My kid is a jerk but harmless. Last week he nearly toppled our enormous grandfather clock. Not because he was clumsy, he just wanted to squish his little sister. But it was all in jest. He wouldn't really try to hurt her - he's harmless.
Me, my wife, and our two children decided on a little family excursion. We hadn't had one in a while, and our hyper son needed some time alone in the wilderness, away from the internet and his friends. We were heading towards my aunt's place out west when we got a flat tire.
It was night out, hours away from civilization, and I've just found out something had torn a hole in my spare.
"Pop. Are we stranded?" Lauren, my youngest, clutched her toy rabbit. "Can we go back now?"
"Your father is looking for a place where we can fix the car, dear." My wife said. "You just keep Mr. Numnum safe and we'll be there soon."
"There's a gas station just over that ridge. I'm gonna head out and see if they -"
"And leave us alone out here in the middle of nowhere?" My wife was as incredulous as she was cute.
"What -"
"We're coming with. Come on children, gather your things."
The gas station was closer than I thought. We soon reached it but discovered the place abandoned.
"We can stay here tonight." I ventured. "Better than out in the middle of nowhere, sweety?"
She looked at me in her best 'don't start' expression and led the way inside. Now my wife is ex-navy seals and people consider her the man in our household. While that has hurt my pride in the past, the fact that she could wrestle me to the ground like I was some toddler really put things into perspective.
That gas station was the scariest place I've been. Inside, she turned off the heater to spare herself the blast of cold air until the engine had a chance to heat up. I was clueless about how she found the thing, but my family is resourceful.
"Once this hunk of junk heats up we can get nice and cozy." My wife said, Lauren bouncing in her arms. "Where's Jake?"
And so we spent the next 20 minutes trying to find the little bastard. The station was dusty and cold. Not a place a kid would want to play in, but our son was a special type of kid. Monica left me to the search as she and Lauren stayed with the heater. I found my son hanging upside down from his backpack in a locker.
"What are you doing jake?"
"I'm Bat - cough, cough - I'm Batman!"
"More like Dustman." I should've said Ghostman by how white he was. "I told you, dust is dangerous, bud. You need to be more careful."
"Sorry pop." He seemed nonplussed about the whole thing. "Mom just took so long with that heater. I got bored."
I couldn't sleep that night. The wind kept hitting some sign outside, and the entire station unnerved me. My rational brain knew that nothing was there, but that didn't make me less scared.
By the time I woke up, I was sitting like a pig and it was noon. My son had found a spare somewhere, and while it was a number too short, it would still do the job. When I told my wife about the anxiety I had last night she merely laughed and called me "an old-fashioned wuss." Whatever that means.
Armed with a tire, and the shattered parts of my male ego, we exited the station to return to our departed vehicle. To this day, I do not know what we would have done if the car wasn't there. If some animal had knocked it over or something. I'm paranoid about that sort of thing.
On the road outside the station however, I saw them...
The old fashioned porta potties, must've missed them last night.
"Hey, isn't that Sam's company?" My wife asked.
It was. My brother Sam produced old-fashioned porta potties. I had no idea he had expanded this well. Curious I gave one a spin. It was as disgusting as any other porta pottie I've had the displeasure of using.
My jerk of a son tried to knock the thing over while I was still using it. He got a good smack behind the ears from my wife for trying. He remained quiet for the rest of the trip.
At my aunt's we all laughed at the absurdity of the trip we just had. My wife needed some time to calm herself and stop laughing. Apparently, I was the weakest link in our family. I had a chat with Monica afterward, she apologized and said the wine was talking.
That night, the wine was screaming.
We ate bread in the mornings and fished in the afternoons. The mountain home of my aunt was an escape like no other. Lauren smiled during the whole thing, and Jake actually acted like an older brother for once. He was still hyper as all hell. But, looking back at it now, that trip did wonders for him.
The funny thing is. I've talked to Sam several times since then, and he always refuses to admit that he had sold porta potties to that gas station. I was in those parts a couple of years later and the gas station was gone. Not sure who would dislocate a gas station, but since it was in disrepair I soon forgot the whole thing.
Only for a while though. Some things... you can never forget some things. They lie in your peripheral, waiting to gain focus.
And that gas station was never normal.
So this is the first time I've done something like this and I think it shows. 😅 This story is a jumble of ideas and themes, but I guess that's the point of the prompt. I still had fun so i guess that's all that matters. 🙂
I appreciate any and all feedback - we're all trying to become better writers here.
This was a 3-Part, 5 minute freewrite hosted by @mariannewest.
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