Road Trip by Ermintrude
Monday, Day One—DC to Knoxville, TN
Amanda was ready and waiting at 6am when the RV drove up and stopped in front of her Arlington home. A man got out and walked to her door. She didn’t recognize him, but as he came out of the Vigilant, she figured he was OK. He was a black man, tall and broad-shouldered, with short hair and a scruffy unshaven look.
She opened the door before he could ring the bell. She had said her goodbyes the night before and she didn’t want to wake her sleeping family.
“Good morning!” She greeted the man.
“Ma’am.” He saluted her. “I am Captain Sikes—I drove the vehicle over here seeing as your partner is out of commission for a few days.”
“Oh, thank you—um—Lee really isn’t my partner—well, I’m not his partner—I just help out from time to time…” Her ramble ran down. “I’ll just get my bags and we’ll get going.”
“Let me, ma’am.” Captain Sikes hefted her two bags and backpack. Amanda grabbed the picnic hamper and cookie tins along with her purse. She closed and locked the door and went to the RV. She then saw the three cars parked behind the RV.
“Oh here, let me give these to you guys.” She dropped her things at the door of the RV and made her way to each car, handing the occupants a tin of cookies for each car.
“These are for you—I know they won’t last a week, but I thought they might help make the drive easier with a nice treat.”
“Thank you ma’am.” Each driver answered politely, though they were clearly confused.
Lee poked his head out the door of the RV. “Amanda, come on! The quicker we start, the sooner we’ll get there.”
She made her way back to the RV. “Good morning, Lee.”
Captain Sikes came up behind Amanda. “Ma’am, I’m here to help familiarize you with the vehicle. Then I’ll be in one of the cars escorting you.”
“Thank you, Captain. I would appreciate that.” Captain Sikes assisted her into the RV. He took the picnic basket and stowed it in the back with her luggage. She saw there were two other bags back there. Lee’s luggage she presumed.
Lee was sitting in the passenger seat. A cane was leaning against the bucket seat.
“How is your leg doing, Lee?” She wanted to be polite and nice to him. It must be difficult for him not to be able to drive after being shot the day before.
“I’ll live, Amanda. Let’s get this show on the road.” Lee was impatient.
“Sure—Captain Sikes will just show me what I need to know here. She gave Lee and encouraging smile.
“OK, ma’am. You drove it yesterday, but I’ll just go over it again to be sure you’ll be comfortable.”
He sat Amanda in the driver’s seat and pointed out all the usual driving controls. “There’s no cruise control. Sorry, ma’am.”
“That’s OK, I’ll manage.” She replied with a smile.
There was a two-way radio that would link them with the other cars so they could convoy, but not all be within sight of each other. It would be less conspicuous that way.
Captain Sikes spoke to both Lee and Amanda. “One car will be in close proximity at all times. We’ll trade off. If you want to stop, just radio us and we’ll stop also.”
“We won’t be stopping much,” Lee interjected.
“Oh Lee, we’ll need to stop occasionally—rest stops—and then we’ll need lunch and this RV may have extra big gas tanks, but the cars will need gas before we stop for the night. We’ll be stopping, I’m sure.”
“Yes ma’am. We plan to stop halfway for lunch and maybe gas then also. But if you need to stop before then, just radio. We’ll follow your lead all the way.”
“Thank you, Captain.” Amanda smiled at him.
“You familiarize yourself with the vehicle. I’ll wait until you feel comfortable, ma’am.”
Amanda adjusted the seat and mirrors and went over the various buttons and controls again. Lee fidgeted nervously. He wanted to get going.
After a few minutes, she felt she was comfortable enough to get going. “OK Captain, I’m ready. Let’s get this show on the road!”
“Yes ma’am. Sir.” Captain Sikes saluted them both—Lee returned the salute—then looked a bit chagrined.
“Yeah Captain, thanks.” He covered his nervousness.
The Captain left the RV and Lee locked the door after him. He returned to his seat as Amanda started the RV. “OK Lee, Arizona, here we come!”
