“I do,” the conversation/Departing Electra, in overdrive

 

“Not to state the obvious,” he says now, “I’m not trying to be obnoxious, I don’t mean to insult your intelligence but…. but what about sat-nav?”

“What-nav?”

“erhm— Google it, perhaps??? ….Google maps?”

“Oh, GPS? You mean like Waves or Mapquest? Well, yeah, they sort of have something like that for RV’s —because, you know, you can’t go on a lot of the same roads as regular cars in some places, you know—like parkways, or even some tolls,things that have low clearances— you know— and also, the general weight of the vehicle, not just the height, you know, just like semis ….you know, Mack trucks?” 

She realized she was talking much too fast. He was making her nervous. She had a tendency to keep babbling with a lot of excessive words when people made her self conscious. Was it because of how he was looking at her? Or was it because she was afraid of seeming like an idiot — or even worse than that, a crazy wacko 

“Oh, lorries?” he asked staring at her in that enigmatic way of staring. At her.

 “…..anyway,” she said quickly looking away from his eyes that were so distracting that she felt confused as soon at she found herself again pulled under their gaze, “—the gps ….cuts out quite a lot be-because -th-the connection….? —it— gets cut off —which ….is what happened when I —I—got stuck by the way! Ha! Uh yeah! Hah!…. I ended up about to —pull onto a bridge where ha! So, uh—I wasn’t suppose to—not really like allowed to go on—and guess what happened there?” she imitates a police siren and uses one hand over her head as though pretending it is a flashing red light on a police car going “whoo-whoo!!!! Whoo!!” she shakes her head and shudders from the memory, “and, sheesh! that image of the huge river under me ….! I still have nightmares about it—but it was just —actually— hah! just last week —! actually….actually …. yeah….so…. uhhh…..”

“Hence the map in the travel section….”

“Um—yeah—that…. hmm, y’know….? shhhit…. I should have remembered to buy it….”

“So what do you do about internet? You just go into bookstores or coffee places and use their WiFi?”

“Well, sometimes I do that too if—see—I have a jet pack which usually works great— unless—it’s like— it’s a kind of router or satellite but it gets flaky in some especially rural or mountainous regions so—I like to map out my directions by hand on a piece of paper or search for those rare things you can’t find anywhere, once known as ‘road maps’….” (and here she does those silly two fingers thing but as she does she seems embarrassed and stops herself thinking how stupid she keeps doing that….he was making her nervous how he was looking at her)

“Just—wondering—you—do you ….you live here—?—is that, full time?—I mean—what do you do for electricity or….?”

“Yeah—uh, you can say that, I guess—it’s a long story but—so—this RV has full utilities—so, you can still play your Super Mario Nintendo, so don’t worry—“ she stops deadpan and stares at him

“Sorry?” he then said not sure if he heard right and tried not to start to laugh or break into a smile

“You just seem like a super Mario brothers type….”

“Me? No—what gave you that idea?” but he smiled unable to stop himself

“Yeah, so—anyway, it’s like got like its own generator but I can connect to —y’know, like when say at camp grounds —some offer an RV hook up for electric—so—uh—I always take it because…. I mean….it saves on my propane supply,” she turned intentionally away from his gaze now and as they were facing the front of the vehicle now she kind of leapt towards the drivers seat area and then threw herself down onto the drivers seat, as she continued to talk, looking blankly out ahead at the parking lot by the Hertz rental shop, “….so things like water and dumping waste, it’s like you look for the places —they’re like, y’know, dumping stations like along on the way —so for filling up your water supply and for dumping….so ….when I got lost and wound up here, where’d you call this place?—Electra? Weird name, I didn’t see it on the map….”

