The Long Haul Diaries

I’m a truck driver. Been doing it now for years, and while everyone’s reasoning and story is different, I think mine is pretty unique.

After the ex-wife threw me out, I couldn’t afford to get a place of my own, so I’d been living out of my jeep. It was horrible. However, it did allow me to completely pay off my jeep, which is a great feeling; if you ever have the opportunity to not have a car payment, I highly suggest you take it. But, paid off or not, living out of my jeep was getting old fast.

Besides that, I’d just finalized my divorce and really needed to just be somewhere else. I still wanted to see my kids, and be in their lives, but I couldn’t hang around. I didn’t know what to do until one morning I was awakened by the sound of a big rig truck’s engine being started.

It was right then that I knew exactly what I was going to do.

The ex was pissed off and immediately began yelling at me: “You’re being selfish.” “How will you financially support your children?” “You already have a job, why would you throw all that away?” “If you need more money, just get a second job.” “You only think of yourself.” “When will you see the kids again?” Blah blah blah. Hey listen lady, you didn’t want me to have any part in your life, that means you can have no opinion on my life.

I quit my job, and signed up for a CDL school. Then came the hard part: I had to tell my kids that I wouldn’t see them for close to two months.

My oldest was in high school, so I wasn’t worried about him as much; it was the younger ones that I was really worried about. They took it well enough, though. They were sad, but understood that I would be making more money, and my youngest was excited that I would be ‘driving Optimus Prime.’ (I still chuckle about that.)

Then I packed a bag, I didn’t have to worry about the rest of my stuff because it was already in my parent’s attic, and headed off to the school.

Now all that isn’t so remarkable, but it’s important to know because that’s the basic set up. My plan was to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and take advances from my credit cards to pay child support, which, truth be told, probably wouldn’t work. But it’s better at times to beg forgiveness rather than ask permission, and this was one of those times.

It had gotten pretty late and I was thinking of finding a truck stop, or a 24 hour gas station and getting something to eat. Then I noticed a pick-up truck parked on the side of the road with its lights off. A bit farther off the road were thre people, one of them had one of those super bright flashlights. In a ditch farther off the shoulder was a little sports car that had obviously just been in an accident, it was upside down with its hazard lights on.

The rest of the road was vacant. I didn’t see headlights anywhere, so I figured I’d better stop to make sure the driver of the sports car was o.k. and to offer whatever assistance I could.

I pulled over in front of the parked truck and looked at my phone; no signal. Figures. I took it with me anyway, and hopped out. The first thing I heard was a female voice in distress.

“Hello?” I called, walking about my jeep. “Is everything-“

I was mid-sentence when I walked straight into a scene out of an action movie. Two stereotypically dressed rednecks were standing there, one was holding the flash light and the other was holding a riffle. Both the flashlight and the rifle was pointed at the third person; a petite woman wearing all green with emerald green hair and gold jewelry.

When I spoke, the rifleman turned and pointed the rifle at me. The Flashlight man swung his light to shine it on me at the same time that the rifleman swung his rifle back to point it at the woman. A little confused, the flashlight man swung his light back to shine it at the woman at the same time that the rifle was swung back to me.

“Don’t you move, city boy.” The rifleman said, and the flashlight man swung the light back to blind me again. I could hear the wad of tobacco stuffed in his cheek.

“Whoa! I just wanted to make sure everyone was o.k.” I said, showing that the only things I was only holding my phone. When I lifted my phone up, I tapped the camera icon, and when that came up, I tapped the record button as smoothly as I could, secretly hoping they didn’t see what I was doing.

“Yeah? Well, everything is fine. You can just be on your way.” The redneck said.

“Please, just let me go. I didn’t mean any harm.” The young lady said, bringing the attention, light, and rifle back to her.

I recognized that voice almost immediately. She was part of a successful cross genre musical group called Jewelz. Each member of the group was named after a specific Jewel of some type, but it didn’t end there, they also dyed their hair that color, and wore only that color clothing. Her name was Emerald.

