Double Time
Chapter 93
“I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald's would still be open.”
—Susan Pfeffer, Life As We Knew It
NOTHING HAD CHANGED about the concept of a vacation that V1 remembered clearly. Dad would call home from the pay phone at Sears midday on a Friday and say “I have two weeks off. Pack.” In 1955, right after I finished my junior year in high school, we got the message and Mom had us ready to leave as soon as Dad got home from work. We filled the leg room of the back seat in the Champion with our luggage, spread blankets out on the seat and over the space, and filled the trunk with everything we needed for a week, including food. Mom had the double-size thermos filled with coffee and as soon as we had the car ready, we took off. Peyton and I were expected to sleep in the back seat until we arrived at our destination. That year, the destination was Mom’s parents in Southern California. 2,000 miles. Dad was a demon when he drove and although Mom didn’t drive as long at a stretch, I think she drove faster. We got to El Centro, California in three days.
This time, at least we were planning ahead. We knew for two weeks how we were going to go, had the route programmed into the GPS, and had agreed that Joan could accompany us. Mom’s Impala was prepared the same way the old Champion had been but with the addition of an air mattress to make sleeping in back more comfortable.
Spring break started with no school on Friday, March twenty-seventh and school resumed on Monday, April sixth. We had ten days and 2,200 miles. We didn’t wait until Friday to get started. Joan had done well packing just a roll-aboard size suitcase for the week. She wore comfy sweats—the same kind I was wearing. Mom, Dad, and Pey were also dressed in sweats, figuring we were all going to stink by the time we reached San Diego, so we might as well at least be comfortable. Joan had never traveled like this and couldn’t understand why we’d drive two-thirds of the way across the country instead of flying. I understood. With five flying it would cost $4,500 from Fort Wayne to San Diego and then we’d have to rent a car. Dad figured with gas oil, meals, and maintenance, we could make the trip for less than $1,500 by car. The Impala was serviced, full of gas, and ready to go when we got home from school Thursday afternoon.
I got to drive first. That’s where the first part of reality hit us. It was only four o’clock and no one was ready to lie down and sleep in the back seat. Well, Dad did. I think he can sleep anywhere and anytime. Mom and Pey sat up and managed some semblance of having seatbelts fastened, even though they were sitting with their legs curled up. Dad lay down with his head in Mom’s lap and most of his body on the mattress in the space between the seats. Joan got shotgun as long as I was driving. Mom wasn’t going to make her be a pillow for Dad.
I hit I-69 south and had to deal with traffic around Indianapolis. Then it was flat out on I-70 west. Because I was in a different timeline, it didn’t feel flat out to V1. In my other life, I’d have pushed the speed up close to eighty and locked in the cruise control. The speed limit on Indiana and Illinois freeways was 70. I locked the cruise at 69 and held it there. No way was I going to risk having to do community service somewhere in a county I’d never heard of.
Joan was good company as a traveling companion. We talked and gossiped quietly about our girlfriends. They’d all been mildly upset that she’d thought of going with me over spring break before any of them had. They’d already started putting dibs on the next trip. Nanette threatened to pack three of them in her Beetle and follow us, but no one could decide which three. They finally decided that a better threat was to all move in with Nanette for the week. I think she thought they were joking.
About half way across Illinois, I pulled off the freeway and found a McDonald’s. Everybody went in and we got food and coffee, used the bathroom, and were on the road again in fifteen minutes. Joan drove this time and locked in the same speed I did. It was a little before nine when we took off. We filled with gas in St. Louis and Joan pulled off for the next shift in Springfield, Missouri about two in the morning. We were both feeling a little glassy-eyed. We all changed places, though Pey didn’t really wake up. Joan and I curled up beside her in the back seat while Dad took the wheel and headed toward Oklahoma. I think Mom went to sleep in the passenger seat.
We didn’t disturb Pey’s sleep, but Joan and I did do some kissing before we went off to sleep. I guess I went to sleep with my hand inside her shirt.
I won’t go through the painful details of driving all day the next day. Dad stopped so we could all have breakfast at The Big Texan in Amarillo. We shuffled things around and managed to get most of the stuff between the seats into the trunk so we could sit up. Mom drove us to Albuquerque and we stopped there for an early lunch, then I took over driving again. The family was all surprised when I pulled into Winslow, Arizona and made them all pose so I could take pictures of everyone standing on a corner.
Dad directed us to a Courtyard by Marriott motel in Phoenix and we pulled in about eight o’clock. Tonight, we were sleeping in beds. The suite had two bedrooms and a pullout in the living room. Pey got the pullout. Joan and I got to make love.
Dad got behind the wheel again in the morning and drove us to Yuma, then Mom took us the rest of the way to San Diego. We were there in plenty of time to get to another Courtyard near La Mesa, just a few miles from the campus where Em was living. We’d made the whole trip in forty-eight hours. Em was happy to hear from us and sad that she still had to finish her weekend shift on Sunday. Then she’d be off until Friday when we’d have to make the 2,200-mile trek back home. Ten-day vacation and we’d only get to see Em for four days.
