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“Hey, Pops? You don’t mind, right?”

The older man came out of his reverie. “Hm? Mind what?”

“Me tagging along…for the ride.” He had thought he should come along. Just to keep an eye on the old guy. He’d since learned he needn’t have worried.

“Oh! Of course not. You’re helping me drive, right? Besides, I have to pass along all my lady-killer moves to someone. Should keep it in the family, eh?” He grinned mischievously.

Jamey laughed and shook his head. Pops was right about that much. He’d charmed every waitress they’d had since they’d left. “I bow before the master.”

“Bow before the master. Wow. That reminds me of someone I knew a long time ago.”

“Who’s that?”

“Guy named Dwight. Had a real affinity for authority figures.”

“Someone you worked with?”

“Yeah. Actually, your grandmother knew him too. We used to wind him up all the time.”

And this was why Jamey was glad he’d come. He was going to hear 8,000 miles worth of Pop’s stories. Something else that needed to stay in the family.

And the guy knew how to tell a story.

For the next hour, Jamey heard about every prank Jim could remember playing on Dwight. A lot of the technology was outdated to the point of being foreign, but Jamey laughed at the thought of Pops getting the best of someone as annoying as this Dwight guy sounded.

“Funny. I only spent five years in that office, but I remember those people better than almost everyone I worked with afterward.”

“When was this?”

“Hm? Oh, I started there when I was twenty-two. Straight outta college. Seemed never-ending then.”

“But you met Gran there, right?” He already knew the answer, had heard the story so many times that he could mouth the words along with Pops. But he loved hearing it.

“Yup, sure did. She walked in with her curly hair and her white sneakers, and I was a goner. My partner in crime.” His eyes twinkled. “She was strangely impervious to the lady-killer moves.” He winked at Jamey. “I wore her down eventually. She said she just wanted me to stop with the moves already.”

Jamey laughed. Yup, word for word.

Jim lapsed into silence remembering. So long ago. So painful at the time. Such a good thing people don’t remember pain. The years since had all but erased it, until nothing was left but faint impressions on paper.

“You know why we’re taking this trip, right?”

“So you can show me how to go around the world to the left?”

“Hey, now, that turn signal was only on for part of Ohio.”

Most of.”

Jim narrowed his eyes at Jamey and pointed. “If you aren’t careful, I’ll teach all my moves to your brother.”

Jamey laughed and threw up his hands. “Okay, okay. Well, if the sound of an eternal left-hand turn hasn’t driven it from my memory –”

Jim rolled his eyes.

“– you and Gran took this trip when you were younger.”

“Yes. Smartass. She’d never seen the Pacific Ocean, so we made a road trip out of it. Saw damn near everything between Scranton and Seattle. That was the first-ever Halpert Express Road Extravaganza.”

“So you went via…”

“The Grand Canyon.” Jim grinned. They’d built a tradition of meandering family vacations.

“How long did it take?”

“Oh, ‘bout a month or so, I guess.” Jim flexed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Hey, d’you mind taking over for a bit?”

“Sure.”

When they pulled over at the rest stop, Jamey watched him climb out of the car, and walk a bit stiffly toward the restroom, greeting the people he passed. He was still tall, more graceful than most older men. Definitely more talkative. Jamey pulled his microrecorder from his pocket and tagged the day’s stories so far.

When Jim returned, he took advantage of his passenger status to close his eyes.

x x x x x

They had left Scranton at five in the morning.

Pam was so excited, he was pretty sure she hadn’t slept the night before. They filled up on coffee, and he grumbled about how even the sun was still asleep, but she kissed him and hinted at the possibility of new lingerie when they reached Seattle, so he growled and turned the key. He got her there in four days.

He would never forget the moment they’d topped the rise that gave her her first glimpse of the Pacific.

A small gasp. “Is that it?”

He pulled over because he couldn’t drive and watch her at the same time. He grinned like a fool. “That’s it.”

Her mouth was a little O as she took in the view. When she turned to him, she clapped excitedly and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Jim,” she whispered.

And he almost forgot about the lingerie. Almost.

They took two weeks to drive 101 down the coast, spending their days on the beaches, walking the sand, climbing the rocks, soaking up the spray. Pam filled three sketchbooks on that stretch alone.

At night, they built fires on the sand, watched the leading edges of the waves roll in, silver under the moon. When the fires died down, they made love to the sound of the surf. The first time, they got sand everywhere. They got better with practice.

They took a leisurely route home, carefully bypassing Vegas – casinos made them nervous.

At the Grand Canyon, they hiked the nearly deserted north rim, the only voices for miles. At night, the chill drove Pam even closer to him, and he thought maybe they should move to the desert.

At Four Corners, they took cheesy tourist photos that looked like they were playing Twister. Jim made sure to tickle her in all four states. She kissed him in each one.

From Albuquerque to Oklahoma City, they tried their best to follow Route 66. The unbelievable flatness of the Texas panhandle made Pam giggle uncontrollably. Jim purposely drove a little slower through that section.

The highway medians in Tennessee were filled with red poppies, and Jim remarked on how the color was unlike anything he’d ever seen. The next Christmas, she’d given him an oil-pencil sketch of himself that perfectly captured the color.

Their last stop was Gettysburg. The sound of grasshoppers chirping in the former battlefields made Jim shiver, and he held Pam close until his hands stopped trembling.

When they reached home, they collapsed into bed, exhausted. But they spent most of the night talking in the dark about oceans and deserts, mountains and incredible flatness.

The next day, they finished packing for their move.

x x x x x

When they pulled into the beach parking lot, Jim sat looking at the water. Jamey remained quiet, not wanting to intrude on his thoughts.

“Give me a minute, Jamey.” Jim undid his seatbelt, and opened his door.

“Sure, Pops.”

Jamey watched as he walked over to the tall grass at the edge of the coastal cliff. Pops held his hand up – testing the wind? – and pulled something white from his jacket pocket. He kissed it, held it up, and let it go.

It looked for all the world like an origami dove.

Jim put his hands in his pockets, and watched it sail off on the wind. A little while later, Jamey quietly stepped up to his side.

“Sorry, Pops. I know you miss her.”

Jim looked at his grandson with a smile.

“I waited twenty-seven years for her. But we had almost double that together. That’s more than any man can ask.”

He looked back out, and watched the dove make its way toward the ocean.


nomadshan is the author of 44 other stories.
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