Emerald, or just Em, like the name suggested, wore only bright Green. That sports car was hers. What in the hell could these two have against her? The likelihood that they even knew who she was, was very slim because her music wasn’t played on country stations.

Besides, killing someone over music might be a thing in the inner city, but not so much way out in the sticks.

“Yeah? Well, you did cause harm.” The redneck said. “Our deer got away.”

“What’e we thupothta eat?” The flashlight bearing redneck said with an almost comical speech impediment.

“Here, just let me pay for it.” She said, holding out her emerald green leather purse, and gesturing to it with her other hand.

“Hey! You thtop movin’!” The lisping redneck said. The Rifleman gestured with his rifle at her and then spun around and pointed the rifle at me.

“You don’t move either!” The rifleman shouted. His lisping friend spun around and pointed the flashlight at me. I heard movement behind the light, which was probably the rifleman turning his attention back to Em.

“Oh yeah, darlin’ you’re gonna pay all right.” The rifleman said. I didn’t like the tone his voice had just taken. Whatever they were going to do, it wasn’t good. But before I could even begin to think of a way out of the situation, a shot rang out and a bullet ricocheted off the gravel beside me. Em let out a scream.

“That’th wight, thitty boy.” The lisper said. “I got me a pithtoh, tho you juth thtay wight thewe.”

Shit just got real. I didn’t know their plans, but I knew I couldn’t stand there and do nothing. I heard somewhere that it’s possible to overtake a man with a gun, if you are within 21 feet. When I wasn’t being blinded, I saw that I was about 15 feet away. But with that flashlight blinding me, I couldn’t chance anything.

“All right little lady.” The rifleman said. “Dressed all in green, with green hair and lipstick. Are you a leprechaun?”

“Wittew mith Iwith fweak.” The lisper said with a laugh. “Fweaky McFweakfathe.”

“Little miss freaky leprechaun: dance.” The rifleman said, and his friend jeered in agreement.

“What?” She asked. The demand clearly caught her off guard.

“You dweth wike a fweak, wetth thee if you danth wike one.”

“Dance like what?” She asked, confused.

“Start dancing. Or do you need an incentive?” The rifleman said, then audibly spit.

“No no, please. I’ll do it. Just don’t shoot me.” She said. The desperation and fear in her voice made my stomach turn. These guys had to be stopped.

“Dance!”

“Hang on, hang on! I can’t dance without music.” She said, and took a couple of calming breaths before she started humming to herself. Even then, her voice was shaky.

They were still pointing the light at me, but I could hear movement in the dirt and I could tell by the constant fluctuation in the volume of her voice that she was at least moving her head around.

The guys started cheering, but I still didn’t dare move because the light was still on me, and I had no idea how closely they were watching me or her.

“Yeah! Thow uth if aww youh hair ith gween!” The lisper said, and shined the light on Emerald. I saw that she had removed her shirt and was just in her bra (green bra. Of course, it was green), and was toying with the band on her green pants.

She had a big tattoo engulfing one shoulder. I had always wanted a closer look at that tattoo, but right then wasn’t the time to think about that.

I waited only long enough for my eyes to adjust to the darkness again before bolting forward towards the two rednecks.

At that moment, the rifleman looked at his friend and said “hey.” The lisper whipped the flashlight around, but it was too late.

Now, I’m a big guy. I was a linebacker in high school, so I knew how to hit someone. Even so, the lisper dwarfed me. He was at least 6 inches taller than me, and so incredibly fat, his shirt could have been used as a sail on a small boat. I slammed into him with every ounce of force I could muster, and managed to off balance him, which caused him to fall and roll down the hill into the ditch.

He dropped his gun, but not the flashlight, and him rolling with the light caused almost a strobe light effect.

Emerald stopped dancing, slightly shocked at the sudden turn of events.

