Chapter 25

Pixy looked out the window seeing it was still daylight “It’s only another hour. Do they really enforce the limit that stringently?”

“They’ll take your license in the extreme cases, but at a minimum, it’s a heavy fine. It’s a risk I’m not willing to take. If you want to get there tonight, we can get your bike out and you can be there in an hour. The truck stays parked though.”

She thought about for a moment before nodding her head. “Would it be alright with you if I did? I haven’t seen my parents in a long while.”

“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I wasn’t alright with it.”

Half an hour later, she rode off for home in the power wagon leaving John with Tess and Marty in the parking lot. He looked at the pair and said “It’s just us now. We still have the Ford if you two want to get a room.”

They both shook their heads. Tess spoke up “This place has a Dennys restaurant. Do we eat there, or make something here?”

They were in a Flying J east of Lexington. John looked at the girls weighing the odds of redneck problems at this location. ‘A Native, a Filipina, and a Jamaican enter a Dennys at a truck stop”, had the beginnings of a bad joke written all over it. Thinking about it he said “I think we will just make something here.” He went to the back corner of the sleeper and lifted one of the bunks revealing a small burner and sink inset into a food prep table. After thinking further, he said “Fuck it, let’s go.”

Walking across the lot, John could feel eyes on them. Just before they got to the door, the other girls pulled up in the power wagon stopping in front of them. Pixy chirped “Need a ride?”

They piled in the vehicle and headed down the road. “Dad said this area was bad, and sent us to pick you up.”

John replied “It definitely didn’t have a good vibe. I’d feel a lot better if you girls got a room for the night.”

Seeing a sign for a local steak house, they pulled off the highway at the next exit, and stopped to eat.

Looking at the group of women, John noted they screamed “Not from round here” and hoped it wouldn’t be a problem. The meal went by peacefully, with a pleasant wait staff. While they were having desert, a skinny little waif of a white girl who couldn’t have been more than five walked up to Marty from the table opposite them. She was staring at Marty intently when she said “You look black, but you have pretty blue eyes. Where are you from?”

Marty looked over at the girl’s parents who said “Becky, get back over here, you don’t ask people something like that!”

Marty looked at the parents and said “It’s alright.” Looking back at the child Marty replied “I’m from Jamaica Becky, and technically I’m not black as in African American. My eyes come from my grandmother who was French. I’m more Native Caribbean Islander than African. Not everyone with dark skin is African.”

The girl looked puzzled and said “But my teacher said everyone that looked like you are African. Except for your eyes of course.”

Tess looked at the girl and asked “So according to your teacher, what am I?”

“She said people with eyes like yours and hers” while pointing at Mei “are Chinese.”

John about choked on his cake at the comment. The parents looked like they would welcome the table swallowing them.

Tess laughed “No darling, I’m from the Philippines, and Mei there is Korean.”

The girl looked upset now. “Well, I know she’s white and he’s an Indian,” she said while pointing at Pixy and John.

The parents got up and took Becky by the hand dragging her back to the table. John looked at the dad and said “It might be a good idea to talk to her teacher.”

The guy just nodded, dropped a tip on their table and hustled his family out the door.

Looking at John’s cloudy face Marty said “It’s alright, she’s an innocent.”

Pixy just laughed “A free geography lesson at one table. I bet she questions everything that ‘teacher’ tells her from now on.”

Looking at them, John said “I have to stay with the rig tonight. Let’s go get you girls a room.”

After paying the bill and dropping the tip, they drove over to the Holiday Inn where they got two rooms. Once inside the girls debated who would stay with John. Pixy ended the debate by saying “Tess and Marty will stay with him.”

John said “Call me at 0530, and I’ll head your way.”

Soon after, they were back at the semi.

Pixy looked at John and said “Expect some questions tomorrow. My parents know about all of us. Dad wasn’t too happy but Mom got him calmed. Just know whatever you decide, I’m with you.”

John nodded and gave her a kiss. “It’s better they know than trying to hide it from them. I just hope your old man doesn’t try to kill me.”

Pixy looked at him “That won’t happen, especially after I told him it was my idea. But we do need to find a way to explain what happened on the oil rig. That will go a long way towards keeping him calm.”

John looked at her “Why is that?”

“Because Mary complained about being left behind while he was in earshot. That’s how he learned about us to start with.”

John just shook his head “Pull her and the others aside and remind them that what happens with us, stays with us. Society accepts a lot of things these days, but our lifestyle isn’t one of them yet. If the wrong people got wind, it could hurt us bad.”

Pixy looked at him and asked “Why do people have so much of a problem with it?”

“I couldn’t quote you a study or a primary source, but in my opinion, it comes from religion and government control. Mostly the former. The strange thing is, it wasn’t that long ago that it was acceptable.”

He hugged her “Don’t let it bother you, I don’t personally give a fuck what people think about me, I just worry about it hurting one of you.”

Pixy looked at him and said “Still, Mary needs a good gang bang for inadvertently ratting us out. I think maybe hormones, as in being horny, played a role in her brain not working right.”