Chapter 109: Road Trip

Tuesday, June 15, 1982

After I’d gotten ready to go, I poked my head in Angie’s room through the open door. “On my way, Ang.”

She bounced over and gave me a quick kiss. “You have a great trip, big bro.”

“I’m sure we will.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Mom was next. She’d maneuvered herself to the den, where she just happened to be doing housework as I came through. She met me with a hug.

“Drive safe, Steve. It’s a long trip.”

“I know it is, Mom. I promise, I will. If I need to I’ll pull over or take breaks. I’ll be fine, I’m sure. I’ve driven across town at night, exhausted.”

Of course, there’s no way she could know that I was a veteran of many a 12-hour day on the road during my first life. Dallas was a walk in the park compared to St. Louis to Houston or Austin to Pensacola, as examples.

“Those night drives scare me, too! But I know you’ll be fine.”

“Thanks, Mom. I love you very much.”

“I love you, too.” She looked at me. I could tell she had something to say, and wasn’t going to.

“Mom, it’s okay. You can say whatever’s on your mind.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Angie, eavesdropping. Banned or not, I sympathized with her this time.

She sighed. “I know we approved this. I even ... I even think it was the right thing to do. I do. You’re so mature, you and Angie both. You should be making decisions like this. But, part of me is ... it’s so...”

“It’s nothing you can imagine condoning, and yet you find yourself having to, because you agreed to, guessing this might happen.”

She bit her lower lip a second, then nodded. “I can’t tell you how to live your life. You know there are things I think aren’t right. Yet, I think Jasmine’s wonderful. And ... I know you, and you’d sooner die than act like a jerk or a cad or ... or any of those guys in that song Angie sang so well.”

Angie blushed at that. I wasn’t sure if she hadn’t realized that Mom knew full well what she’d been singing about or if it was something else that got her.

“Of course I wouldn’t. I love her, and that has to start with respecting her.”

“Too many people don’t see it that way. And ... the old me would’ve called ... well, what I’m sure is going on ... disrespectful, outside of marriage. But ... I don’t know. I can’t expect you to feel that way. Goodness knows you wouldn’t be the first. I’m certain my brothers didn’t wait.”

She chuckled a bit, slightly red. I suspect I looked a bit shocked. Not that my uncles would do that — they were guys, of course they would. No, I was shocked Mom would acknowledge it.

And she picked up on that. “I’m not that oblivious. Of course they didn’t wait. Ma always warned me about boys. Why would they be any different? The world is different now, but not nearly as different as kids think it is. I talked to Ma, and it was the same when she grew up. It’s more acceptable now, but I’m not sure it happens more than it did.”

I nodded. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I figured I’d wait and see.

Mom sighed and hugged me again. “The thing is, I know you’ll treat Jasmine right. And I know she’d smack you silly if you disrespected her. So ... I have to accept that my son is grown up in a lot of ways, but not in others. Which makes me even happier that you, and Angie, aren’t being ... well. That we still matter to you.”

“You’ll always matter to me, Mom. You’re right. We won’t always agree. But we agree on the big things, I think. I’ll always value you, and Dad. You’ve been the best parents I could hope for, and that won’t change. You still love your mother, Dad still loves his mother.”

“Yes, but I went through a period of knowing everything and thinking Ma was a clueless relic of another time. And she knew it! You’ve never made me feel like that.”

“No reason to. Our times are different, but ... well. They’re not as different as we might think.”

“Thanks. I ... I’m glad we could talk about it. I want this to be a great trip for you.”

“I know it will be.”

“Good. Now, go. Don’t keep Jasmine waiting!”

Angie gave me a thumbs-up and vanished before Mom spotted her. Knowing Mom, I’d give at least 70/30 odds Mom knew Angie was there the whole time. But then, I was pretty sure her message was aimed at Angie, too.

I arrived at Jasmine’s at 10am, suitcase in the trunk, cassettes ready in case we needed road music. Which we would, even if we talked the whole way. Jasmine without music wasn’t Jasmine. Steve without music wasn’t really Steve, either.

I got out, walked to the house, and Jasmine leapt into my arms and kissed me rather thoroughly.

“Obviously you’re not excited about this,” I said, giving her ass a squeeze.

She giggled. “Nope. Totally bored.”

“Let me help you with your suitcase.”

“I’m a girl going out of town. You think I brought just one?”

“Given who you are ... yes.”

“And you’d be right!” She giggled and pointed to the door. I went and fetched her suitcase.

