Chapter 10

Bored with the landscape, Georgia slumped in her seat and rested a foot on the dashboard. Suppressing a yawn, she said, "I'd like to see a forest. I'm tired of desert."

"You don't like the mountains?" Oscar asked pointing to the peaks that surrounded them.

"We've been driving over mountains or between mountains for a month now. You'd think there would have been a forest at some point, but no," Georgia said. They had been driving from one small out of the way place to another for so long that it was all beginning to blur in her mind. Occasionally they would visit a larger town, but their stays would be short.

"It could be worse," Oscar said knowing that a crisis was brewing on the horizon.

"How?"

"It could be snowing."

Georgia shuddered at the thought of being stuck out there in the middle of nowhere in a snowstorm. She said, "Don't even think it."

Oscar laughed in the hope to lighten the mood and said, "We might have some pull with the Gods and Goddesses. Are you sure that you wouldn't like to go skiing?"

"No thank you," Georgia said.

Knowing that he hadn't been successful in lifting her mood, Oscar said, "I'm sorry."

She looked out the window at the vast empty panorama surrounding them. It needed to be filled with something. Swallowing heavily, she admitted that she was feeling as empty as the landscape. In a soft voice, she said, "I miss Debbie."

"So do I," Oscar said.

"I may be bored, but she must be miserable," Georgia said. She could picture Debbie walking to and from work alone; returning to an empty apartment every evening only to spend the night crying.

"We'll be in Kazakhstan soon. Maybe she can fly there and join us for a while," Oscar said knowing that the offer would be rejected.

"Oh that's a perfect idea. We'll invite her to come to Kazakhstan. She'll get to see boring steppes, decaying factories, and eat horse sausages," Georgia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. With tears starting to form in her eyes, she said, "Debbie is too soft for this kind of life. She'd be miserable with us."

"She's stronger than you think," Oscar said.

Georgia broke down and cried. Oscar stopped the truck and gathered her in his arms. Rubbing her back, he said, "Now, now. Things will be okay."

"I miss her so much," Georgia sobbed while hating the fact that she was crying on his shoulder. She had always thought of herself as a strong woman not given to tears.

"When we get to Astana I want you to get on a plane and fly to Israel. Let her know how much we love her. Let her know how much I miss her," Oscar said.

Georgia navigated through the airport procedures for leaving the country without any problems. Oscar watched as passport control looked at her passport and discussed the appropriate visas and entry dates on it, despite the fact that there were no such visas. One man had even commented on how unusual it was for an American to enter the country through some specific border crossing.

Airport security even allowed Oscar to accompany Georgia all of the way to the gate. Once they reached the gate, they sat in chairs that had never been in style waiting for the announcement to board. Oscar said, "We'll meet in Perm, Russia on the second Saturday of December."

"You're sure that I'll be able to get into Israel?" Georgia asked feeling a little uncertain about crossing borders without him being with her. So far they had never been stopped when going from one country to another. This trip would have her showing up in Israel without a visa from a country in which she didn't have a visa. She could imagine spending the rest of her life in an Israeli prison.

"The Powers That Be don't respect borders," Oscar said. He rested his left ankle on his right knee and shook his foot with nervous energy.

"I'm not a Goddess," Georgia said nervously.

"That's because you don't see yourself the way that I see you," Oscar said with a smile.

"You know what I mean," Georgia said rolling her eyes. Oscar never missed a chance to compliment her. Normally she appreciated it, but at the moment she was worried and his comments were not helping.

Reaching over to touch her white hair, he said, "They're watching over you."

"They are watching over you," Georgia said feeling as if she was the one abandoning him. The little kernel of guilt threatened to explode.

With a gentle touch, Oscar ran a hand over her face. She leaned into his palm. In a firm voice, he said, "They are watching over you. One of them gave you the gift of languages and left a mark on you for all to see. You don't think the white hair was just to make you look sexier, do you?"

Georgia laughed and said, "Sexier? No, I don't think my hair was turned white so that I would look sexier."

It was good to see her laughing again. The past few days she had been pensive and anxious. It hurt to watch her, but Oscar knew that she had to make this trip. The loud speaker announced that her flight was ready to board. Together they walked over to the gate. Once there, Oscar took her into his arms and kissed her. Breaking the kiss, he said, "You'll be okay."

"Thank you, Oscar," Georgia said.

