sixteen
It’s nightfall by the time we roll into Westford. We’re all tired and hungry and cranky from spending the last twenty minutes arguing about what we’re going to do when we finally arrive. And, well, now we’ve arrived, and we still haven’t come to a definite decision.
“I still think it makes more sense to grab some food now, find a place to park where no one will care that we’re there, and sleep through the night. Then we can get up bright and early in the morning and try to find that address,” Jeremy maintains the position he’s had the whole time.
Pam is just as stubborn. “The more time we waste, the more time is ticking away with who-knows-what happening to our parents and Dermott getting closer to finding us. We need to find that address as soon as possible and finish the job.”
“Yeah, great idea, except we don’t know what the job is!”
I sigh, quietly so that they won’t hear me. I don’t want to be pulled into their bickering again. I can see both sides, and I really don’t have a strong opinion on which plan we should implement. Either one could end up successful or disastrous. I’m leaning toward disastrous no matter what we choose.
I stare out the window, taking in our surroundings. Westford looks like a perfectly normal town. It has restaurants and fast food places, stores and gas stations, plenty of big-name chains. It looks like somewhere we’d be safe.
But is there anywhere we’ll be safe? For all I know, my face is gracing the screens of every single TV in every single building we’re passing. And I don’t even know why.
“Krystie.” Pam turns around to face me with a hard, determined expression on her face. “Don’t you think it makes more sense to go straight to the address and scope it out before we do anything else? We don’t necessarily have to do anything yet, but at least get a feel for what might be going on there and what job your dad might want us to finish?”
It kind of does, but I can’t ignore the rumbling in my stomach. It’s been way too long since I’ve eaten anything. The cereal I had this morning back at Pam’s house is a distant memory. “I probably won’t be able to focus very well without food,” I say apologetically. “We should probably get a bite to eat first.”
Pam turns back around huffily. “Of course. I should’ve known you’d take his side.”
“We’re all on the same side, remember?” I remind her. “I can’t help it if I’m hungry.”
“So what’s the plan?” Jeremy asks. By now we’re driving aimlessly through the streets of Westford. “We find a grocery store and send Pam in to buy some stuff?”
I look at Pam, her arms resolutely crossed over her chest, a belligerent scowl on her face. I think about grocery stores, with their aisles and aisles of food, people strolling around every which way. Would Pam even know what to do in a grocery store? She’s never been in anything larger than a village.
“It might not be so bad for us to go in with her,” I say slowly. “Grocery stores aren’t like fast-food places. They’re not one little room with a limited number of people and one big TV that everyone can see. We look different enough from our school pictures that I don’t think anyone would think twice about us unless they were actively looking for us. I think as long as we didn’t call attention to ourselves, we could be pretty anonymous.” Not to mention I’m getting sick of hiding.
“Stupid idea. If anyone from Dermott is there, they’ll be actively looking for you,” Pam points out. “Especially here. We know this town has some connection to Dermott.”
“But we don’t look the same anymore,” Jeremy argues. “Not to mention Dermott would probably be looking for two people traveling together. They don’t know about you. So if all three of us stick together, we’ll kind of be able to slip under their radar.” I can tell he doesn’t like hiding any more than I do.
Pam opens her mouth to retort, but closes it just as quickly. “Okay,” she says. “Have it your way. As you said earlier, I don’t officially exist. So if you two get caught, I’ll just slip away and no one will be any the wiser.”
Jeremy drives a few hundred feet down the road and pulls into the parking lot of a massive grocery store. “Okay. We’re going in. Just don’t do anything to attract attention.”
For a moment I can tell Pam and I are both thinking the same thing: Duh.
The three of us step out of the car and stroll into the store, trying to look like three carefree teenagers who are just out doing errands for their parents or getting snacks to eat while hanging out. Although I guess none of us would really know what that would look like. Jeremy and I were never allowed to run errands for our parents by ourselves, or hang out with friends outside of our own house and yard.
“All right. We need to get non-perishables, like canned fruit and energy bars,” Pam decides.
“I was thinking something at least a little more mealish. Like deli meat or tuna fish,” Jeremy disagrees.
“We can get some of each,” I say quickly before another argument breaks out. “Canned items are right up ahead; let’s start there.”