“A—man—da! This isn’t a pleasure trip—it’s strictly business.”
“I know its business, but nothing says we can’t make the most of it. Think of all the beautiful scenery we’ll see along the way!”
“Oh yeah, Oklahoma and Texas are really scenic—all that flat stretching from horizon to horizon.” Lee replied sarcastically.
“There will be some wonderful scenery before and after that. So what’s our route?”
Lee consulted the itinerary. “Get to 66 west—then we hit 81 south and that turns into 40 west. We drive that for 500 miles and are scheduled to stop in Knoxville for the night.”
“OK—Here we go!”
They were quiet as Amanda drove. The first half-hour she was busy concentrating on their route out of town and getting used to the feel of the RV on the road. It handled well, but it was still a large vehicle and she was more careful driving than usual. Once she felt more comfortable driving, she tried to strike up a conversation with Lee.
“Captain Sikes seems nice. Where is he from?”
“What? I have no idea.” Lee was startled out of some deep thoughts—mostly of the good times with his girlfriends he would be missing while on this little junket. ‘Oh well,’ he thought. ‘Being shot I’m pretty well laid up for the week anyhow, so it’s probably best I’m on an assignment. Sure beats sitting in some hospital room.’
Amanda interrupted his thoughts again; “I thought you spies checked people out before you worked with them. Are you telling me you know nothing about Captain Sikes and the other men in those three cars who are supposedly guarding the Vigilant?” She was incredulous.
“Oh that. They’re Army Special Forces—this is the Army’s vehicle and they’re paying for the trip so their guys are guarding us. Billy said they checked out—so I’m OK with it.”
“You saluted back when Captain Sikes saluted you.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Were you in the Army, Lee?”
“No, Marines.”
“Really. Did you serve in Vietnam?”
He was quiet. Amanda glanced at him and saw he was staring out the window, the muscle in his jaw twitching. He was staring at something far away, and she thought what he was seeing was definitely not on the road ahead.
Finally he answered her. “Yes.” Then he resumed his brooding silence.
“What did you do over there?” she asked quietly.
“Amanda, I don’t like to talk about ‘Nam, OK? I was in country—I did my tour—I got into a few tight places but I had help from friendly locals and I got out OK in one piece. A lot of guys didn’t. End of story.” He resumed his stare out the window.
“Oh, I’m sorry if I called up bad memories. I was just trying to make conversation.” She was contrite.
“Well don’t. Just drive. It will be easier on both of us.” He resumed his brooding silence.
Amanda refused to be intimidated by Lee’s bad mood. ‘I’m not going to let him get me down. They wanted me on this trip and I’m gonna make the most of it. With or without Scarecrow’s help.’
“Boy, you’re sure grouchy this morning. Could you please get me some coffee? There’s a thermos in the picnic basket and two cups. I made lots so you can have some too if you like.”
Lee sighed. He was grouchy—his leg hurt and he was frustrated that he couldn’t drive. He maneuvered back to the picnic basket and found the thermos, along with little packets of sugar and cream. He fixed two cups of coffee.
He handed her a cup, “Here you are, black with sugar.”
“Thanks—you remembered.”
“Well we were “married” a few weeks back.”
“Yeah, we were.” She smiled at him and he smiled back. Then he shifted in his seat. ‘He must be hurting,’ she thought. ‘I’ll just let him be for a while and watch the scenery. Maybe he’ll relax and later we can talk.’
As they drove west, the terrain became more hilly until they were on the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains. Being late October, the fall colors were near peak—though the color diminished the farther south they drove.
After two and a half hours, Amanda spoke: “Lee, can you get Captain Sikes on the radio? I need to make a rest stop, and there’s one in 20 miles.”
“Hmm? Sure.” Lee used the radio and 20 miles ahead Amanda drove the RV into the rest stop and parked. Two of the escort cars were already there. The other car was following the RV. “You go first, Amanda, I’ll wait until you get back. We can’t leave the RV unattended.”