It was hard for Oscar to watch Georgia get on board the Russian plane for the trip. Georgia would fly into Greece and then on into Israel. She would meet Debbie at the airport and spend the next three weeks with her.

The snow was as deep as Oscar had ever seen and was continuing to come down heavily. The flakes were the size of quarters and so thick that visibility was only a few feet beyond the front of the truck. Using the gift of foresight, Oscar continued to drive without concern. He only had two kilometers to go before he reached his destination for the night. It was only a little more than a mile, but it would take ten minutes to reach it.

The guard in the small shack was freezing cold and wondered why he was there. No one in their right mind would be out on an evening like this one. The snow was so thick that he could barely see the barrier that blocked access to the base. His situation wasn't all that bad; he got off in an hour and wouldn't have to stand guard through the night. That was when it would really get cold.

The sudden appearance of lights headed towards the shack startled the guard. His first thought was that it was a UFO because only a space alien would be out in a storm like this one. When it resolved itself as a truck and stopped two feet from the barrier, he wondered what he was supposed to do. Adjusting his coat, he opened the door and started to approach the truck. He stopped and went back for his gun.

Oscar rolled down the window and waited for the guard to approach. When the guard was a meter from the door, Oscar said, "Hello. I hope you are enjoying this lovely Russian weather as much as I am."

The unexpected comment derailed the guard's thoughts. Usually people showed up at the gate ready to argue why they should be admitted. He figured it was just his luck to have a crazy man show up when he was on guard duty. Recovering slightly, he asked, "Who are you and why are you here?"

"I'm Oscar Meyers and I'm here to say hello to my friend, the base commander."

"You know the base commander?" the soldier asked getting a bad feeling about this.

"No," Oscar answered with a smile.

"Oh," the guard said. He stared at Oscar for a full thirty seconds trying to decide what to do. If it hadn't been so cold, he would have stared a full minute. He kept thinking that this had to be a joke. Someone on the base had driven the truck off the base through a different gate and returned to this one just to make him feel stupid. He asked, "What did you say your name was?"

"Oscar Meyers."

"Let me call my superiors," the guard said deciding that was the best action he could perform. No one was going to believe him when he reported that someone had driven up to the gate in the middle of the worst snowstorm in living memory.

"Okay," Oscar said. He rolled up the window to wait for the chain of command to engage this little surprise.

Thirty minutes later, a dozen privates with rifles arrived at the truck marching behind an officer. The officer stared at the truck for a moment and then approached the door. Oscar rolled down the window and said, "Hello. I hope I didn't interrupt your evening meal."

"Who are you and why are you here?" the officer asked.

"I'm Oscar Meyers and I'm here to see my friend, the base commander," Oscar answered with a smile. He seemed to recall having said exactly the same thing a half hour earlier.

"Do you know the base commander?" the officer asked wondering what he was doing out in the middle of a storm like this. He decided that he wasn't going to be out there much longer.

"No," Oscar answered wondering how much longer he was going to have to sit in the truck. He would have arrested himself long before now.

The officer turned to the soldiers with him and said, "Throw him in the brig and move this damned truck out of the way."

"You have real leadership potential," Oscar said with approval.

The officer glared at Oscar and turned to the guard who had detained him. In a low growl, he asked, "Why didn't you just arrest him?"

"He said that he was here to see the base commander," the guard answered. For all he knew, the base commander could be Vodka buddies with the guy. The last thing he wanted to do was get the base commander mad at him. If this post was in the middle of nowhere, it was still better than Siberia.

"Idiot. He said he didn't know the base commander," the officer said shaking his head. He'd deal with the guard later. For now he was cold. The guard was left standing in the cold as the officer walked off to the warmth of the brig where he would interview the prisoner.

The soldiers led Oscar off to the brig. They weren't too happy about being out in the cold. Despite that, they weren't rough in their treatment of him. As they walked along, Oscar turned to one of the soldiers and asked, "How long would it take to change out the wheels on the truck over to snow tracks?"

The soldier knew the answer, but he didn't say a word. He didn't like the fact that he was going to have to tell the officer that this person knew about the conversion package for changing the rear tires into tracks and the front tires into skis. The package for that model truck was still a secret.

Glancing over at the soldier with a wry smile, Oscar said, "I know it is supposed to take about three hours, but you're going to have to use a blowtorch to get the nuts off the wheels since they are covered in ice. I'm pretty sure that'll add about two hours."