We start shopping, and it’s actually pretty funny to see how completely lost Pam is in a grocery store. “Why do they make places like this so confusing?” she huffs when I explain that fresh fruits and vegetables are not in the same section as canned ones. “Fruit is fruit. Put all the fruit together!”
Jeremy and I exchange a glance that means See, it’s a good thing we came in here with her.
We get all our items and go through the checkout line without any problems. Jeremy even remembers to tell Pam to get an appropriate amount of money ready before we make our purchases, so the cashier doesn’t get suspicious upon seeing a fat wad of cash furnished by a teenager. We’re feeling good by the time we get back to the truck.
“See, that wasn’t so bad,” I tell Pam, ripping into bag of trail mix. “Nobody gave us any weird looks or anything.”
Since the grocery store area seems safe, we sit in the truck for a while and eat to our hearts’ content. When we’ve finally eaten all that we can manage, we stow the rest of the food in the backseat with me and settle back into our traveling positions.
“Now we just need to figure out how to get to that address,” Jeremy sighs.
“Well, we’re going to take a right out of this plaza,” says Pam as if it’s obvious.
For the next twenty minutes, Pam navigates us left and right, down obscure side roads that probably only Westford natives even know about, and into an old, rundown condo development.
“It’s the one at the end of the road, on the left,” Pam tells us confidently.
Rather than continuing to the end of the road, Jeremy hits the brake and shifts the car into Park, right there in the middle of the street. “There’s no way someone’s specific house address is on the map,” he says, fixing Pam with an accusatory glare. “I may not know a whole lot about reading maps, but I know the map you have doesn’t go into that much detail. It probably isn’t even detailed enough to get us to this development. You’ve been here before. Tell us what you know.”
Pam’s eyes are wide and she’s shaking her head. “I’ve never been here before, I swear. I just have a good memory.”
“A good memory about how to get to a place you’ve never been?” I say skeptically. The weird thing is, Pam seems to believe what she’s saying.
“Yes,” is all she says, as if that makes everything perfectly clear.
“If you’ve never been here, how do you ‘remember’ the way?” Jeremy asks.
“I saw it. On the TV at the gas station, when I went in to pay for the gas? It was displaying the entire route of how to get from the gas station to 756 Hillbrook Street.”
“I still think it makes more sense to grab some food now, find a place to park where no one will care that we’re there, and sleep through the night. Then we can get up bright and early in the morning and try to find that address,” Jeremy maintains the position he’s had the whole time.
Pam is just as stubborn. “The more time we waste, the more time is ticking away with who-knows-what happening to our parents and Dermott getting closer to finding us. We need to find that address as soon as possible and finish the job.”
“Yeah, great idea, except we don’t know what the job is!”
I sigh, quietly so that they won’t hear me. I don’t want to be pulled into their bickering again. I can see both sides, and I really don’t have a strong opinion on which plan we should implement. Either one could end up successful or disastrous. I’m leaning toward disastrous no matter what we choose.
I stare out the window, taking in our surroundings. Westford looks like a perfectly normal town. It has restaurants and fast food places, stores and gas stations, plenty of big-name chains. It looks like somewhere we’d be safe.
But is there anywhere we’ll be safe? For all I know, my face is gracing the screens of every single TV in every single building we’re passing. And I don’t even know why.
“Krystie.” Pam turns around to face me with a hard, determined expression on her face. “Don’t you think it makes more sense to go straight to the address and scope it out before we do anything else? We don’t necessarily have to do anything yet, but at least get a feel for what might be going on there and what job your dad might want us to finish?”
It kind of does, but I can’t ignore the rumbling in my stomach. It’s been way too long since I’ve eaten anything. The cereal I had this morning back at Pam’s house is a distant memory. “I probably won’t be able to focus very well without food,” I say apologetically. “We should probably get a bite to eat first.”
Pam turns back around huffily. “Of course. I should’ve known you’d take his side.”
“We’re all on the same side, remember?” I remind her. “I can’t help it if I’m hungry.”
“So what’s the plan?” Jeremy asks. By now we’re driving aimlessly through the streets of Westford. “We find a grocery store and send Pam in to buy some stuff?”