“It was on the key by the legend,” he interjects 

“Oh? —so anyway, this is what happened—this morning, like at dawn—I was just leaving the dump station after I refilled my water and when I went to put my foot on the gas pedal it just stopped going—in the middle of traffic! I was like—shit! What the fuck! I was like a beached whale stuck in the middle of this fucking highway and —at first there was not a car in sight until suddenly—boom! I created a fucking traffic jam!!! No idea where all these cars came from so I was freaking —and the motor cut out and….already, a hundred degrees out….”   she stops suddenly there as if feeling she had said by far more than she ever wanted to say and wishing she had shut up after just answering his question. Why did she say all that?

“So you need a navigator —basically, is….what you’re trying to say,” but he was openly teasing her

“And you need something to pitch…..To your publisher.”

“….I do….”

A departure from Electra/Tour de force

 

And so for a moment either was stuck looking at there other, unaware that they were ….staring 

they did not notice until at a certain point, they only became self consciously aware they were doing that. But unaware the other was doing it back

and both tried to smooth over the moment of this with some such casual move like, saying—

“so—“

at the same time

while tilting their heads and looking away 

so unaware the other did this until they said what they said at the exact moment

and then they both laughed. Awkwardly. But then it occurred to them it didn’t seem to even matter and if anything, broke the ice of the obvious elephant in the —tourbus

“Ummm….” Adair said and finished her tea, standing up as casually as she could to wash her teacup, going to the sink. With a kind of sigh with seeming casualness, she pulled aside the kitchen curtain to look at the view ….noticing the road outside 

“It looks like rush hour traffic is thinning out….” she said by way of conversation and then, by now sort of having read his mind, she said, “maybe you can help me with directions actually—to navigate where to go….” and let that sentence dangle where it may

“How’s that?” Simon stood up to bring over his own tea cup and moved as if to wash it at the sink—but as she moved to her right again unexpectedly just as he moved, her intention to wash his cup for him, they collided in the sudden surprise of their moves. And as he had almost knocked her off her feet with the weight of himself knocking into her, he reached out both hands to her shoulders to steady her. 

And it must have been the surprise of the contact. The surprise of his hands on her shoulders. How it felt. And how unexpected the sensation. 

Even as she had noticed her attraction to him right away standing there in the travel section of the bookstore. And he seemed to like how she fit into the cradle of his arms as she fell into him—just at that moment. Even as he had only noticed her at the bookstore because he liked the shape of her small ass in the cut off jeans she wore and how long her legs seemed despite her minute height so that she seemed to walk on stilts like a ballerina 

“Ehrm….” and politely he held her back from himself, forcing thoughts into civilized directions with a conscious effort to forget the memory of his first glimpse off her ass from across the travel section, “I’d love to help you with directions….” he said

When she said 

“Oh!” as he caught here

Then,

“….yeah….” her face deepening in color turned up to him as he looked down at her with those two different shades of green…. one like a teal and the other a like ….sage….with a sweeping fringe of dark eyelashes below dark brows—“uhhh….”

“Where….?” 

He seemed first to regain reason but only as he was better schooled to hide it and smiled down at her

“But don’t you need to be somewhere?” Adair asked him

“Fuck it,” he laughed, “I can make up an excuse—‘the flight was canceled’, ‘the pilot has Covid’, ‘I tested positive….’” Here Simon shrugs 

Adair laughed and became suddenly caught up in his enthusiasm,

“really?” And she laughed some more, “could you really just do that?”

He looked at he frankly and smiled,

“do you know how many articles I’ve written on travel? Business class, coach, first class—a weekend getaway, ‘a Cotswold’s weekend’ ‘Four Seasons at Central Park….’” and here he fakes an exaggerated yawn, “I’m so tired of appealing to the entitled upper crust ….I’ve been trying to break away from those tired travel guides and do something independently….” 

Adair just for a moment took in his look upon her. Then dropped her eyes. She took his cup to wash it and after she dried both cups and secured them in the cabinet beside the kitchen window she said, 

“So you want to go on a Fleetwood tour instead, and write about that?”

“Write about it….film it….live the Kerouac dream—who wouldn’t?” and this time his laugh is half mad and ecstatic 

And contagious. 

