Chapter 3: Bedtime

“Tracy, when I go on a long road trip, I always bring a box of food with me. The fast food at places like McDonald’s and Burger King just doesn’t agree with me. And I don’t want to take the time for sit down restaurants, except for breakfast.

“So with this box of food we are set for a few days here while we wait out the storm. And really, not much else to do, except talk.

“Please then, get comfortable. I want to hear all about your story. How did you end up on this snowy highway with darling little Cia?”

“Reina, I don’t know how to put this. You’ve been so generous. But I was driving for seven or eight hours BEFORE the snow started.

“I can barely keep my eyes open, and Cia is NOT going to make it through the night without waking and crying. Can I ask you, please, let me close my eyes for a few hours. I promise to tell you everything very soon.

“One more thing, since we’re all girls here, I sleep naked. Is that a problem?”

“No, not at all, strip away. I just wear panties, myself.”

The room was fairly large, with two queen-sized beds. Only one of the bedside lamps was on, so the room was only dimly lit.

Tracy simply closed her eyes and pulled her blouse over her head, then grabbed her waistbands and pulled down both her stretch pants and panties in one motion. Then she turned her back to Reina and pulled the covers further off the bed and climbed in.

Cia had been arranged in a bowl of bedding so she couldn’t roll to the side away from Tracy. Almost immediately, Tracy was sleeping beside the little girl.

Reina was more alert, and not feeling modest, so she had watched closely as her roommate had undressed.

“I think Tracy is African-American, at least partly. She has very curly black hair, and her skin was a light tan color, like coffee with extra milk, ‘café au lait.’ Little Cia is similar.”

“Her body is perfect, like a teenager. Beautiful. Come to think of it, she doesn’t really look like she carried or nursed a baby.

“Oh, no! What if Cia isn’t hers? I just assumed...

“Why is the telephone flashing? Must be a message?”

The phone was away from the beds on a little desk, so Reina picked up the handset and dialed the front desk, inquiring softly, “Yes?”

“We have some diapers for you, please come down to the lobby.”

Reina carefully and quietly left the room and walked to the front desk.

“Yesenia, one of our housekeepers, had an extra box new diapers in her car. Do you have the cash, or do I need to put it on your credit card?”

“Let me split it. Here’s $100 in cash, and put the rest on my card please. And tell her how much we appreciate her helping out.”

Back at the room, Reina was careful to keep the heavy door from slamming. Cia and Tracy remained asleep, the baby’s tiny face near to Tracy’s exposed breast. The scene reminded Reina of all of those “Madonna and Child” paintings from the European Renaissance.

“At least they are warm and dry, sleeping in the car is impossible in this weather. But I am going to put one of these big towels onto Tracy, so she doesn’t get chilled. The way they are sleeping, I can’t just pull the blankets over the baby’s head.

“Tomorrow, we can figure out the next steps. After she tells me how she got into this crazy situation with no money.”

Reina placed the box of “Huggies” where Tracy could see it. From her food box, she pulled out an energy bar and an apple. Flipping on the television, with the volume down, she searched for the local news.

In the weather segment, the station’s expert gestured at his virtual wall of maps. He spoke with that peculiar mixture of partly suppressed nerdish excitement, doom and gloom, and insincere cheerfulness, like always when meteorologists described a big storm on local TV news.

“Our exclusive Storm Ranger models show continued heavy precipitation across the state, particularly in the north. However, there will be breaks tomorrow until late afternoon when the next cold front sweeps in from California...”

She sighed and snapped off the TV. Undressing, she killed the lamp, and was asleep herself very quickly.