The Beginning Read Free Page A

honey.”
    “I want to pull in to the next truck stop and get something to eat. Ok.”
    “Yeah. Ok.” I said trying to wake myself up.
    We pulled in to the brightly lit truck stop. I climbed out of the cab of the rental truck and stretched a bit. All these hours of sitting made me feel more then my age. I hated feeling old. I mean I wasn’t quite fifty yet, but I usually felt much younger than that. Right now, however that wasn’t so.
    We used the bathroom. They were cleaner than I thought they’d be to be honest. Then we entered the fast food restaurant together. Frankie walked over to the counter to order dinner for us. I found a clean booth and waited for him. As I sat I questioned once again why I let him come along with me.
    Frankie walked over to the table carrying a tray with two fried chicken meals on it. “Sorry, Mom, I hope you like it. It occurred to me up there that I don’t really know what you like to eat,” he said as he deposited the tray on the table.
    The only thing I could think was that I didn’t know what he liked either. In fact, I was pretty sure I knew very little about my son. We talked once a week. He came to visit us at the holidays. But, we never went to see him. We never did anything together that didn’t involve my house. He had become a man after all; maybe I should take advantage of this time together and get to know him better.
    Then he ruined the spell by whining like a small boy. “Why, Mom?” he asked for about the hundredth time on this trip.
    “Frankie, I told you why. Your father told you why. I know you’re having a hard time with this, but honey, you’ve got to accept it.”
    “I don’t want to accept it,” he pouted.
    “Baby, you’re not ten years old anymore. You’re an adult. Your father and I made a decision about our lives. We talked about it and decided it was the best thing to do. We are happy about it.”
    “I’m not,” he said, still pouting.
    “Why does it bother you so much?”
    “Because, you and Dad were proof that a marriage can last.” Oh, now we were getting somewhere. “And you always seemed happy.”
    “Honey, marriage can last. Look at your grandparents, both sets. They’ve been married for over fifty years. They could not live without each other.”
    “But you could live without Dad?”
    “Yes.”
    His face fell.
    “You’re father is a good man. He was a good husband, a good provider, and a good father.”
    “Then why did you divorce him?”
    “Because he was only good. He was in charge. He knew what was best. He was not someone you argued with.”
    “True. But you did argue with him. You might have been the only one who stood up to him.”
    “Yeah, but it got harder and harder over the years. Toward the end I just gave in because it was easier. I lost my fire.”
    “I think I understand.” And he looked like he did understand. That made me feel better, but I was sick of talking about it.
    “Let’s change the subject,” I said. “Where are we?”
    “We’re only in North Carolina. We could have been a lot further if you had let me do all the driving.”
    “I wanted to live through the trip.”
    Frankie just scowled at me. “Oh, ha ha. At least I’m not scared to pass anyone and afraid every car on the road is out to get me. Somehow you think your odds of living are better if you’d have done all the driving?” He gave me a yeah right look.
    “At least, I’ve never had an accident.”
    “Neither have I, Mother. Look, you hate driving. It makes you so nervous. Why don’t you just let me do it all? It’ll be easier.”
    “Ok, I guess you have a point.”
    “Of course I do, I’m a genius remember?” he smiled at me.
    “Technically, that’s true; you’re smarter than the average bear. But I don’t think it applies to driving.”
    “It applies to everything,” he said giving me that little boy smile. “We also could have been a lot further if you didn’t insist on stopping everywhere that looked