“OK.” Amanda got out and after her stop saw the soldiers were gathered around the Vigilant. Lee saw her returning, and he took off with his cane to make his own stop.
Amanda greeted the group of soldiers. “Hello, I’m Amanda King. I just thought it would be nice to introduce ourselves.”
Captain Sikes spoke. “Ma’am, these are Taylor, Valentiner, Wyatt, Unwin and Young.” He indicated each man as he spoke his name. Amanda shook the hand of each man as he was introduced.
The men were all well-built, wearing civilian clothes, but they had a scruffy unkempt look about them. They all wore jeans and boots, and had on loose shirts over t-shirts. One man—Young—shifted and Amanda saw the butt of a gun in a shoulder harness. They were wary, always watching as if they expected to be attacked at any moment. She pointed out Lee as he made his way back to the RV with the help of his cane. “That’s Lee Stetson, I work with him. I just want to say thank you for accompanying us on this trip. Maybe we can get to know each other better at lunch or dinner this evening.” She smiled brightly at the men as she spoke.
Captain Sikes replied. “Ma’am, we won’t be all together at any one time. At least one man will be with the vehicle at all times. We’ll take shifts. But we all will see you eventually at meals.”
Taylor stepped forward—he was tall and lanky with dark straight hair. Amanda thought he looked Native-American. He spoke softly. “Thank you for the cookies, ma’am. They’re very good. Just like my grandma makes.”
“You’re welcome—um—Mr. Taylor.”
“Just Taylor, ma’am.” He replied.
The other men also mumbled thanks for the cookies.
Lee reached the group, nodded at them, and climbed into the RV. “A—man—da! Let’s get going!”
“Oh, I have to go.” She replied. “It was nice meeting you all, and I look forward to talking to you at lunch and dinner tonight.”
“Ma’am.” Captain Sikes helped Amanda into the RV.
“Thank you, Captain.”
She climbed into the drivers’ seat and turned to Lee, “They seem like nice men—but they’re awfully quiet.”
“Amanda, they’re special forces—the tough guys—you know, Green Berets.”
“Oh. I guess I understand why they’re not in uniform, but they all look so—unkempt. I thought the Green Berets were all spit and polish.”
“That’s when they’re on parade. In the field they’re trained to blend in and not look like soldiers.”
Amanda chuckled, “They don’t look like soldiers, but they sure don’t blend in, either. They look like a bunch of bodyguards.”
“That’s because they are bodyguards. They’re guarding the RV and us.”
“Really, they’re guarding us?” Amanda was surprised at this revelation.
“Yes. Their assignment is to see that you and I and the Vigilant all get to Yuma safely. Once we enter the proving grounds, their mission is finished.”
“Oh.” Amanda thought for a few minutes. “Lee, I thought the Green Berets were soldiers who fight overseas. Why are they accompanying us?”
“One of their many duties is also internal security—guarding important people or equipment. And for the week, that’s us in the Vigilant.”
“Wow, I’m an important person for internal security.”
“Don’t make more of it than it is. You’re just the driver of an RV.”
“But it’s not just any RV, it’s the Vigilant, an important piece of military hardware.” She was quiet for a few more moments thinking. “I got us some sodas at the rest stop. Can you bring me one?”
“Sure.” Lee got the sodas, grateful Amanda had changed the subject.
They drove another two hours and then the radio crackled to life.
“Sikes to Vigilant, are you there?”
“Yeah, Sikes, we’re here.” Lee answered. “What’ve you got?”
“In 10 miles take exit 432—there’s a diner there. We’ve planned a chow break. You copy?”
“Got it, we’ll stop. See you then.”
They pulled up to a small-town cafe a couple miles off the interstate—The Buck was the name over the door.
As Lee and Amanda exited the Vigilant, Valentiner entered it. She told Lee to go ahead, she’d be in in a minute.
Amanda came back into the RV. Valentiner was seated in the rear seat. He was not tall, but dark and handsome in an Italian sort of way. He spoke with a New York accent.
“Valentiner—is it OK to call you that?”
“Yes ma’am.” He replied.
