Anthem by Deborah Wiles

Author:Deborah Wiles
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2019-11-18T16:00:00+00:00

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There was not plenty to eat on this particular stretch of Route 66. The roads were long and desolate across the top of the Texas panhandle, nothing but broad vistas of flat, open range dotted with scrub grass and sagebrush. Mounds of tumbleweeds plastered themselves against the post-and-barbed-wire fences, with one occasionally topping the fence and rolling toward the road in the brisk wind that buffeted the bus.

“Home, home on the range,” said Molly. “Wow.”

“You’re not kidding,” said Norman. The radio picked up nothing but static. Molly began closing windows to keep down the dust.

The day lasted forever. Norman became bleary-eyed staring at the road. They were rolling through the miles, but he wished he had listened to Molly and taken the time to find a grocery store. They left the construction on new Interstate 40 too soon in search of a better road, but what they found was heat and dust and hunger.

“It’s so hot,” Molly complained. “And flat as a pancake. There’s nothing out here, not even trees! Maybe we should turn back.”

“I don’t want to waste time going in the opposite direction,” said Norman. “Is there a way back to 66?”

“We’ve already passed a cutoff to Amarillo,” said Molly. “We’re almost in New Mexico. There aren’t many roads out here.” She mopped at her neck with the cloth that Norman had used after “Wipe Out” in Little Rock and passed it up to him so he could do the same. “I wish we could install air-conditioning.”

They finished the box of Rick’s Donuts and bought peanut butter crackers at one gas stop, pork rinds and potato chips at another. Molly repeatedly filled paper cups with water from the melting ice in the chest. She rubbed an ice cube on her arms and neck and used the melting cold water to wash her face. She wet the rag and put it on Norman’s neck. They rode that way in silence for a long time.

The swirling dust gave them a spectacular sunset as they stopped for the night at a small mom-and-pop campground advertising itself as “The Gateway to New Mexico!” and “See the Grasslands!” with a pay phone for calling Janice and Pam, showers and toilets in crude bath houses, and a pole with one plug for electricity at their campsite, but no food in sight. No other campers, either.

They dug through Aunt Pam’s many boxes and came up with a pair of jeans in Norman’s size at the bottom of one box, along with a note from Pam: I know you don’t like dungarees, but these are Levi’s and they are tough, like you, and you might need them on the road. Happy Trails!

There was also a box of Pop-Tarts, a can of tuna, three apples, and some sweet potatoes, which they wrapped in foil and stuck in the coals of a small fire. Norman ran an extension cord from his record player on the picnic table and they played all the records that Estelle had

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