She laughs too. They both seem unable to stop.

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.”

“Yeah?” She says again 

“I tell you what, if I can pitch this to my publisher ….this would be the break I’ve been looking for—so, where do you need navigating?”

“Well, you see I have the worst sense of direction—I get lost just getting out of bed if I turn the wrong way so…. see, I’m supposed to deliver a dozen Amish quilts and pick up more and —I really suck at directions but they always let me stay there for free, so—I’m on my way first to Philadelphia then New York and then after that Michigan and a few national parks where the quilts are really popular. But the pow wow in New York has Native American trading posts and….”

Only she found herself forgetting what she was saying too lost in her own babble and stopped to say instead,

“are you any good with directions?”

 how is it they don’t let go; that barbed wire tugs like a hungry barracuda …. to drain more energy away

 the pact given by the arbitrator is a dare of trust

but only in that moment do you know 

so the dare becomes a dare of trust or…. inevitable doom

anyway

so you close your eyes and jump

and hope the woven net will be there

….and embrace you

     it is the ritual behind why the Celf keeps going….will it arrive in time

but it helps even more if there is also physical pain in which to keep thoughts at bay

and within the darkest cell within….

there is the cry for release from the hell inside

the entire purpose of the ritual is to distract the mind so well it cannot stop to reflect upon doom 

whatever the activity, however like even the treadmill it may be

The rockstar bus Fleetwood tour

 

“I didn’t realize the time,” Simon looked at his watch and paused in thought before he looked up at her, “my next destination is the rental drop off in twenty minutes —erm…..” now looking down at her with a slow and oddly inspired smile 

“You need a lift to, where—the airport?”

But the balding guy garage owner returns now obviously irritated,

“you guys need to move it, it’s jamming things up here,” and he points to a chaotic incoming mess of cars, “it’s ‘Oil Change Wednesday Special’ and our 9 to 5ers are pulling in so….”

Simon turned to Adair,

“would you follow me to the Hertz rental? It’s just down the road?”

“Sure,” she shrugged thinking, ‘why not? One favor deserves another’

Heading down the five lane road of traffic with the tour-bus Fleetwood RV behind him, Simon watched her maneuver the road craft from his rear view with curious fascination considering she had to be about nine or ten inches shorter than himself and didn’t look more than ninety-eight pounds; how did she drive that thing? But found himself break a sweat watching her take the corner pulling into the parking lot of the car rental but to his amazement, she did it like a pro

When he got out of the rental, he opened the car trunk and removed a suitcase and after setting it down next to his briefcase he hesitated, 

“Can I leave these with you as I settle the bill inside?”

But as it seemed to be taking longer than she would have wanted to wait outside in 99 Fahrenheit degree weather, Adair dragged the suitcase and briefcase up the steps and then into the rockstar sized tourbus RV and went inside, then shut the door to turn on the motor and started the AC, sitting down in the driver’s seat with the air blowing in her face and watched the door of the Hertz rental for Simon.

When he came out he looked around outside for her so Adair pressed the horn and waved at him. 

“Whoops,” she laughed to herself —she forgot how loud the RV’s horn was! —it seemed to quite surprise everyone in the parking lot —and she noticed, too, able to see through the front glass window of the car rental building, all the customers inside.

She opened the door from inside as he walked over 

“What was that about ‘over compensating’?” he asked her but as he was laughing, he stopped as he went up the steps to go inside ….not expecting the interior to look ….as it did—quite this way

“Don’t let the cold air out!” she grabbed one of his arms to pull him in and shut the door behind him, “it’s so hot out!” she said and threw herself into the nearest seat

Instead of the driver’s seat she sat somewhere else

 ….and only now just noticing Simon’s reaction to the interior 

“Yeah, it’s different, right?” she asked him with a light hearted and teasing chuckle 

“It’s ….what? Boho?” he was still looking around pulling at the macrame curtains along all the side windows which were not visible from the outside through the dark tinted glass —except for one window over the ….kitchen sink he noticed ….as there was a kind of herb garden on the window sill

“Oh you like my garden?” she asked him standing up to point things out, “that’s sage, smell it—so good, isn’t it?  I want to see about having like a roof top garden, wouldn’t that be so cool?” And then she seemed to decide it was time for a tour, “let me show you around—you’ll love the living room, it has the best view—“

“Erm—maybe…. the Hertz people wouldn’t appreciate your ….?”

