The Trip by Ed Jackson

Author:Ed Jackson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-64214-594-6
Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc
Published: 2018-05-08T00:00:00+00:00

Day 19

They didn’t sleep late, but Rupert had to write his e-mail to Mom. They went to Tacos Mi Ranchito for breakfast with Janie. The restaurant was sparsely occupied, but the service was as pleasant as it was last night. It was one more place they had to remember to come back to if they drove. Rupert said, “It’s just a one-day drive. Maybe we could drive back on a three-day holiday.”

They had been driving for a while when Rupert said, “I don’t remember there being this much sand here.”

“That’s probably because you were still thinking about Mary Hendrix, the reporter, and the deer.”

“I wonder what they did with the deer,” Rupert said. “I suppose we will never know. He was such a pretty animal.”

Joyce said, “There are lot of cars ahead. It appears they are all stopped.”

“Oh, that must be the California border. They stop everyone there to check to see if we are bringing any fruit into the state.”

“I didn’t know that. How long have they been doing that?”

“A long time, I guess. I think it started when someone brought some kind of fruit into California with some disease that spread and caused them to lose a big crop.”

“That makes sense. We don’t have anything but some cookies and bottled water. What would happen if we had something with us?”

“Just take it from us, I guess, and probably burn it. Look, he is opening a new lane and motioning us to come up there,” Rupert said as he moved the car over one lane.

“Good morning, folks. Where are you coming from?”

Rupert smiled and said, “We have been to Florida, and we are going home.”

“I hope you had a good time. Where is your home?”

Still smiling, Rupert said, “North San Diego, sir.”

“Do you have any fruit with you?”

“No, sir, just cookies.”

“Good, would you open your trunk please?”

Rupert knew where that button was by now. He pressed it, and it opened. The highway patrolman opened their cooler and closed it and the trunk lid. “Thank you, welcome back home.”

They both were happy to be welcomed home.

They drove through the mountains on Interstate 8 and down in the valley. It was great to be back on the desert again and not be concerned about rain. When Rupert came to Highway 128, he turned south to Spring Valley, then made his way to his house.

His mother had stocked the refrigerator, so Joyce made them a ham-and-cheese sandwich with potato chips and sweet pickles while Rupert dumped the water and ice from the ice chest and carried the suitcases upstairs to his room. One more trip with the various things they had bought along the way, and he sat down to eat.

Joyce wanted to watch the news, so Rupert called Greg to tell him they were back.

“What do you mean, ‘we are back’?” Greg asked.

“I forgot, you didn’t know. Joyce Wilson went with me.”

“Oh thanks, you invited someone you hardly know and didn’t even mention to me what you were doing.”

“I’m sorry, Greg. It all happened so fast, I just wasn’t thinking about anything else.

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