I didn’t stop my momentum, and slammed into the rifleman, grabbing the barrel of his rifle. I yanked it a couple of times in opposing directions, wrestling it out of his hands. When I did, I swung it like a baseball bat and connected hard with the side of the redneck’s head. He fell backwards with a groan, and didn’t move.

“Get in my jeep!” I shouted to Emerald, frantically spinning around looking for the ‘pithtoh.’ I found it and picked it up as the lisper stopped rolling.

Em didn’t have to be told twice, she grabbed up her shirt and purse and bolted towards my jeep.

“Hey, hewp me outa hewe!” The lisper shouted. He had stopped rolling in an odd position and it would take him a bit to turn himself over and stand back up.

I didn’t care, I wasn’t going to take any changes. I aimed the gun and shot out both tires on one side of their pick-up truck.

“You can’t weave me hewe wike thith! Come on! Woy, get up!” The lisper was yelling, still trying to roll himself over. The other redneck, Roy, was unconscious, and ignoring his friend.

I ran across the road and threw both guns as far as I could into the trees before running back and jumping into my jeep. Em jumped a little.

“It’s just me. Just me.” I said throwing my jeep in gear and stomping on the gas.

“What were those shots?” She asked, near frantic.

“I shot out their tires, then I threw the guns into the woods on the other side of the road.” I said quickly. “They might find the guns, but by that time we’ll be long gone.”

“That was quick thinking.” She said.

“Are you o.k.?” I asked a little further down the road. I glanced at her, and then grabbed my seatbelt.

“I think so.” She said, and then she allowed the reality of the situation to catch up with her. “I wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for you.”

“I couldn’t just leave.” I said, and she started to choke up.

“No really, I mean that.” She said, beginning to cry. “Those guys had guns, and they were going to kill me, and I don’t even know why.”

“Hey,” I said, gently. “It’s all right. Everything is going to be fine. You’re alive, that’s what matters.”

“You are my hero.” She said, sniffing back her tears as she searched her purse for a tissue. “Whatever you need, just ask. I mean it. I don’t even know where they came from, or what it was that they claimed I did.”

“I think I know.” I said. I had suddenly realized something. “They were poaching.”

“What?” She said, and thought back for a moment.

“Why was your car in the ditch?” I asked.

“I swerved to miss a deer.” She said. “I thought I saw a bright flash, and then this deer was right in the middle of the road. I swerved to miss it, and lost control of my Porche’.”

“This isn’t deer season.” I said. “It’s also illegal to hunt after dark. And it’s very illegal to hunt by hypnotizing the deer with a bright light.”

“OMG!” She said, and turned to look back for a moment. “That’s what they were doing?”

“It has to be. Why else would they be out in the middle of nowhere after dark with a bright flashlight, and a hunting rifle.”

“OMG!” She said again, processing the possibility. “Well, now what do we do?”

“That’s up to you.” I said. “It’s too dangerous to go back there now, but if you want, I can take you to a police station. If we can find a police station.”

“Yes, Definitely.” She said.

“But, you might want to put your shirt back on.” I said, trying keep my eyes on the road. She looked down at herself, and nodded once. She flipped her shirt around and threw it over her head.

“What’s your name, by the way.” She asked.

“Iyohud Gazortenplatz.” I said.

“Iyo…” She stumbled over my name before continuing with: “Can I just call you Gaz?”

“Sure.” I said, chuckling.

“Thank you, Gaz. I’m Emerald, and I’m very glad to have met you.” She said. She reached up and grabbed her seat belt to buckle it, and as she did, my mp3 player randomly picked a song that was familiar to both of us. She listened to the song for about 3 seconds before smiling and looking at me. “Well, it would seem you already know who I am.”

“Yeah.” I said, trying not to feel embarrassed. “I am a fan of yours.”

“A fan of mine, or a fan of Jewelz?” She asked and laughed. I just laughed and looked at her.

“This song is from our first album.” She continued.

“I’ve been a fan for a while now.” I admitted. “My oldest, not so much, he’s more into heavy metal and thrash. But my daughter is also a fan.”

