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Chapter 19
Though Blake was thoroughly convinced the trip to the university was nothing but wasted effort, he felt a wave of excitement well up in him at the prospect of leaving the house.
“Road trip,” he shouted, shaking his head from side to side, his hair tousling about in response. He snatched the keys from Alex and ran for the door to the garage. “I’m driving.”
He opened it and stood momentarily paralyzed, his mouth hanging open in amazement.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. This isn’t a car; this is a wind-up toy.” The compact car was the smallest he’d seen in his life.
“Baby, we don’t have a choice. If we expect to get our mission accomplished in this world, then we need to use whatever means it takes.”
“Even if it means I have to fold my legs eleven times in order to fit in that thing?”
“Exactly. I’m glad to see you’re getting into the spirit of helping JJ.”
He shook his head as he opened the car door. He scrutinized the space—or lack of it—as he tried to size up how he would squeeze his tall frame into the vehicle. He finally climbed in, carefully dragging and arranging his legs in what little space there was.
“Ow. Who was this thing made for? Munchkins?”
“What did you say? I can’t understand you.” Then she giggled. “I think it has something to do with your knees knocking on your chin when you speak.”
“I find no humor in the situation.”
He took a good look around him to familiarize himself with all the knobs and controls of the car. Puzzled, he quickly turned to Alex who had climbed into the other side.
She smiled. Her right hand extended outward palm out. “Keys, please.” She gave a happy little shrug.
“You’re not in London anymore. You’re sitting on the passenger side. And I know you don’t want to go through that whole process of getting out and then getting back in on this side. It’s just easier if you give me the keys.”
Deflated and defeated, he handed over the keys. “But I get to drive home.”
“Of course, sweetheart. Sure.” She inserted the key into the ignition, put the car in reverse and backed out of the garage. His spirits buoyed.
She suddenly stopped. “There’s only one slight flaw in my plan. I’m not exactly sure where I’m going.” She placed her head on the steering wheel. “Okay, I don’t have a clue about where I’m headed.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’m already taking care of it. Geeps knows how to get us there.”
“Geeps?”
“Yeah, look right here.” He pointed to a small digital screen in the middle of the dashboard. “I just programmed in the University of Northern Ohio as our destination.”
The voice spoke. Turn left onto North Pine Boulevard.
“Ooohhh, a GPS system.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said, ‘Geeps.’ Let’s get going. If I stay in this car too long, I’ll never be able to unfold my legs again.”
Once they got on North Pine Boulevard, Geeps took them four blocks. They made another left on Empire Road and then after several miles a right onto Albert Street.
The pair found themselves in the middle of the old industrial center of Bell Wyck. Alex looked bewildered at first. She stared at the aging, rusting empty buildings on one side of the road and the boarded up storefronts on the other. Her eyes got red. Tears ran down her cheeks.
“What’s wrong, love?”
“Look at it. Just look at it. It looks more like a war zone than a city. How could anyone live around here? It’s depressing.”
She waved a hand at the scenery. “It’s really the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this. JJ didn’t write depressing scenes like this in our world. Everything where we come from is beautiful.”
He had to agree. Even he was taken aback by the stark reality of a rusting, deserted Midwest factory town. He had no words to describe it himself.
