Chapter 3

Oh boy! If you had told me 4 days ago that I would be doing this crazy adventure, I would have smiled and thought, “Sure. Keep dreaming.” I mean, I meet a total stranger at a truck stop, get in his truck without knowing what will happen next, and then all this cool fun stuff happens? Not only that, I got a new name (okay, 2 names actually) and a new look!

“Who’s that?”

As I came around the front of the truck. Pat’s sister and I’m guessing her daughters were looking at me. Curiosity and surprise on their faces. Chica came zipping back over to me and demanded I pick her up.

“That’s Pat, or Patricia. She sort of caught a ride with me today. Long story. We will fill you in on the details inside. Pat? This is my sister, Amanda, and her daughters. Melody and Nancy. I’m hungry, so come on.”

Over an assortment of food, Pat and I filled everyone in on my decision to have a Summer Adventure. We got looks of astonishment and confusion. Amanda told Pat she thought he was insane and taking a monumental risk. The girls also thought I was crazy, but in a good way. “Do you have any idea how lucky you are that you asked Uncle Pat for a ride? With so many crazy perverts out there you could have been kidnapped and killed! Or worse, kidnapped and not killed!” Melody was shaking her head.

Nancy was looking at me and finally stated, ; “She needs another name. Between Patrick and Patricia, it’s confusing. How about,” she paused, “Tricia. Close enough but we can tell which ‘Pat’ we mean.”

I nodded in agreement. I like the name.

Then Nancy reached over and asked Melody for her glasses. Handing them to me she said “Put these on.”

“Holy smokes!” Amanda stated. “I thought she looked sort of familiar. Girl, you look almost like family. The same facial features. Heck, I could even have given birth to you!” We agreed that I bore a strong resemblance to Melody, who was 19 and attending the local community college.

“Hey there, sis!” Nancy laughed. “The family got bigger but I’m still the baby!” It turns out she had just turned fifteen.

Pat stood after a bit and stretched. “I’m beat. Long day and a few unexpected things. Oh! Before I forget!” He reached over and grabbed the bag of stuff he had gotten at South of the Border. “One for each of you. I guessed on the sizes.” He pulled out t-shirts with Pedro and the South of the Border logo on the front. He handed one to Amanda and the girls and then he gave one to me.

I clutched it against me and smiled. “Thank you.” He just grinned.

“Okay,” Amanda stated. “Pat, you have the guest room, as usual. Tricia can sleep with one of the girls. You guys figure it out.”

“Pajama party!” Nancy screamed. “Us girls are gonna stay up all night and giggle and talk.” Melody rolled her eyes. “If you need one, I got some sleep shirts. You can borrow one, since we’re about the same size.”

The sounds of a loud diesel engine roaring to life, and then idling for several minutes, woke me up. I was alone in the bed that I had shared with Melody and Nancy the night before. And yes, we DID stay up most of the night giggling and talking and gossiping about stuff. I stretched and in a half doze, heard the truck go into gear and start to move away from the house. When it reached the street, I heard the air horns toot and then the truck rumbled away. Chica came zipping into the room and jumped onto the bed, smothering me with dog kisses. She was in a very happy mood.

“Come on, lazybones! Up and at ‘em! We got a lot to do before mom and Pat return.” Melody was grinning in the doorway.

“Return?”

“Yeah. Pat is driving to Virginia Beach to have the next load put into the trailer. I don’t know the details but he said it will take two days to load it all up before you guys go off to your next destination. Mom is following him so she can bring him back. They should take about four hours to get back from there. After we eat, there’s stuff we got to do and we’re dragging you along.”

A short time later, we were in Melody’s little Ford Escort. “So where are we going?” The sisters looked at each other and burst into what could be described as an ‘evil scientist maniacal laughter’. “Bwahahahaha...!!!”

We waited upstairs for Pat and Amanda to return, trying not to laugh too much. We saw the minivan pull in and watched them park and come in. “Girls! We’re back!”

As planned, Melody went down the stairs to the living room first. “Hi, mom!” Nancy followed. “Hi, mom!” Wondering if this would work, I came next. “Hi, mom!” The three of us stood there, waiting for the reaction. We were all dressed in jeans and our matching ‘Pedro’ shirts. While they were gone, we had visited a hair salon and we all got the same cut. Nancy and I had our hair dyed to match Melody’s as it was darker. Then a trip to a drugstore to buy some over the counter reading glasses that were similar styled frames.

“Holy crap, I’m seeing triple and I’m still sober!” Pat roared. He was laughing so hard his face was turning red.

“Wonderful. My daughter has a stunt double.”

“Oh, come on, mom! It’s funny!” I grinned.

Amanda looked at me, trying to appear stern. “I didn’t squirt you out, but I can put you over my knee if you push it, young lady!”

I swear, it looked like Pat was going to pass out because he was gasping for breath.

We spent a good part of the rest of the day doing chores and stuff around the house. Pat was on the big John Deere lawnmower, since the property was almost a full acre. The girls and I did some trimming on bushes and weeding. When she wasn’t raking stuff, Amanda would check on us and make sure we were drinking enough to stay hydrated. The last thing I wanted to was to topple over due to heat stroke and go to the emergency room. Too many awkward questions.

Chica supervised.

My new sisters told me about their life and all that was involved in having a widowed mother. There were times after their father had died that their mom seemed to be ready to just sit in a corner and give up. She had loved her husband deeply and his death had rocked her to her core. If it wasn’t for the girls, no idea what might have happened. At least having children gave her a reason to keep going, fighting to get through one day at a time, and slowly, things did get better. Melody had just finished her first year at TCC. Tidewater Community College. No idea on a major yet, so she was taking the core classes to build on when she transferred to a 4 year college. She wasn’t dating anyone, but told me that she had her eye on a guy from a class and when the next semester started, she was going to see if maybe things could be nudged along. Nancy had just finished 9th grade and she still thought that most boys were dumb.