“So which one of us is your favorite?”

“I’m going to have to plead the 5th.” I said, and she laughed.

“Is it me? It’s me, isn’t it?”

“Honestly, I spent almost a decade and a half married, so I never allowed myself to have a favorite.” I said, truthfully.

“Spent?” She had picked up on my use of the past tense.

“I put my heart and soul into my marriage.” I said. “Being a dad is one of my favorite things. I would never trade any part of it, even the smelliest diaper, or cleaning up puke off of the couch…and carpet…and myself.”

“Ew.”

“It’s a necessary evil. I love my kids.” I said. “And I tried everything to keep my family together. And I mean everything. But, I guess somethings aren’t meant to be. But, anyway.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” She said. “How many kids do you have?”

“Four.” I said, and answered the next two questions before they were asked. “Oldest and youngest are boys, middle two are girls. 16, 11, 9, and 4.”

“You must get asked that a lot.” She said with a giggle.

“I don’t mind talking about my kids.” I said with a smile. While talking, I opened the gallery on my phone and pulled up a picture of my kids. It was an old west themed picture, in sepia tones. The boys were dressed as cowboys, and the girls were wearing dresses. All of them were holding guns.

“Oh, that’s awesome.” Em said, taking the phone and studying the picture. “When was this taken?”

“At the end of the summer.” I said. “I was bringing the kids back to their mother’s from visiting my parents in East Tennessee and we stopped in Pigeon forge.”

“I love Pigeon Forge.” Em said. “What else did you do there? Did you go see the Dixie Stampede?”

“No. I couldn’t afford to do anything.” I said. “I could barely afford that picture.”

“What?”

“I pulled into the place, thinking it would be a simple polaroid and $20, but it turned out to be a professional photo shoot that cost $70.” I said. “But I don’t regret it.”

“Yeah, you’ve got memories now, which is more important.”

“Exactly.”

“So, if you don’t mind my asking: why are you out here, in the middle of nowhere?” Em asked.

“I’m on my way to CDL school.” I said. “I’m living in my vehicle anyway, so I might as well get paid for it.”

“You’re living in your Jeep?” She asked, looking around at the interior.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “I don’t make enough money to afford a place.”

“I don’t mean to pry, but, how are you going to be able to afford not working while you go back to school?” She asked.

“It’s only a month, and peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches aren’t that expensive.” I said. She gave me an uncertain look, and I changed the subject. “So, what are you doing out here?”

“I was on my way to see my parents.” She said.

“Where do they live?”

“Dayton, Ohio.” She said. “I tried to get them to move to someplace on the gulf coast; told them that I’d buy them a big house on the beach. But they didn’t want to leave.”

“That’s home to them.” I said.

“Yeah.” She said. “My dad’s a workaholic. I finally got him to retire, and sell the old laundromat. He owned that thing for years. I can remember working there when I was younger.”

“What made you decide to go into music?” I asked.

“My dad, really.” She said.

“What did he do, sign you up for Christmas pageants and stuff?”

“No, we would sing together while working in the laundromat.” She said. As she spoke, she seemed to lose herself in the memories. “He had the most incredible baritone voice I have ever heard. And we would spend hours cleaning clothes, and singing.”

“Did he ever sing professionally?” I asked.

“No.” She said. “I have no idea why. I asked him on more than one occasion to come with me to the recording studio. But he would just smile and shake his head. It was like he was embarrassed to have someone hear him sing. But he had no reason to be embarrassed; everyone would have loved to hear him sing. I’m absolutely certain of that.”

“My mom came with me once.” She continued, and then laughed. “She wanted to do a yodeling album.”

“Yodeling.” I said. “That’s different.”

“Yeah.” Em said. “She’s good at it, but I just wasn’t interested.”

“Where did she learn to yodel?” I asked.

“My grandparents.” Em said. “They are from Switzerland originally. Well, my grandfather is; my grandmother is from Norway.”

“Wow, that’s pretty cool.” I said. “The only people I know from a different country are a couple of Canadians.”

