Story-a-day - Day Fifteen

This post is part of a series of short stories. 

Day Fifteen

‘’Hey! Hey, Maggie, wake up!’’ Jill whispered loudly, poking her roommate in the ribs. ‘’Whaaaaat?’’ Maggie asked, annoyed. ‘’Hey! Get up, let’s go!’’ ‘’Go whe-e-e-e-ere?’’ ‘’Somewhere!’’ ‘’Nooooo!’’ ‘’Come on, let’s leave town.’’ ‘’Noooo, let me sleep.’’ ‘’No. I cannot do that.’’ ‘’Yes you can, just walk out of this room.’’ ‘’I’m sorry. No can do.’’ Then Jill stood up and yanked Maggie’s blanket, hard. An expletive or two may have flown around the room before Maggie was on her feet. She stood there with her eyes closed. ‘’Well, come on, get moving! Throw some clothes into a bag and let’s go.’’ ‘’Why on earth do your wild hair adventures always have to involve early mornings?’’ ‘’It’s the best time to go, come on!’’ Jill emptied the contents of Maggie’s laundry basket into her backpack, grabbed some money, her camera and a bottle of water and they were out the door. They piled into Jill’s car and were off.

Maggie, still in her PJs, settled in and snoozed a while longer while Jill drove, road trip adrenaline pumping through her veins. An hour or so in, Jill got really hungry. She pulled into a gas station and Maggie woke up. ‘’Let’s just get some snacks here and we can get lunch after a while.’’ ‘’Ok,’’ Maggie said, yawning. She looked around the parking lot and quickly changed into some jean shorts. She slipped on her flip-flops and headed inside. ‘’What did you pack for me?’’ she asked. ‘’All part of the adventure,’’ Jill smiled. ‘’Great,’’ she said sarcastically. Jill went directly to the beef jerky sticks, grabbed a granny smith and an iced tea. Maggie wandered around aimlessly for a while until her friend came to prod her along. ‘’Here. You like these and these and here! Take some of these…and you can wash it all down with one of these.’’ ‘’What would I ever do without you?’’ ‘’You’re welcome. Now, you pay for this and I’m gonna take a pee,’’ she said, piling everything into Maggie’s arms. ‘’Why you little…’’ Jill laughed, walking away. A few minutes later Maggie came into the bathroom, ‘’you owe me four hundred dollars.’’ ‘’Haha, I know! Jerky’s expensive!’’ She snatched it out of her friend’s hand and ran out to the car. She jumped inside and locked the doors. ‘’Yee-ou yellow-bellied coward.’’ ‘’Yellow-bellied coward?’’ she laughed, ‘’what is this, 1864?’’ ‘’Open up, you rat-faced varmint!’’ Jill lost it with that comment, laughing hard as she rolled down the windows. ‘’Get in, Yosemite Sam.’’ They cranked up the music and hit the open road. They made sure to stop at every possible photo op. And by photo op I mean scarecrow, fruit stand, virgin Mary statue, mile marker, ammo store, biker bar and outhouse. About 4pm Maggie declared, ‘’the next town we see we are stopping to see what there is to see.’’ ‘’Sounds specific.’’

As luck would have it, it was one of those all-American one-street towns with one post office, one bar, a hair salon, a grocery store and a diner. Still full from lunch, the girls opted, instead, to go into the hair salon. Pretty Patty’s. ‘’Do you take walk-ins?’’ Jill asked as they stepped inside. ‘’We sure do,’’ a jolly, permed woman took her by the arm. ‘’Are you Patty?’’ ‘’Oh no,’’ she chuckled, ‘’Patty only writes the checks,’’ she winked. ‘’What can we do for ya today?’’ ‘’Oh, just a wash ‘n dry,’’ she answered in an animated voice. ‘’You too, sweetheart?’’ she asked Maggie. ‘’Her too!’’ yelled Jill. ‘’Paula, you got a customer!’’ a tall, skinny, bleached-to-the-nines lady appeared from the back room through a curtain. ‘’This one’s yours,’’ the first lady slapped Maggie on the back. ‘’Come with me, hon.’’ She sat her down in her squishy chair and snapped a pink plastic apron with poodles on it around her neck. ‘’Juuuust a wash ‘n dry,’’ Maggie wanted to confirm. ‘’You both got beautiful hair.’’ ‘’Well, thank you, Paula,’’ Jill called from across the room. Paula chuckled that she called her by name. They both tipped them back and washed and rinsed and wrapped them up in tall white towels. ‘’Where’re ya from? I haven’t seen you around here before.’’ ‘’I’m from Waterloo, but we both go to school in Madison.’’ ‘’Yeah, I thought ya might be big-city gals. Ya don’t look like you belong around these parts.’’ ‘’Maggie laughed politely.’’ She plugged in her blow dryer and grabbed a big round brush from her desk and went to work. Ten minutes, lotsa talkin’ and half a can of Aquanet later and the girls looked like they belonged around those parts. They walked to the counter to pay, barely able to contain their laughter, and tipped the ladies handsomely. ‘’What’s your name?’’ Jill asked. ‘’I’m June.’’ ‘’Nice to meet you June. You too, Paula. You two have a really nice day.’’ ‘’Toodaloo,’’ June waved. And the girls sashayed to their car and drove away.