Stopping

Exercise 3: Argument in a Car

Driving down to Las Vegas had seemed like a good enough idea, when we were sprawled out in my dorm room looking at the climbing prices for Southwest tickets and the map of California and Nevada. But now, crammed into my little Honda Accord, with Chris driving and Kimi and Tina situated in the back, those plane tickets were looking better and better. We were driving two cars down in something that had become a race, and we were solidly behind.

Every time we passed a rest stop, Tina would subversively mutter about stopping for another bathroom break and Chris, who had been driving for the whole seven hours, only replied with optimistic estimates about how long it would take to get to the next rest stop. Chris would read a sign that said ‘No Rest Stops for Next 60 Miles’ as “Tina, can you wait another forty-five minutes?” She would reluctantly agree and Kimi would note that she wanted a coke when we got to the next rest stop.

It was only after we finished out the last long stretch without a stop that Tina put her foot down.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Tina said, a sigh catching at the end of her voice.

“We’re only about an hour and a half away,” Chris said, referring to Las Vegas.

“Is another hour and a half okay, ‘Tine?” Kimi said, “Because otherwise we should call the other car now so we can both stop.”

“Uh. Well, I’d really like to stop. I’ve been talking about stopping for the last two hours.”

“So let’s just stop,” Kimi said.

Chris didn’t say anything. He kept his eyes carefully on the road.

“I’ll call the other car,” I said. I flipped open my phone and hit redial, calling Justin’s cell phone.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Hey. We’re going to stop. Tina has to use the bathroom. Do you want to stop with us?”

“Uh…. Sure. Where are you?”

I named off the exit we had just passed and I heard him pressing buttons on his Garmin Navigation thing. They were a few miles ahead of us, so they would pick the spot.

“There’s a good place to stop a few miles from you. We’ll wait for you there.” Justin told me the name of the exit and I repeated it to our car. Chris nodded.

When the exit came, Chris got in the lane to exit. Right before the off-ramp, there was a sign calling the exit another name.

“That’s not the right name,” Chris said.

“I think that’s the exit, though,” I said.

“Just take it.” Tina shifted uncomfortably in the back seat.

“No, it’s definitely not the right one,” Chris said. “It’s not the right name.”

We watched out the window of the car as the small stop, with everything from food places to a gas station, flew by.

“I don’t think there’s any other way to get there,” Tina said.

“We’ll stop at the next one,” Chris said.

Kimi stared back at it sadly. “It had a Carl’s Jr.”

But Chris didn’t offer to turn around, not that there were any off ramps nearby to accommodate the maneuver anyway, so we charged on.

“I’ll call the other car,” I said. I hit redial again, thinking walkie talkies might have been a sound investment.

“We missed the exit,” I said. “We got confused by the signs.”

Justin informed me that there were no stops for several miles. They had made the exit and were getting some food.

The mood in the car was considerably darker.

“There are no big rest stops,” Chris said, “But there will be gas stations.”

“It would have been nice to stop at the Carl’s Jr.,” Kimi said.

“Are you sure there are even gas stations?” I asked.

“Yes. We’ll just stop at the next one.”

But the next exit held only a deserted junkyard. The exit after that was entirely vacant. And the exit following that one was barricaded by orange traffic cones with a sign that the rest stop was under repair.

“We should have just turned around,” Tina said.

“There’ll be one coming up soon,” Chris said. And the miles passed on and on…