Page 80 of The Trip of a Lifetime

‘I very much doubt a serial killer is prowling the northern shores of Prince Edward Island,’ she said. ‘And are they going to take out a producer and a film crew too? It’s more likely we’ll come across a lovely local or a tourist. Come on, what’s happened to your new-found sense of adventure?’

‘It might be all used up,’ Erin said, but Martha wasn’t listening. She was hoisting her rucksack up onto her back and already walking away from the front of the guest house. Noah looked less than delighted but he shook his head when Erin suggested they just give them a lift. So the three set off on foot with Cally and her car trailing a little behind them.

The road back towards the south of the island was devoid of any traffic, which was just as well because there wasn’t a pavement. It was pretty, though. The landscape was fairly flat, green and lush, and had the odd property set back from the road down little tracks. They were mostly covered in white-painted boards and Erin wondered out loud if there was some sort of covenant on what could be built here.

‘I imagine so,’ Martha said when she voiced this. ‘They will want to maintain the picturesque look of the place. I doubt they’d want a block of flats shoved up.’

They’d been walking for twenty minutes when they came to a café and what might be considered a hamlet as there were a number of properties too.

‘I think we should treat ourselves to a coffee and see if anyone is going into town,’ Martha said, but Erin didn’t hold out a lot of hope as it was so quiet and there was only one car out the front.

‘Thank God,’ Noah breathed.

The bell jingled above the door as they opened it and they walked into a lovely little place where a couple of people were eating brunch. Martha approached the woman behind a counter and asked for two coffees.

‘Can you do them to go, please,’ she said. ‘We’re in a race and trying to get the ferry to Caribou at three.’

‘Oh, you’re the TV people. We heard you were coming. My daughter was up at the museum yesterday trying to get in shot, bless her.’ She stopped what she was doing and looked at her watch. ‘Why are you in here getting coffee if you’re in a race? You’ll miss that crossing.’

‘We’re running out of cash and were trying to get a lift but not a single car has passed us. I wonder if we could use your phone too and call a cab, please.’

‘You can, but that will be costly. Let me see if my daughter is about, I’ll just bet she’d love to give you guys a lift. You can tell her all about the show.’

‘That would be amazing, but surely you’re not old enough to have a daughter that drives?’

Erin looked at her grandmother. Had she completely lost the plot? Too much, she wanted to say. That’s the sort of cringy compliment a man might try, but the woman was laughing and touching her hair.

‘Oh, bless you for saying that, but Bronwyn is twenty-five.’

‘Same as Erin here,’ Martha said with a big desperate smile plastered on her face.

The woman disappeared through a door to the back and Erin rounded on her grandmother.

‘Really? You can’t possibly be old enough,’ she said in a simpering voice and then stopped when she remembered Noah was just behind her.

‘Oh, shut it,’ Martha said. ‘I’ll do anything to get on that ferry by three.’

Bronwyn was a sparky woman, slightly overexcitable perhaps but Erin was just delighted to be in her car on the way to the ferry with every chance of getting the three o’clock crossing. They even had two complimentary coffees. Noah was also very happy not to be trudging down the road with his camera.

‘It’s just so exciting,’ Bronwyn said as she took off at quite a pace. Erin held onto her seat belt and Noah held tight to his camera. ‘Are you winning?’

‘Not yet,’ Martha said. ‘But this lift might help us to jump up a bit. We really do appreciate it.’

While Martha nattered away with Bronwyn in the front, Erin watched the world go by out of her window. It was beautiful really, this rolling countryside with pretty houses and rivers and lakes, but Erin felt a strong tug for home. She missed her crappy flatshare and even her grumpy flatmate, Sue. She was tired of being on the road now and could quite easily call it a day. Martha seemed full of beans somehow, though. They would not be giving up. The end was in sight. She looked at the map again and thought about the sixteen-hour ferry with a little dread. There were only three a week. The next one to go was in two days. They had a deadline or they would be out of the race, she was sure.

Bronwyn dropped them at the road leading down to the port and Martha was hugging her as Erin climbed out of the car. The coffee had done nothing to energise her.

The tickets were $11.50, just as the guy from the bus station had told them, and by three they were sailing away from Prince Edward and onto Nova Scotia.

‘What’s up?’ Martha asked her as Noah disappeared inside the ferry.

They decided to sit outside on the deck as the ferry departed but it was a little windy. Erin’s hair was blowing in her face and Martha had pulled the hood of her jacket up.

‘Just a bit tired, a bit homesick actually,’ she said.

‘Hardly surprising,’ Martha said, taking Erin’s hand and holding it in her own lap. ‘I’m surprised you haven’t been homesick before. It’s probably just because the finish line is in sight and you know you’ll be going there soon enough.’

‘You’re probably right,’ Erin said. ‘I wonder where everyone else is?’