She chuckled at that, and then closed her eyes and let out with a genuine belly laugh. Her laughter was infectious: I began laughing too, and for the next 5 minutes the two of us just laughed.

Maybe it was just a tension breaker, I don’t know, but it happened. After we stopped, she wiped her eyes.

“Can I tell you something?” She asked.

“Sure.”

“I’ve been thinking of actually doing that album.” She said. “Or at the very least one song.”

“Really?” I asked. I wasn’t expecting more laughter, but I was curious when she didn’t laugh.

“Yup.” She said. “But I’m going to have to wait until our current contract is up.”

“Really?” I said. “How in depth is your contract?”

“Oh man, you have no idea.” She said. “We can NOT be seen in any other color than our name. We can’t even wear the wrong shade.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I have to wear bright green.” She said. “I can’t wear forest green, it’s too dark, or Olive, it’s not bright enough. And I have to wear bright green everything. I mean, you saw my bra? Yeah, I can’t wear anything but bright green. Except for my jewelry; that is gold. No silver allowed. Gold only.”

“Even if you’re not going anywhere?”

“The way the contract is written, if some paparazzi breaks into my house, and takes a picture of me in side my own house, in my basement, where there are no windows, and it shows me wearing something other than bright green, I’ll be in breach of contract.”

“Holy cow.” I said. “Psycho controlling much?”

“Yeah.” She said. “When we were younger, all we saw was fame and fortune. Now, Sapphire doesn’t want to get married yet because she doesn’t want to wear a blue wedding dress.”

“So, you’re not the only one who wants to make changes to the contract.” I said.

“We all do.” She said, then corrected herself: “Well, Onyx, doesn’t care much about the color restrictions. She’s the queen of goth, so if it came to it, she’d wear a jet-black wedding dress even if it wasn’t in her contract. But I think she has different reasons to want renegotiations.”

“What about Ruby?” I asked.

“She got a civil union with her girlfriend last summer.” Em said. “But she wants to renegotiate the contract as well. It’s more than just the color restrictions; I’ve been looking into my Scandinavian roots, and I think I’d like to do a more folk-ish album.”

“Are you thinking about leaving the band?” I asked.

“No way.” She said. “We all still love each other. There’s no drama, we just want to look into side projects.”

The conversation had a quiet moment, as all conversations do, and she looked down at something. It was too dark to see, but from the light of the radio, I saw her bring her right foot up and rub a tender spot on her ankle.

I was about to say something, but I saw a blue sign with an ‘H’ on it.

“Hey, do you want me to take you to the hospital?” I asked. “You were just in an accident.”

“There’s usually a police officer hanging around the ER. Yeah.” Em said, and nodded.

I followed the sign to the hospital, and parked in the ER parking lot.

“There’s a cop car sitting over there. If you’re o.k. to go in on your own, I’ll go get the cop, and have him come talk to you.” I said, pulling up to the entrance.

“You’re the best.” She said. “I’ll be right inside.”

She gingerly climbed out, and walked inside. I couldn’t help but notice that she was limping a little on her right. When she was inside, I pulled around and parked, hopped out and walked over to the police car. I knocked on the window and the cop rolled the window down.

“Can I help you?” He asked.

“Yes, I just brought a young lady from an accident where there were two local boys harassing her. I believe they were also poaching deer. And I’m pretty sure she’s going to want them brought in on assault charges.”

“Where did this happen?”

“It was way out in the sticks.” I said. “We drove for about an hour before we found this hospital. We couldn’t call anyone because there was no signal. But I did try to make a recording of what was happening.”

“All right. Let me talk to your friend, and we’ll go from there.” The cop said, getting out of his car. He was in his mid 50’s, but surprisingly sturdy. I led him into the ER and up to Emerald.

“Good evening, ma’am.” He said. “I understand you had a run in with a couple of fellows earlier tonight?”

