Goin' Out To Cally – Part 9, Getting Nowhere Fast

As we pulled out of Aunt Patsy’s driveway we were all back into our usual seating positions in the car. Sunday and I sat in the back, pillows at the ready, our feet propped up on small carry-on cases of toiletries. Beth sat in the front passenger seat, her feet squeezed tightly between more luggage on the floor. And Tim sat fat, dumb and happy behind the wheel.

As we followed Aunt Patsy through her quaint neighborhood I could already begin to sense some tension between Sunday and Beth. They were polar opposites. Sunday was exotic, Beth was wholesome. Sunday smoked, Beth didn’t. Sunday was a vegetarian, Beth wasn’t. Sunday was flirtatious, Beth was conservative.

I’m also sure Beth’s fiancé-protection radar was in full swing as well. After all, she had only known Sunday for approximately 24 hours. Sunday was invited on the trip by me and I was someone with whom Beth had only known threw Tim, so her cautiousness was understandable and predictable. Funny, though, that I didn’t see it coming. Actors pride themselves on being excellent observers of human nature, yet I never anticipated the frictioned environment between these two females on the trip.

It just goes to show how much more I had to learn and how much farther I had to mature.

As our daily drives continued, our morning seating assignments would rotate throughout the day. Tim and I handled most of the driving duties. When I drove, Sunday would move to the front passenger seat next to me while Tim and Beth cuddled and napped in the back. On rare occasions did Beth drive and, for the immediate future, Sunday was not allowed to steer our course... at least, not yet.

As I watched another batch of cookie-cutter style homes pass by, I started to grow restless. You know that internal clock that’s forever clicking in your brain? The clock that tells you that you’ll never make it to work on time with the amount of traffic on the road, or that your home team doesn’t have enough time to stage a dramatic comeback… or that you should have reached your destination by now?

Well, for all four of us, that clock began sounding an alarm.

We had spent almost an hour weaving in and out of neighborhoods and side roads and intersections and more subdivisions. Granted, I wasn’t paying close attention when we pulled off the interstate the night before, but surely it didn’t take this long to get to Aunt Patsy’s house. That clock in my brain was adamant in its objection!

I leaned forward and asked Tim, “How much longer to the highway?” Tim offered a bewildered shrug and continued tail-gating Aunt Patsy through one neighborhood, then another. I could tell Beth felt somewhat responsible. After all, she was the one who injected Aunt Patsy into the equation. Beth didn't know that she could be so eccentric, but she still felt responsible and we all began directing our frustration toward Beth. It wasn't fair, really, but we had to release our pent up irritation somewhere and in a car with 300 cubic feet of space, Beth was the unfortunate target.

Days later I would come to understand how uncomfortable it is being on the sharp end of pointing fingers and would come to fully empathize with her current position.

As my eyes began to glaze over while watching Aunt Patsy’s brake lights flash intermittently as we slowed and turned and sped up and slowed and turned, I couldn’t help but think “She can’t be lost, can she? Are we following a blind guide? Our short cut didn’t just turn into a bad Loony Tune episode did it? Should we have taken that left at Albuquerque?”

I sat back into my seat, sighing my frustration just loud enough so everyone was aware of my discontent. Our guide couldn’t possibly be this bad? Surely she understood our current schedule issues and comprehended our sense of urgency, didn’t she?

The question hanging ominously above us all was simply "where the hell are we going?"

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Goin' Out To Cally - Part 9, (Text, Audio) Getting Nowhere Fast
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 8, (Text, Audio) The Cock Crows Nine
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 7, (Text, Audio) Is Jackass A Sign?
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 6, (Text, Audio) Leftovers
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 5, (Text, Audio) The Kiss Of Friendship
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 4, (Text, Audio) Scholastic Intimacy
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 3, (Text, Audio) Space Invaders
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 2, (Text, Audio) The Fourth Wheel
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 1, (Text, Audio) The Seed Planted