I
459 Words
I"CHAZ? YOU READY?" UNCLE Jean was rustling around in his food truck, opening and closing cabinets, double-checking everything.
I swung my duffel up the steps into the truck. "Sure thing."
He looked at my bag, and the jacket I was wearing. "That's all you're bringing? We're going to be there all summer."
"Just packed light. Enough t-shirts for a fresh change every day, skivvies, socks, jeans. It's going to be hot, humid and maybe we'll get rained on every now and then. Didn't figure a raincoat would be worth it. I know every inch of this truck and know how little space there is to stow anything not vital to cooking or living."
Jean just smiled. "That's my nephew. Always practical."
There was a school bus bench seat that was bolted down just behind the driver's air-ride bucket. I stowed my duffel behind that bench seat and flopped down across it. "Ready when you are."
Jean moved around my legs and slid into the bucket, pulling the shoulder belt across his broad frame to click it in position. Then checked his mirrors. Turning on the ignition, the big van started smoothly. He checked the gages as it warmed up and turned into a throaty purr. "You've added another few inches to your length since last summer." Almost an after thought.
"Not so many that my favorite t shirts don't stay tucked in. There's not so many inches this year, and they tell me not so many more in my future."
"You can count on those nurses to give you the straight scoop. Handy having that nursing school in town. Free check-up for just about anything. Of course for you, the check ups go both ways."
"How do you figure? I'm no doctor and you wouldn't catch me being a male nurse."
I could see his face in the big bus mirror he'd installed above him to keep an eye on his cabinets and passengers. "Just as long as you can get your checkups at the beginning of each semester when the new student-nurses flock in."
I just smiled and looked out the window. Jean knew me better than I knew myself sometimes.
Uncle Jean checked the non-existent traffic on that street before he clicked the fine-tuned transmission in gear to roll and lurch out of the steep driveway onto graveled roadway in front of it. It would still be a few miles before we got to the nearest state road and actual pavement.
I was looking forward to getting to some real civilization as a break from these rural villages. My whole life had been spent in them, it seemed. Only long trips to state fairs brought any semblance of organized culture near me.
While I loved the quiet and peace that pastures and woods brought, I was itching to find what the rest of the world had available.
- Writer