“Yes, officer.” She said. “I swerved to miss a deer in the road, and the next thing I knew, I was upside down in a ditch. Then these two men pulled my door open, and pulled me out rather roughly. At first, I thought they were trying to help me, but then they stuck a gun in my face and blinded me with a flashlight.”

“Do you remember where this happened?” He asked. “Route number, or landmarks, or anything?”

“No, sorry.” Em said, then looked up quickly. “Wait! My car has a monitored security service. Getting into that accident would have triggered it.”

“Yeah, I seem to remember hearing something about an accident out on 389 coming over the radio.” The officer said.

“That’s probably it.” Em said.

“That will make finding it easy.” He said and turned to me to take my statement. Then, as he was putting his note pad away, he scratched his head.

“I don’t mean to be rude, ma’am, but are you a singer?” He asked.

“Yes.” She said with a familiar smile. “I’m Emerald from Jewelz.”

“I thought so.” The officer said. “I recognized you from a poster on my daughter’s wall.”

“Oh!” She said, and her smile automatically got bigger. “Do you have your phone?”

“Right here.” He said, pulling it out of his pocket. He pulled up the camera and moved to stand right next to Emerald.

“What’s your daughter’s name?” Em asked.

“Courtney.” He said with a touch of pride.

“Courtney is a pretty name.” She said, and the officer thanked her as he pointed the camera at them and hit the record button. Emerald smiled at the camera.

“Hi Courtney!” She said, and showed a peace sign. “Never forget your dreams. It’ll take hard work, but it’s worth it.”

She paused and looked at the officer before adding: “You’ve got an awesome dad.”

“Oh, now stop.” The officer said out of humility. He stopped the recording, and put the phone away. “Thank you. My daughter will love that.”

“I mean it.” Em said. “You guys have a job that goes largely unappreciated.”

“It’s a calling.” He said. “And speaking of calling. I’d better call this in, and get out there.”

The officer said good bye and left. But after him came one of the orderlies, asking for a selfie pic with her.

Several other people, staff of the hospital mostly, also asked for pictures and autographs. I stood around awkwardly. I realized that my 15 minutes of fame was up, so I should just go, but I didn’t want to simply vanish, I wanted to at least say goodbye.

After the nurses and orderlies were dragged away to make their rounds, I sat down next to her. She grabbed my hand and smiled apologetically.

“The cost of fame, I guess.” She said. Both of us sat there, not speaking for a long moment.

“Yeah, so I uh...”

“Right yeah.” She said, and pulled out her phone. “Let me have your number.”

I was momentarily stunned. A famous, beautiful, talented woman was asking for my phone number. I stumbled over my words for a minute, before finally spitting it out. She giggled, and then gave me her personal cell number.

“Yeah, so, um.” I said. “What did the doctor say?”

“Well, I’ve only had a chance to talk to the triage nurse so far. But now that I’ve calmed down, I can definitely feel a couple of bruises, probably from the accident.”

“There’s signal here, so you’ll probably call your agent, or someone, and they’ll send a limo and a PR rep or something.” I said, more like a question than anything.

“You have to go, don’t you?” She said.

Suddenly I was sad. This was a dream come true; my dream come true, and here it had to end. Of course, it had to end; we were in completely different worlds.

“Yeah.” I said. “But, I’m glad to have met you.”

“I’m more glad than you will ever know that I met you.” She said.

“Oh geez, don’t let the media get a hold of that sound bite.” I said, looking around. “Emerald falls for a fat, balding trucker. Not the headline you want to be remembered for.”

She giggled, probably harder than she meant to.

“Listen.” She said, grabbing both of my hands. “You were there for me when I needed a hero. It was probably the darkest time in my life; I don’t remember ever being so scared. And then there you were, like a guardian angel. You just appeared out of nowhere.”

“I’m no angel.” I said, feeling a bit squeamish from all the praise. “Just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

She let go of my hands and reached into her purse. She pulled out an emerald green credit card and put it into my hands.

“I want to help you.” She said.

“I can’t take this.” I said.