Adair seemed to find this a surprise,

“did they say anything?” and she turned to go have a look through the front driver’s windshield, “naa—they’ve totally forgotten about us. It’s cool about the tinted windows, they create a kind of stealth screen around us almost. C’mon, let me show you the rest of it, then I can make you some English breakfast tea and you can tell me where you need me to take you—your ‘destination’ ….” And here she used her two fingers on each hand like quotation marks playfully mocking him, but then waved him to follow her, brushing past him down the center isle, past the cafe table where there was a small plant in a terracotta pot that for a moment Simon found himself transfixed on in a daze of amazement 

Then after the showing off of the living room, with the cozy boho loveseat and rocking chair she said,

“bedroom, bathroom through here….” continuing the boho theme through out with macrame wall hangings and lots of green things everywhere, like the mandala tapestry that lay over the bed and a few scattered Moroccan poufs, “let me show you how to flush the toilet— there’s a trick to this one, I mean, if you need to use it, just in case….”

“I—are you sure you —don’t want to get moving along?” Simon reached to pull aside the macrame curtain to the nearest window, this one was the bedroom’s. But to his amazement, she was right, no one seemed to care she was parked where she was. It was almost as though they acted like it was a self standing building and were just driving around her. 

“We can—I mean, if you want—“ Adair looked at him thoughtfully, “what time is your —your….? ‘—destination’….?” again she did the two fingers thing with her hands 

He was looking at her in this way as though he wanted to laugh. But wasn’t sure ….and just looked at her instead with a hesitant puzzled expression 

“So, what is it you do?” she asked suddenly and seemed to forget her other question on her way back towards the kitchen as if this was just an every day kind of thing to invite someone in for tea. He watched her start to set up a tea kettle 

“What….?” he said watching her starting to say something about it but then shrugged and followed her over feeling as if he just stepped into another reality 

The cafe table was a kind of cosy little kitchen booth with built in seats made of wood,

“oh all this was custom designed —this man I worked for….he died —yeah, it was sad and kind of unexpected—I mean to me—so, his Amish friends are good builders and he was like saying to me one day what about redoing the RV interior and what I thought about for ideas. I really didn’t think he was listening because he was on a lot of meds ….” by now the tea kettle was done and she poured the water into a big yellow ceramic tea pot with flowers painted on it, “I said I liked Bohemian so—it was a shock when it turned out he left it for me which I didn’t find out till after the funeral…. Oh what did you say you did? You’re here on business I assume with your briefcase, right?”

And only once settled into the booth with their tea,

“you like it with milk, the English way? Do you mind almond coconut milk? I’m a vegetarian ….”

“Uh—yeah….” Simon sat there still slightly stunned as she poured the coconut almond milk in his cup, first before pouring his tea

“Honey? I don’t believe in sugar, sorry….”

“Erhm….” looking up at her from his tea cup (pink Johnson brothers chintz he couldn’t help but notice) “I’m a ….well, a travel journalist ….for travel guides actually….”

“Wow, that’s so cool….” Adair leaned towards him staring st his eyes and noticing that his eyes were slightly different colors from each other —which fascinated her….and it was at this moment he noticed how sensual her pale lips were as she lifted her tea cup up to sip it, “so where are you going next?”

Slightly distracted he continued,

“….I’m —not entirely sure—I’m not really set in anywhere, to be ….honest…. so I mean…. so…. yeah—I’ve been touring America and ….was —have been—actually —trying to get a new angle to uh ….pitch um….as a matter of fact for my ….”