“I know you can’t come in and eat, and anyhow I packed a picnic lunch for Lee and myself—but we’ll be eating in the restaurant so please—help yourself to whatever you want. There are sandwiches—roast beef and chicken salad—chips, celery and carrot sticks, fruit and these little pudding cups for dessert. It won’t keep forever and I’d feel better knowing you had a decent meal while the rest of us were in the restaurant.”
He was reluctant. “I’ll be OK, ma’am, really.”
“Please, have lunch here. I won’t be able to eat if I know you’re going without. The roast beef is really good—nice and rare with a hint of garlic and a little mayo…” She held up the sandwich and unwrapped the plastic wrap waving it under the soldier’s nose.
“That sure smells like good deli—just like back home. OK ma’am, you’ve sold me.” He smiled and took the sandwich. “Thank you.” He took a big bite.
“You’re welcome.” She retrieved the thermos, planning on getting it refilled with coffee from the restaurant.
Amanda entered the restaurant—it was homey and definitely not any chain-type fast food place. There was a large room with tables of various sizes all around—each with a lazy susan in the middle. Most of the tables were round. She looked around and spied Lee and the rest of the men around a large table in the corner near the kitchen. Unwin was the recipient of a bear hug from an older woman, and several more staff were crowded around them. Unwin was skinny, with pale hair and eyes and many freckles. He had a big Adam’s apple and looked gangly, though he moved like the other soldiers, in a controlled and wary manner.
The woman hugging him was an older, heavier version of Unwin, with her iron gray hair in a bun. “Oh boy—it’s so good to see you. Yore mama would be so proud of you. Servin’ yore country!”
“Thanks, Aint Glory—I shore wish she was here to see me.”
“Yore mama watches you from heaven for sure, boy. Never doubt that for a minute.” She let him go. “So introduce us all to yore friends here.”
“Sure—this here’s Captain Sikes, my CO, and Taylor, Wyatt and Young. This here’s Mr. Stetson and Mrs. King.”
“Aint” Glory smiled and shook the hand of each person as they were introduced.
“Mrs. King baked cookies for all of us. She’s a real nice lady, Aint Glory.” Unwin added shyly as his aunt embraced Amanda.
“Well, any friends of my nephew are friends of mine. Now sit, and we’ll bring out lunch. I hope yore all powerful hungry because we have some mighty good food here.” She addressed the staff, “Get goin’ girls—bring out the platters and bowls. These folks need lunch!”
The two waitresses went into the kitchen and emerged with platters and bowls of food. They placed them on the lazy susan in the center of their table.
“Eat up! And girls—make sure those bowls stay filled. These men—and lady—need feedin’ up some.”
There was fried chicken, ham with red-eye gravy, sausages and gravy, biscuits, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, hush puppies, three different vegetables—greens in pot liquor, beets and green and yellow beans with bacon—and a large bowl of salad. Everyone looked a bit lost until Unwin started serving himself. “Just dig in and fill your plates. They’ll keep it comin’ until we’re all full. Then comes dessert.” Unwin piled his plate, turning the lazy susan to serve himself from most of the plates and bowls.
The rest of the group dug in and soon everyone had gotten down to the business of lunch. The waitresses came by and got refreshments for all—coffee, lemonade, milk or sodas.
Wyatt spoke, “It’s a shame Valentiner has to stay in the vehicle. He can chow down with the best of them.”
Amanda piped up, “Oh he’s OK—he’s eating the picnic lunch I packed. I couldn’t let him go hungry.”
Unwin looked up at her, “That’s powerful nice, ma’am.”
Amanda shrugged, “It’s no big deal, I made it and it won’t keep forever. You guys need your ‘chow’ too.”
Captain Sikes replied, “It’s appreciated, ma’am—but don’t worry—we’d have brought him back something. We Green Berets take care of our own.”
Once they had finished their meal the main course was cleared and an amazing array of desserts appeared. Several kinds of pie; pecan, peach, blueberry and pumpkin; rice pudding, apple cobbler and lemon bars. Aint Glory insisted on serving each of them personally and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Amanda produced her thermos and it was promptly filled with freshly brewed coffee.