“Please take it.” She said. “It has a $10,000 spending limit.”

“Oh my goodness.” I said, trying to think of something to say. That much money would have been a real blessing for me right then. But I couldn’t just take someone’s credit card. “What? Are you-? I can’t-I”

“You need money, you can’t tell me you don’t.” She said. “And I have plenty. This is a token, a drop in the bucket. You need to pay for CDL school, as well as living expenses, and on top of that, you still have to pay child support. I know you want to give your kids a better life, why else would someone who loves his children as much as you spend so much time away from them?”

I was still speechless. I just couldn’t believe what was happening.

“You are not going to swoop in, save my life, and then go sleep in your jeep.” She continued. “I won’t have it.”

I was overwhelmed. I tried to say something, anything, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even think of anything sarcastic to distract or deflect what she was saying. I hate to admit it, but I almost started crying. She must have picked up on that because she changed the subject slightly.

“Where is the school?”

I told her the name of it, and the address, and she nodded.

“Never heard of it.” She said, and we both laughed. “Don’t lose that card. It gets paid off at the end of every month.”

A nurse came into the triage office. “Miss Emerald? Come with me, please.”

“I have to go, and so do you.” She said. She hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be fine. And we’ll see each other again, don’t worry.”

She got up and followed the nurse back to a room, pausing once to wave at me.

And just like that she was gone. I sat there for a minute wondering if all that had really just happened, or if it was my imagination.

There was nothing left for me to do other than continue on to the CDL school and become a truck driver. I stuck Emerald’s credit card in my wallet before leaving.

One month later, I passed the CDL road test, and that marked my graduation from the school. I’d gotten several conditional pre-hire letters, and all I had to do then was pick a company to work for.

I pulled the school’s Freightliner back into the school parking lot from the road test and the D.O.T. officer let out a whistle.

“Now that is a truck.” He said.

“What?” I asked.

“That.” The Officer said, pointing over to the student parking area.

Away from all the other cars in the parking lot was a huge emerald green custom Kenworth with yellow flames on the hood. The truck was brand new with a sleeper at least twice the normal size. Painted on the sleeper was a mural of a deer jumping out of some trees.

“Wow. I wonder who’s that is.” I said.

“I don’t know.” The officer said. “If I didn’t have to head back to my office, I’d check it out.”

I climbed down out of the cab of the school’s truck, and headed over to my jeep. Before I got there, however I heard a familiar voice. I looked from the big Kenworth over to my jeep, and saw a little emerald green porche’ parked next to my jeep. Emerald was standing next to the porche’ just beaming.

“Well hi!” I said, and walked over to her. She threw her arms around me, and I hugged her back. “So, how are you?”

“I’m good.” She said.

“I see you got your Porche’ back.”

“No, this is a different one.” She said and laughed.

“A different one? Well, I guess that makes sense.” I said.

“Yeah, the insurance company totaled it, and wrote me a check. And because it’s in my contract, the record company had to spring for a new one.” She said, and we both laughed.

“So, did the doctor find anything? You didn’t break any bones, did you?” I asked.

“What the accident?” She asked. “No, just a few bruises. But speaking of that night, you might be called upon to testify in the court case against those two guys.”

“That’s fine. You’ve got my number.” I said. “Call me, and I’ll be there.”

“Awesome.”

“What are the guys being charged with? Aggravated assault, attempted sexual assault, poaching?”

“Not poaching.” Em said. “There’s not enough evidence to move forward with that charge, so the D.A. isn’t even going to pursue it. I mean, it’s obvious they were poaching, but the only proof is that they had a flashlight and a rifle, and that’s pretty thin.”

“Yeah, I see your point.” I said. “But the other stuff?”

“Oh yeah.” Em said, with an evil smirk. “They are so going down. But enough about them, I hear that congratulations are in order. You now have a CDL?”

“Yes I do.” I said. “And I could not have done it without you.”

“Yes you could have.” She said. “I know because you were going to anyway. Now, as a graduation present, I got you a little something.”

