Page 68 of The Trip of a Lifetime

‘It’s imperative,’ Erin said, as if that would somehow make any difference to a bus timetable.

‘You’re in luck. The last bus today goes in five minutes,’ she said as Erin thrust cash at her and the woman thrust the tickets back.

‘No one else will be able to get out of Niagara tonight,’ Erin said to Martha with glee.

‘Not on a bus, but I’m sure there are other options,’ Martha said.

‘Expensive ones, maybe.’ Erin settled back and couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

‘Pride comes before a fall,’ said Martha, but Erin shrugged it off and dropped her bag to the floor. She preferred her grandmother when she was chirpier and more upbeat.

The rain really began to fall as they left the city. Erin watched it sliding down the window in heavy torrents as if the waterfall in Niagara had followed them somehow. She chose to see it as a positive thing, though. As they’d been in first place at the falls, Erin took it to be a very wet slice of good luck.

‘Oh, great,’ Martha said despondently. ‘Torrential rain. That’s a dark omen.’

* * *

They got to Toronto by ten thirty and began to look at the route properly. Now in a major city, there were plenty of options but most of them would be expensive. Martha had stopped what she had called a nice young man in the street and asked if he wouldn’t mind looking up the options on his phone for them. He was in his late teens and had a skateboard tucked under his arm.

‘You really need to be following the Trans-Canada-Highway up through Montreal, past Quebec City to Rivière-du-Loup. Then heading down into New Brunswick towards Edmundston and then Fredericton. You can see that once you get to Moncton you’re just following the fifteen until Port Elgin where you pick up the Trans-Canada again and that takes you all the way to Prince Edward Island.’

‘Okay,’ Erin said, quickly scribbling on a back page of her journal. ‘And how far it that?’

‘That’s 1,700 kilometres. It’s a long way.’

‘We’re used to that,’ Erin said. ‘So, we don’t need to get a ferry to the island?’

‘No, you use the Confederation Bridge. It’s the longest bridge in the world that spans ice-covered water, did you know?’ he said. ‘Twelve point nine kilometres.’

‘Wow. Did you remember that information?’ Erin asked him.

‘Nope, just read it on my phone.’

‘Thank you,’ Martha said. ‘Can I ask you to tell us whether it’s cheaper to get the bus or the train? I assume the train is more expensive.’

‘Significantly more,’ he said, scrolling back through his phone. ‘You can get a bus to Rivière-du-Loup but you’ll have to get connections in Montreal and Quebec City. It’s gonna take you at least twenty hours and that’s about a hundred and forty-nine dollars each. If you want to get the train you’ll be there in more like fourteen hours but that might be up to four hundred dollars each as you haven’t booked in advance.’

‘The bus,’ both Erin and Martha said at the same time, and the lad laughed.

‘Yeah, that’s what I thought. But if you’re going tonight you’ll have to be quick. The night bus leaves at eleven thirty and gets you to Montreal at six in the morning.’

‘You have been brilliant,’ Erin said. ‘Thank you so much and if you smile into Noah’s camera, you’ll probably be on TV in a few months’ time.’

‘Cool,’ he said and then rode off on his skateboard.

Erin was charged with buying the bus tickets and Martha rushed to the nearest store to get some provisions. Then, armed with more cheap crackers and cookies and some fruit, they were onto the 11.30 p.m. out of Toronto with Noah easing himself reluctantly onto the seats behind them and looking wistfully at the producer car out of the back window.

Erin had her journal out and was making notes as soon as they left Union Station bus terminal. She took some pictures with the camera too.

‘Another Canadian city we haven’t really seen,’ Martha said. ‘It’s not much of a holiday, is it?’

‘No, Nana, it’s a race and one that right now, we are winning.’

‘I like your enthusiasm. I’m glad you have enough for the both of us. I’m going to try and get some sleep, though.’

Erin was worried that Priya had really got to her grandmother. Well, Erin had the money now and the tracker. She was going to step up and make sure they kept their lead. In fact, she was going to make sure they extended it too. They would leave Priya in the dust.

Neither of them slept very successfully in the end and as they pulled into Montreal early the following morning, even Erin’s fighting spirit had got the better of her. Martha was definitely flagging.