I look at Pam, her arms resolutely crossed over her chest, a belligerent scowl on her face. I think about grocery stores, with their aisles and aisles of food, people strolling around every which way. Would Pam even know what to do in a grocery store? She’s never been in anything larger than a village.
“It might not be so bad for us to go in with her,” I say slowly. “Grocery stores aren’t like fast-food places. They’re not one little room with a limited number of people and one big TV that everyone can see. We look different enough from our school pictures that I don’t think anyone would think twice about us unless they were actively looking for us. I think as long as we didn’t call attention to ourselves, we could be pretty anonymous.” Not to mention I’m getting sick of hiding.
“Stupid idea. If anyone from Dermott is there, they’ll be actively looking for you,” Pam points out. “Especially here. We know this town has some connection to Dermott.”
“But we don’t look the same anymore,” Jeremy argues. “Not to mention Dermott would probably be looking for two people traveling together. They don’t know about you. So if all three of us stick together, we’ll kind of be able to slip under their radar.” I can tell he doesn’t like hiding any more than I do.
Pam opens her mouth to retort, but closes it just as quickly. “Okay,” she says. “Have it your way. As you said earlier, I don’t officially exist. So if you two get caught, I’ll just slip away and no one will be any the wiser.”
Jeremy drives a few hundred feet down the road and pulls into the parking lot of a massive grocery store. “Okay. We’re going in. Just don’t do anything to attract attention.”
For a moment I can tell Pam and I are both thinking the same thing: Duh.
The three of us step out of the car and stroll into the store, trying to look like three carefree teenagers who are just out doing errands for their parents or getting snacks to eat while hanging out. Although I guess none of us would really know what that would look like. Jeremy and I were never allowed to run errands for our parents by ourselves, or hang out with friends outside of our own house and yard.
“All right. We need to get non-perishables, like canned fruit and energy bars,” Pam decides.
“I was thinking something at least a little more mealish. Like deli meat or tuna fish,” Jeremy disagrees.
“We can get some of each,” I say quickly before another argument breaks out. “Canned items are right up ahead; let’s start there.”
We start shopping, and it’s actually pretty funny to see how completely lost Pam is in a grocery store. “Why do they make places like this so confusing?” she huffs when I explain that fresh fruits and vegetables are not in the same section as canned ones. “Fruit is fruit. Put all the fruit together!”
Jeremy and I exchange a glance that means See, it’s a good thing we came in here with her.
We get all our items and go through the checkout line without any problems. Jeremy even remembers to tell Pam to get an appropriate amount of money ready before we make our purchases, so the cashier doesn’t get suspicious upon seeing a fat wad of cash furnished by a teenager. We’re feeling good by the time we get back to the truck.
“See, that wasn’t so bad,” I tell Pam, ripping into bag of trail mix. “Nobody gave us any weird looks or anything.”
Since the grocery store area seems safe, we sit in the truck for a while and eat to our hearts’ content. When we’ve finally eaten all that we can manage, we stow the rest of the food in the backseat with me and settle back into our traveling positions.
“Now we just need to figure out how to get to that address,” Jeremy sighs.
“Well, we’re going to take a right out of this plaza,” says Pam as if it’s obvious.
For the next twenty minutes, Pam navigates us left and right, down obscure side roads that probably only Westford natives even know about, and into an old, rundown condo development.
“It’s the one at the end of the road, on the left,” Pam tells us confidently.
Rather than continuing to the end of the road, Jeremy hits the brake and shifts the car into Park, right there in the middle of the street. “There’s no way someone’s specific house address is on the map,” he says, fixing Pam with an accusatory glare. “I may not know a whole lot about reading maps, but I know the map you have doesn’t go into that much detail. It probably isn’t even detailed enough to get us to this development. You’ve been here before. Tell us what you know.”
Pam’s eyes are wide and she’s shaking her head. “I’ve never been here before, I swear. I just have a good memory.”
“A good memory about how to get to a place you’ve never been?” I say skeptically. The weird thing is, Pam seems to believe what she’s saying.
“Yes,” is all she says, as if that makes everything perfectly clear.
“If you’ve never been here, how do you ‘remember’ the way?” Jeremy asks.
“I saw it. On the TV at the gas station, when I went in to pay for the gas? It was displaying the entire route of how to get from the gas station to 756 Hillbrook Street.”