“What?! Now way.” I exclaimed, I knew she was talking about the truck, but I couldn’t let myself believe it.

“Come on, let’s check it out.” She said, and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the emerald green Kenworth.

We climbed into it, and I looked around trying to take it all in.

“This is too much.” I said. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“Oh come on. This cost less than my porche’.” She said. “You’ve got a small fridge, and single burner stove, microwave, cabinets, a desk for your laptop, lots of seating, a bathroom with a shower stall, and tadaaa, a queen size bed.”

“Holy crap! A queen size bed?” I said.

“Right here.” She said leaning on the mattress.

“Oh man. I don’t know what to say.” I said.

“You don’t need to say anything.” She said, and slid back a little further on the bed.

I didn’t notice, however because I was looking around the truck.

“I saw the deer painted on the side.” I said. “The artwork is impeccable.”

“I was going to have them paint a larger version of my shoulder tattoo, but I decided that a deer jumping from the woods would be more fitting.” She said, and I chuckled.

“Your shoulder tattoo?” I asked. “As opposed to what? I didn’t know you had any other tattoos.”

“Why don’t you come over here and find out.” She said. It was at this point that I realized she’d been scooting back farther and farther onto the bed.

I decided that the time for talking was over.

You’re probably expecting me to go into a long description of what happened next, clearly describing sights, sounds, sensations, and whether or not she had any more tattoos. Well, too bad, that memory is for me, and me alone.

I’m not sure how long we dozed, it probably wasn’t more than 20 minutes or so. But suddenly she jerked awake and looked around. We were laying on the bed, facing each other, our arms and legs all wrapped up in each other.

“If this is a dream, I never want to wake up.” I said, and she gave a contented sigh.

“That would be nice.” She said, and then added with a sigh: “But I have to go.”

“No, stay.” I said. “Just a little longer.”

“I have a concert to play tonight, and you have to go see your kids.” She said, sitting up.

“So, now I’m afraid to ask: what happens with us?” I asked.

“We both go back to work.” She said.

“I still have to decide which company I want to work for.” I said.

“You own a truck now, can’t you go into business for yourself?” She asked, pulling her pants on.

“No.” I said. “No company is going to hire an owner operator until they have worked for at least a year driving over the road, or cross country as some call it.”

“Oh.” She said. She paused for a moment before sliding her shirt quickly over her head. “Well, then, park the truck, and chose a company; Easy.”

“I’ve got my eye on one company.” I said. “I liked what the recruiter had to say when he was here.”

“See? Easy.” She said. She paused and pulled out her phone. “What’s your e-mail address?”

I told her, and then I had to spell it for her. I’m used to having to spell my name, but it still makes me laugh.

“Why couldn’t your name be Dave?” She asked.

“It’s a tradition.” I said. “My full name is Iyohud Thoriondus Gazortenplatz XIII”

She looked at me in open mouthed stunned silence for a minute. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“So, Gaz.” She said, recovering. She looked at her phone, and began working on the touch screen. “I am going to e-mail you my home address, as well as my travel plans, both on tour and off. Whenever we are going to be near each other, I want you to call me.”

“Oh, absolutely.” I said, leaning forward.

“In three weeks I’m going to be playing a concert near where your kids live.” She continued, tying on her shoes. “I’m going to put you and your daughter on the guest list.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I want to meet her.” Em said. “Let her know how much of a hero her father is.”

“She is going to explode with excitement.” I said. My cell phone’s e-mail sound chimed. I glanced in the direction of my pants, and decided I should probably get dressed

She leaned over and kissed me before leaving.

“Oh hey. Let me get your credit card back to you.” I said. She looked at me curiously.

“No, that’s your card.” She said. “I want you to keep it. Keep it, and use it.”

“Really?” I asked. “Wow. I’m speechless.”

“You deserve it.” She said. She climbed into the front seat and opened the door. “I mean it. Call me.”

Did I call her? You bet your ass I called her.