Em happily shared our suite with us Sunday night. I think Mom and Dad were afraid Joan and I would slip off to stay with Em and they’d never see her, but we considered how unfair that would be to them and to Pey. We only had four days with Em and everyone wanted to be with her. Joan and I had the advantage because we could sleep with her.
“Now, my sweet, sweet love,” Em whispered, “tell me what is hiding in your heart.” Despite being horny and wanting to make love with Em, I’d just lay there watching while she took Joan over the top repeatedly, scarcely letting our girlfriend breathe between her orgasms. It will always amaze me at how in tune their bodies were. Em knew just where to touch her, how to bring her repeatedly to the peak and never quite bring her down. After her last climax, Joan lay clinging to Em and sobbing. “You tagged along with my brother with my family’s insane driving for three days to get here. To be with me. To be with us. I know you came here because you love me, but there is something else, girlfriend. We got all those nasty orgasms out of the way so you can talk to us now. Tell Em what is bothering you.”
“I’m so scared,” Joan whimpered. “I don’t want to lose what we have when I go to Service.”
“I went through the same thing,” Em sighed. “And if it hadn’t been for that, I might never have crossed the line with J. I couldn’t let go. But it’s not all bad. Basic was a bitch because we couldn’t talk for three weeks, but then we got weekly calls. NSO training and the job… it’s like having any other job. I work a forty-hour week—more or less—call home or call one of my girlfriends every night, and get regular vacation time, which I plan to use to come home this summer. The only thing different is that I have group meetings and I’m a long way from home. Really, they could have given me the same damn job in Indiana instead of sending me to San Diego.”
“That’s what scares me,” Joan cried.
“Tell me. Let us chase the boogeyman away.”
“I don’t have any self-control. When Beca sat me down and told me what to do, it was like I came to myself,” Joan said. “I’m afraid that without my anchor I’ll drift away. I… I’m afraid I’ll cheat on you all and you won’t ever want me back.”
“Oh, hey,” I said, sandwiching Joan between Em and me. I had no idea that was what was bugging Joan. We all hated the idea of being split up and having to serve two years away from each other. But I didn’t think anyone was worried about the whole ‘cheating’ thing. “Em and I talked about that. Rachel and I talked about it. I just figured everyone had discussed it.”
“What my brilliant brother is trying to say is that even if you have sex with someone in the Service, it won’t be cheating,” Em said.
“What?”
“We have basic human needs. Believe me, after some of the things they put you through in basic, you’ll just want someone to fuck you unconscious. I certainly did.”
“But you didn’t…”
“Oh, yes I did. I told J about the barracks orgy. And just last week, my roommate and I came back from a movie on campus and just wanted to make out. And we like each other, so it was easy to do,” Em said. “It’s not like I’m leaving the pod to run off with her. She only has two months of Service before she’s out. We’ll still be friends and have lots of great memories together, but we aren’t in love.”
“What if you fall in love?” Joan insisted. “What if I fall in love?”
“If that happens, we’ll bring our lover home with us and introduce him or her to the rest of the pod. Maybe they’ll fit together. Maybe we’ll have to find a different solution. But we’ll do it with love for our girlfriends and J and anyone else we bring into the pod,” Em said.
“It’s so unfair.”
“That’s true. The old men who put this together did everything they could think of to keep us from depending on each other before and during Service. They want us to be dependent on the Service to provide everything for us. By extension, they want us dependent on them,” Em said. “Our pod thwarts part of that. It’s easy to drive a wedge between two people. It’s a lot harder to disrupt a group. Joan, no matter where you get assigned, what kind of job you do, or who you sleep with, what we’re really learning is that our group is still a family.”
“Rachel told me, pretty much the first time we were together, she’d probably sleep with others during Service. It’s part of learning not to be jealous of each other now,” I said. “You aren’t jealous when I sleep with Desi. I’m not jealous of you and Beca or you and Livy. Watching you and Em make love was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. We know that even when we’re with one of our other girlfriends, we still love each other.”
“Will it really work?” Joan asked.
“You didn’t even bat an eye when I said I’d made out with my roommate,” Em said. “We’re changing a whole aspect of society to adapt to this stupid government requirement that we interrupt our youth and serve them. It’s not like they haven’t had us under their thumb in school for the past twelve years. Unless we get the whole thing repealed, we’re stuck with it. Even the parents who voted against the amendment still think it will probably teach us responsibility that somehow they couldn’t teach us in high school.”
“I’m sorry I’m such a baby about it all,” Joan said.
“I don’t think you’re a baby at all. Being made a slave for two years is scary for all of us,” I said.
“And we still have to get our tattoos to show our solidarity,” Em said.
“That’s scary, too. I mean, I designed the damn thing and keep thinking I should have made it smaller. It’s going to cover my whole butt,” Joan snorted.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Em said. “That’s one of the reasons I haven’t done it yet. Here’s my idea. The whole design represents multiple people whose hearts are linked. The patches are great. But what if we simplify it a little for our first tattoo. Just use one character or a portion of one with the heart on it. We could even use the big picture you painted on J’s wall as a starting point and use more color. I just loved watching the two of you in that concert.”
