“Gail. Let me know if you want me to spell you at the wheel,” I said. “It's been several hours since we had breakfast and left Chicago behind.”
My daughter-in-law raised her arm and crooked her elbow. “Not to worry. I'm good to go. I'll drive on down the road a ways.” She gave me a quick hand wave and head shake. “For the moment, you've got your laptop, Fannie Mae, behaving herself. Why don't you just settle down and do some writing?”
“I guess I'll try to do a little catchup penning but Frettin' Fannie seems to mind me a little bit better down in Mississippi. Up here in the nawth country she doesn't always mind her manners. She seems to sense that she's in faraway, foreign places and can kinda go off on a tangent of her own.”
Even though I didn't feel creative I decided to do a little navel-gazing and think back on the trip Great-grand Maddie, daughter-in-law Gail and I had made so far and see if those memories would inspire me. I lifted Frettin’ Fannie from a backpack, turned her on and began typing.
“At the beginning of this journey, when leaving home, Siri, the magical, all-knowing voice in my cellphone had steered us onto what she claimed to be were the right roads from Jackson to Gail and Bob's home, the 'Villa at Oliva Hilla', Tennessee. I must say though, in spite of Siri, the all-knowing voice in my cellphone (Sore Ears to me) spewing out some of her off key directions and sending us down a few winding back trails, we made it. The next day, with Gail at the wheel, the three of us set out for Chicago.
“After arriving, son Bob became our tour director and the Boggan's had a calm, normal, sight-seeing vacation. That is, until Frettin’ Fannie showed her backside, and I had to go off on my own and get her recranked. Then, with Fannie Mae fixed up and running, an Uber driver heisted me to the gigantic Woodfield Mall, one of the largest shopping centers in the country. Here I had no uncontrollable buying urges but did lots of exploring. Over and done with strolling through a few stores and me doing some mouth-open window shopping, not knowing how to call Uber, it looked like I'd be stuck there until who knows when. But I was saved. A tenderhearted, somewhat enchanting gentleman who seemed to have dropped from the sky got me on the way back to Bob’s condo.”
A familiar, yet unwanted feeling washed over me; the young man began tap-dancing, then my dandy did a pirouette, took a bow, and disappeared into fairyland. More words just wouldn't come. I turned the laptop off.
“Why don't Maddie and I swap places? I think I'll take a quick nap.”
“Good,” the young lady said. “I've been wanting to ride up front with Gee Gee.”
Once in the back I settled down, closed my eyes, and was soon was drifting off to dreamland.
“Grand Lottie.” It seemed to be only the next moment I heard my name and woke up. “Grand Lottie. She goes lots of places,” Maddie said. “And sometimes funny things happen.”
“She's not a spring chicken anymore and she may be taking a few wrong turns along the way.” Gail gave a short laugh, a note of concern creeping into her voice. “It may not be such a good idea for her to wander off by herself, down some back roads leading to who knows where or what, as she's often inclined to do. The family and I are thinking we all need to get together and talk to her. A few changes need to be made.”
Does my family think that I may be getting too old to be out and about on my own? To travel the way I kinda like to? To not go gently go into that good night? To do a little alley-catting along the way?
“She may have heard too many fairy stories growing up,” Gail said. “I'm not sure about that man she says who suddenly appeared and helped her in the Chicago mall.
“Sometimes people's imaginations can run away from them.” She hesitated a moment then went on. “The journey from Jackson to Chicago started out with a coiled, hissing rattlesnake at our feet in Tennessee. We hit the road, arrived and were settled into Bob's condo in Chicago. Our journey was enhanced with a riverboat tour of the city and ended up with a gallant, tuxedoed dude waving a jeweled, magic cane and dancing, in a Chicago mall. Bob and I are doing a little head-scratching over that one.”
I took a couple of deep breaths, decided to put my big girl panties on, and then with mixed feelings I sat up. Not sure what would come next, maybe something I didn't want to hear, I spoke up. “I'm awake, y'all.”
