madeline said, putting the car in park.
"This is it, at least that's what the directions say," Ted said. "Home sweet home."
"And the map?" Madeline asked.
"This ain't on the map," Ted said.
"Well, this is nice and foreboding," Madeline said. She scanned the woods around them, the dead blows falling from the leaves, exposing the skeletal limbs. Silence. She turned down the radio to take in the absolute absence of noise. Not even an insect or a bird call could be heard.
Ted took a breath and opened the door. The autumnal chill burst into the car.
"Wait!" Madeline called. They needed to leave, she thought. Something in her cried. It's now or never.
Ted stepped out. When he turned his head to the left, away from the road's abrupt end, he saw a house. Clear as day. What was woods and overgrown grass was now a manicured lawn, a small brick home with white trim. He stared at the entrance to the garage on the side of the house, on the left the front porch and entrance, with the pillars and two wooden porch swings. To the right, he could see the concrete back porch and the gardens. He slapped the top of the car repeatedly.
"Madeline, Madeline, you gotta see this."
"There's nothing to see," Madeline said. She opened the door and stood up. "What?"
Ted pointed. She turned and jumped back against the car.
"Oh, fuck me, where did that come from?"
"Right? Fuck me, indeed," Ted said.
He turned his head slightly, the trees reappeared and the house vanished.
"You can only see it if you look directly at it," Ted said.
"Or maybe only certain people are allowed to see it," Madeline said.
"We knew this was going to be weird," Ted said.
"We did. I just thought there would be a build up, maybe to acclimate us?" Madeline said.
"Nope, we're going to be thrown in the deep end again," Ted said.
A crow screamed. Ted and Madeline again jumped, turning to see a small dark bird ruffling its feathers on the top of the car. It cocked its head twice, looking at each of them before taking fight.
"Well, that was just cliché," Madeline said.
A muffled hiss. Madeline looked at Ted. He remembered the sliding glass door on the back porch. He could hear the small steps coming down the sidewalk. He saw her come around the corner. She waved.
Aunt Lilith.
"Well come on in, you two." She clasped her hands together and took a deep breath. She beamed. "My Ted, I have missed you."
Now or never, the small inner voice told Madeline.
Now or never.
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