When they all had finished, Captain Sikes produced a credit card and argued with Aint Glory over the bill.
“Ma’am we have to pay. This is an Army expense card and the Army must reimburse you.”
“Now, do you think I’d make my nephew’s friends pay for their meals?”
“Ma’am, please. Just charge us like normal customers. If we don’t have the proper vouchers, there will be difficulties in the end.”
Unwin spoke up, “Aint Glory, just do as the Cap’n says. He’s in command here.”
“Well I ain’t in the Army and he don’t command me.” She turned to Sikes. “You say you’ll get in trouble lessen I charge you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You think the gub’mint would be grateful lettin’ someone else pay for feedin’ these strappin’ men. And lady.” She nodded to Amanda.
In the end the bill was settled, goodbyes were said and they all headed back to their vehicles.
Sikes announced to the group, “We’ll gas up before hitting the road.”
All four vehicles gassed up. Valentiner thanked Amanda for the fine lunch. The soldiers were more friendly and seemed quite solicitous of Amanda. Lee had been mostly silent through lunch and afterward.
Once back on the road, Lee fixed more coffee for Amanda and himself. Amanda was feeling good and didn’t notice his mood.
“Gee Lee, that was awfully nice—Unwin was able to see his family.”
“Amanda, I can’t believe Sikes allowed that! It was a major breach of security.” Lee was angry.
“Oh. I didn’t think of that.” She was chagrined.
“And what was that with the picnic lunch anyway?”
“Well, I didn’t know if any stops were planned for lunch—so I packed us a picnic lunch. Since Valentiner had to stay in the RV while the rest of us ate, I just thought it would be good to let him have it. Like I said—it won’t keep forever and he needed something…”
“A—man—da! You’re here to drive the Vigilant—not feed the world!”
“Lee, there’s cookies for us, too. You just haven’t wanted anything. And after that lunch…”
“Tell me about it. It’s a wonder if we don’t all die of heart attacks.”
“The soldiers seemed to enjoy it.”
“When you’re in the service you learn to eat what’s put in front of you because sometimes you don’t know when you’ll get chow again.”
“Did you learn that in the Marines?”
Lee seemed taken aback by her question. He had been thinking of his childhood with the Colonel. “Uh—yeah.” He fell silent.
“So Lee, what do you want to talk about?” she asked brightly.
“Amanda—do we have to talk?” Lee was annoyed.
“No, we don’t. But it does make the drive easier if you talk. We still have several hours before we reach Knoxville. So, what do you want to talk about?” she asked again in her same cheerful tone.
Lee sighed. ‘She’s determined to chat. Better get it over with.’ He cast about for a safe, neutral topic. “Seen any good movies lately?
“The boys saw a dinosaur movie with their friends on Saturday while we were out with the Survivors. They seem to like those weird dinosaur movies! Mother and I had planned to see “The Big Chill”—but I was working with you last weekend.”
“Yeah, I was hoping to see that new one—“The Right Stuff”—the astronaut movie.
“The boys have seen “Return of the Jedi” four times so far. I went the first two times, but that’s more than enough for me.”
“Awww, Amanda! Star Wars is fun!”
“Yes its fun, but I guess I don’t need to see it more than twice.”
“I saw “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez” a few weeks back.”
“I hadn’t heard about that one, what’s it about?”
“It’s a western about a horseman who is pursued by the law, and evades capture for a while. Then he is captured but he doesn’t speak English and a local woman is enlisted to translate during his trial.”
“Oh. You like westerns, do you?”
“Oh yeah. The Duke is my hero!” Lee was sounding enthusiastic.
“What’s your favorite movie of his?”
“That’s a tough one—I do like his last one—“The Shootist”.”
“That was really good—but very violent.”
“It was a violent time. I like Ford’s cavalry trilogy—“Fort Apache”, “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon”, and “Rio Grande.” And “The Fighting Seabees.” It’s not really historically accurate—but it’s good nonetheless.”