“We could do that? It wouldn’t be like just a partial commitment or something?”
“Baby, I just had my teeth chewing on your beautiful butt. It doesn’t need an entire mural painted on it,” Em said. “What do you think, J?”
“I think it’s a great idea,” I said. “And there is nothing saying it has to be on your butt. If you want it on your arm or shoulder blade, or wherever. It should be fine.”
“I’ve thought of that, too,” Em said. “One of the things I was hesitant about is that I sit and drive all day. Having a fresh tattoo that covered my butt could make it pretty uncomfortable.”
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” I said. “Why don’t we slip across the border to Tijuana tomorrow and all three have it done? I can’t get one in the US until I’m eighteen and…”
“Are you out of your freakin’ mind?” Em exclaimed. Both girls were looking at me like I’d just farted.
“What’s wrong with that idea?” I asked. Aside from the fact that my parents would freak out.
“You guys up north have no idea what it’s like down here, do you?” Em asked. “Ever since the wall was finished, tensions along the border are mounting. We have nearly twice as many troops down here now as we had last year. I see a lot of what’s going on just by delivering groceries to the bases every day.”
“I admit it was a dumb idea, but I don’t get what you’re talking about.”
“First, Mexico would never allow a US citizen with a National Service ID into their country, even if it was legal for me to leave the country while in Service. Leaving the country while in Service is considered deserting. Second, they’d never let you in without a legal guardian. And third, I don’t want to even think about what might happen to Joan if she crossed the border. We might never see her again.”
“Is it that bad? I thought when we built the wall it was just going to keep illegals out.”
“J? What world are you from? We didn’t build the wall. Tensions got so high over immigration that the first thing Mexico did when they started their National Service program was to build a wall and tighten security at all the checkpoints. The lines of traffic backed up at the checkpoints is close to two days and half the people trying to cross into Mexico are turned away. They just don’t raise the gate. They have to turn around and leave. Everything is backed up with people trying to reunite with their families on one side or the other. If things heat up any more, Mexico has threatened to seal the border.”
I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. Fucking Mexico built a wall? Mexico was going to close the borders? Mexico was turning away US citizens who wanted to visit? Mexico?
After V1 retired Renie and I spent winters down in Yuma where it was warm up until the time we moved into the home. We had all our major medical work done in Los Algodones where we could afford it. Dental, eyeglasses. I’d even had my colonoscopies done there. Fucking Medicare didn’t cover any of that and I could get it done there for a quarter of what it cost in the US. I couldn’t grasp the concept that Mexico didn’t want US dollars.
“J? Hey, you. Come back from wherever you just went off to. You haven’t given me any loving yet. You were really nice to wait for Joan and me, but now I want you,” Em said.
I pulled my head out of the space differential and into my current reality. I’d have to investigate soon. My reality was slipping sideways.
Between Joan and Em attacking me, other things were soon slipping. In and out.
3 April 2020
Mom and Dad took Pey to the San Diego Zoo yesterday while Em took Joan and me on our own adventure. We went to Old Town and the Presidio. Then Em drove us out for lunch on Coronado Island. That bridge always makes me dizzy. The real purpose, though, was to get to a tattoo shop near the naval base. Joan and Em held hands as they showed the artist what they wanted. Once they’d each decided on which figure from the wall they wanted for their personal mark, Joan had drawn them up at correct size. She used colored pens to create a very 3D version. The artist liked them and before either girl could change her mind, Joan was ass-up on the table and the artist was transferring the design. Instead of putting it right on her cheek, Joan chose to have it a little lower and around toward the front. She said that if she had this tattoo, she wanted it in a place where she could display it without getting arrested. Em chose her shoulder blade and figured she could display that in most tops she wore.
I asked the tattoo artist if she’d do me, too, and she actually considered it for a while. Said that if my parents consented, she’d do it but it was too risky otherwise. It’s a misdemeanor to tattoo a minor but the penalties are up to six months in prison, a thousand dollar fine, and losing your business license. I didn’t want to put her at that kind of risk, so I let it pass. I could almost feel it being applied to me, though, as she finished the work on Em. They are beautiful!
For the finale to our day, Em drove us down to Imperial Beach and then to watch the sunset from Border Field State Park. We parked where there were trails leading to a hilltop where we could see the sunset over the ocean and look south at the lights coming on in the arena where they still hold bullfights. The US has had a sturdy wall across this part of the border for years. It extends right out into the ocean and there are patrols all around. What surprised me was that a second wall, considerably more imposing, was located about a hundred yards the other side. It ran right along the edge of the arena and out even farther into the ocean. A low fence marked the actual national boundary between the two walls. A kind of no-man’s land, stripped of everything but bare dirt. At sunset, lights flooded the empty space from both sides of the border.
I still haven’t figured out what this all means. We’re just getting into US History of this century in class and I have more questions than I have answers. There will be a lot of searching the web to do.
Today, we’re headed for SeaWorld and then we start the long drive home tomorrow.
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