Mama and Eve grab snacks from the rest stop mini-mart while I lounge in the driver’s seat pretending I am grown. Beep beep! I air honk the horn. “Look out world. I’m coming. Are you ready?” But the rumble in my stomach is the only answer I get. It’s past lunchtime.
The road is the only place we are allowed junk food. Normally it’s organic meat. Limp veggies. Strange grains like barley millet and quinoa. Snacks of apple slices and carrot sticks. Beet and sweet potato chips. And forget about Halloween candy or birthday cakes. “When you’re eighteen” Mama says “you can eat all the candy and processed sugar you want since you’ll be paying your own dentist bills!”
But being on the road changes the rules. There’s nothing but gas station food Taco Bells and greasy diners off I-40 West. Mama and Eve walk back to the van now with armfuls of the healthiest junk food they can find. Pretzels honey-roasted peanuts dark chocolate bars and more. I climb into the middle seat and Eve jumps in the back and tears open a bag of baked Lay’s.
“Lemme have a chip!” I say.
Eve plunges her hand into the bag and pulls out a huge handful which she then crushes into her mouth.
“You’re disgusting.”
“Gim-mme-a-kiss!” She leans forward. An avalanche of chip pieces spewing from her mouth.
I crack a smile and snatch the bag from her.
Mama revs the engine and yells: “Seatbelts on!” And then to me: “Are you sure you don’t need to pee?”
“Nope. No thanks! Rest stop bathrooms are gross.”
“Ok. Your choice. But I’m not stopping again until dinner.”
I look at the time on the dashboard. It’s only 2pm. Dinner won’t be until around 7 but the thought of going out into another bathroom and facing the eyes of confused clerks and customers as they try to figure out where I came from makes my stomach knot. Before I can change my mind Mama is speeding out onto the road. I cross my legs and whip my head around. I watch the gas pumps greasy truck drivers and low buildings disappear into a cloud of dirt.