“I like “The Quiet Man”. Maureen O’Hara is so good in that one. Oh, and I think he should have gotten the Oscar for “Sons of Katie Elder” and not “True Grit”.”
“Yeah—most people agree on that one. How do you know so much about movies, Amanda?”
“When you have teething children who won’t sleep unless you hold them, you watch a lot of movies on late-night TV.”
“Didn’t your mother help out?”
Amanda paused. “Mother didn’t live with us then,” she answered quietly.
“What about your ex? He help with the kids?”
Amanda was silent. Then she spoke so softly Lee almost didn’t hear her. “He traveled a lot.”
Even Lee got that hint, and steered clear from pursuing the subject further.
“So,” he said brightly in an effort to change the subject, “what’s your favorite movie, Amanda?”
“I really love “The Sound of Music”.”
“You like musicals?”
“I like musicals, comedies, dramas—just a good movie. But I don’t like horror movies or pictures that are too violent. I saw “A Clockwork Orange” in college—I thought it would be OK because “2001” was so good and Kubrick did both of them—but it was incredibly violent.”
“Wasn’t that released as an “X”?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah—but a bunch of us had never seen an X-rated movie and so we sort of dared each other… It was a long time before I saw another X-rated movie. I saw the recut R-version of “Midnight Cowboy” in college and that was adult enough for me.” She blushed at the memory.
Lee chuckled, “You are a wild woman, Amanda King.”
They spent the rest of the afternoon talking about movies they’d seen, both good and bad.
As they drove into Knoxville, Lee realized his leg felt quite a bit better—and he had forgotten his afternoon pain pill. ‘Maybe this won’t be such a bad trip after all. It’s been fun talking about all those old movies. I saw most of them at the bases with the airmen—but that was all we had on weekends at some of those bases overseas. Gee, Amanda is fun to talk to. At least about movies.’ He felt more at ease with her company as they arrived at the motel in Knoxville.
Captain Sikes dealt with the motel staff and they ended up with four adjacent rooms in the back on the ground floor of a Motel 6 along the interstate. They parked the RV in the back of the lot, and the cars by their rooms.
Once they had unloaded their luggage and Sikes had made duty and room assignments to the soldiers—the seven of them—minus Unwin who was staying in the Vigilant—walked across the street to a Denny’s for dinner.
Over their meal, the soldiers discussed their plans for the evening.
“The motel has HBO—we could watch a movie.” Young said.
“Or we could play poker. How about it ma’am, sir,” Valentiner addressed Lee and Amanda, “do you play poker?”
“Not really. You guys go ahead—I brought a couple books to read. I’ll be fine.” Amanda replied.
“Yeah,” Lee said, “I’ll probably just read, too. Rest my leg a bit.”
“Suit yourselves, but poker’s better with more people.” Valentiner tried again.
Amanda smiled at the group. “Maybe another night. I’m a bit tired from all the driving.”
The soldiers went to the far room to play poker. Lee and Amanda walked to their rooms. They paused outside Amanda’s room.
“Amanda, I had fun talking about all those old movies,” Lee confessed.
She smiled at him. “Yeah, me too.”
“We could check out the TV—see if something was on…”
She was touched by his offer. But her back and shoulders were aching from driving the RV all day. “That’s really sweet, Lee. But I’m pretty tired from driving all day… I just want to take a long hot shower and climb into bed—maybe read a bit—but I think I’ll fall asleep pretty quickly. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night—well, I got to bed really late and I was up really early…”
Lee shook his head. ‘She can say so much so quickly—it’s some weird natural talent she has.’ He interrupted her ramble. “That’s OK. Maybe another night?” He took her hand.
“She was surprised, but tried not to react too strongly. “Yeah—another night. That would be nice…”
“Goodnight Amanda. Sleep well.”
“Thanks, you too. See you in the morning.”
He squeezed her hand and then made sure she was safely in her room with the door securely locked, before he went into his room for the night.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.