It was really early, not even daylight. Mom had stopped us at a rest stop sometime through the night to grab a few hours of sleep. We were just inside New York state, though Mom hadn’t said where exactly we were heading. The memory was so vivid inside my dream I felt like I was once again a nine-year-old waking up in the backseat of the car needing to pee.
I could see the bathrooms through the front window. I probably should have woken Mom but decided I could go and be back before she woke up and I did my best to make no noise as I got out of the car and ran for the building with the bathroom. The air was nippy, the taste of autumn in the air. I did my business, trying not to sit on the metal commode knowing it would be ice cold. I washed my hands and went to the door of the bathroom, som