Camille called to me as I picked it up. “This is very special, Steve. I’m happy your parents feel this is acceptable. Jasmine has been so excited. I won’t bother to say ‘take care of her,’ because I know you will. Simply have a wonderful time.”

“Thank you, Camille. Of course I will, and I’ll do my best to make sure it’s a wonderful time.”

She’d crossed the living room and stepped close, hugging me just a bit tighter than usual and kissing me on both cheeks. “It’s too soon to speak of this, and Jasmine will be upset with me, but I will say this. I am hoping for the best for both of you, together. You remind me very much of Francis in who you are as a person. Your character.”

I’m sure I was blushing quite a bit. “Thank you. That means quite a lot, Camille.”

From outside floated in, “And I’ll forgive you, but yes, too soon! But you’re right, too, Mama!” She was laughing, so probably not too upset, after all.

“Go, have a good time. We will see you in a couple of days.” As the door was closing, out floated, “And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

I walked out, smiling, and tucked Jasmine’s bag in the trunk next to mine. Our two small bags looked almost silly in my enormous trunk.

I helped Jasmine in, and then we hit the road.

We talked about ... well, everything and nothing ... for the first hour. Things along the road. Interesting buildings. The airport. How big the city was getting.

Once we made it to Huntsville, we both had a laugh about the idea of Miss Cuthbert pointing each of us to Sam Houston State University. It wasn’t bad, not really, but we could do so much better, and would.

We discussed lunch and decided to stop at Madisonville, at the same diner we’d stopped at on the Debate trips, and settled back for another stretch of road.

About half an hour from Madisonville, Jasmine found a more serious subject. “You do realize that we’re going to turn heads?”

“You turn heads everywhere.”

I got a playful swat for that. “I mean, the ... you know. White guy, Asian girl.”

I shrugged. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t notice. Of course I do. Failing to recognize your heritage would be an insult. But you’re just plain beautiful, inside even more than outside, and if they don’t like that ... well, I don’t have to like them.”

That got me a very happy kiss. “Thanks. It’s funny. We have two white guy - Vietnamese girl couples in our little group and I think it honestly doesn’t matter at all in both of them except for, like, celebrating the differences. With Connie I know it almost did. She told me all about her parents and their issues. So dumb!”

“That’s how I felt, but I have less of a real understanding of it. White guy, in a country that’s mostly white people. No real ethnic heritage, even following my parents, who, of course, aren’t exactly my heritage in some ways, even if I adopt theirs. They’re English, Scottish, German, and likely a mess of other things.”

She nodded. “But, see, you can say that. A lot of people don’t see that. They just see ‘us’ and ‘them.’ It’s a lot better than I hear it was in the late 60s and early 70s. Mama and Papa had some real issues with people who were upset with ‘gooks’ killing ‘our boys.’ You know.”

I nodded. “That sounds awful, both because you’re as American as they are and especially because, at least in theory, that whole thing was about trying to help the Vietnamese people. Not that we did a good job of it at all.”

“We tried, though. The North Vietnamese were pretty evil, all things considered. It was maybe worth a try. If we hadn’t been so lousy at it, maybe things would’ve been different.”

“Maybe so.” I pondered what could’ve been, if any of the architects of that whole thing had gotten a chance to try again. But — and this was a sobering thought — what if what we got was the second try, and that was as good as it gets?

“Penny for your thoughts,” Jasmine said.

“I was thinking about what might’ve been, if our leaders had been better. And then I thought, maybe there is no ‘better.’ Maybe that’s the best that could’ve been done. Maybe there was never a chance.”

“Ugh. That is a bit depressing, though it might be true, too.”

I pulled off the highway and headed for the diner. It wasn’t too busy, and we got a table right away. Even with my now-heightened awareness, I didn’t spot anyone staring at Jasmine. Or me. Or us.

We switched back to lighter subjects and continued that on the drive north, switching to singing along with the radio for a bit.

About 3pm I pulled up to the Hyatt Regency at Reunion. It was a ridiculously flashy hotel for a high school junior, but I’d gotten a surprisingly good rate and I could certainly afford it. That said, we were in a normal room. I could’ve paid for some fancy penthouse suite, but that would’ve been truly over the top. Maybe for prom, something that was creeping up on us. Maybe.

Jasmine bounced a bit in her seat. “We’re staying here? I wasn’t sure what to expect. This is pretty darn fancy!”

“I can afford it, and I want to. It’s not every day we have our first trip alone together.”