Chapter 3

I looked out the window at the snowy, country landscape rapidly passing by. I wished I brought my camera to capture the moment as the scenery was beautiful. Every couple of miles or so it seemed the area shifted from snowy hills to snow filled woods and snowy fields. Then again, that’s what it looked like out here in the country during winter. The road was filled with hills, though you couldn’t tell going up and down as they weren’t steep. Well, maybe it was the type of vehicle we rode in but there was no weightless feeling going down or no pull going up the hills.

“Oh, the radio. I thought it was kind of quiet in here. I forgot it was off,” Kate said.

She reached over and turned it on to a pop channel. I glanced left and saw both Eric and Steve playing those 3Ds things. Eric had a red one and Steve’s was blue.

“Hey Eric, what game is that?” I asked him.

“Oh, it’s just Super Mario,” he replied. He didn’t look up as he was dead focused on that game. Back in the day I used to be a gamer like these two. Playing games helped pass the time and it gave me an excuse to say that I was good at something, which at the time wasn’t much. Maybe it was just because I was young, but I had a hard time doing things. I sucked at sports, and I wasn’t popular or very good at school. No matter how hard I worked or studied I just couldn’t be on the same level as the smart kids. Today I don’t really play games, except for the occasional game of Ms. Pacman. Course my social status and grades improved but only after I got into college. Who knows why that was, maybe it was easier for me to work on my own instead of being forced to like in grade school?

I placed my elbow beside the window and held my chin with my fist. I glanced up at Kate.

“So Kate, how far is this lodge of yours?” I asked her.

“It’s not too far,” she said. “Only about twenty minutes from your house. And it’s my family’s lodge that we use for holidays. My dad said we could use it while we’re on break.”

I leaned back in the seat and remembered Rhoda sitting in front of me. I glanced at the side rear-view mirror and saw her reflection looking out the window with a wide-eyed look. Her lips were shaped like a small gentle smile. I sat up, leaned forward, and whispered to her from the side.

“Rhoda, you’re awful quiet up there. Is everything alright?” I asked.

“I’m fine, just enjoying the sights,” she turned back toward me. “I love looking at nature. It’s so beautiful during the winter with all the pretty snow.”

“I like looking at the scenery too. It is pretty this time of year,” I said.

“With classes going on, I barely have time to go outside and play like I used too,” Rhoda looked back out at the zooming scenery. “I don’t get to run around in the woods as often as I used too. I don’t get to frolic like I did in high school.”

“I know. I haven’t had much time to do the things I like either, including working on my book.”

“Oh yeah Stanford,” she turned back toward me with wide eyes. “I know you like writing. You did mention that you were working on a new book. How’s it coming?”

I sighed. “Very slowly. It’s actually taking a little longer to get through than I hoped. I’m only two chapters in right now and it’s supposed to be this long, drawn-out epic.”

“What’s the name of your book?” Rhoda asked.

“Right now, I don’t have an official title yet, but my working title is ‘Harp of the Angels,’ though I intend on changing it to something better later down the road.”

“So, what’s it about?”

“It’s about angels appearing on earth to judge mankind of its sins. The angels cleanse the souls of the unholy and rapture those who are pure into heaven.”

“Ooh,” she said delightfully. “It sounds intense.”

“It also focuses on people who have sinned all their lives, trying to redeem themselves at the end,” I felt my brows lower over my eyes. “The kind of people who only made themselves happy and cared little for those around them only in the end realizing what they did was wrong.”

“Wow,” Rhoda smiled. “That’s a very interesting idea. Well, when you’re finished, I’d love to read it.”

“Alright,” I nodded softly. “Actually, I can let you read a preview of what I’ve written so far. I brought it to work on when we get to the lodge.”

“Yay, that’d be great!” she shouted.

I chuckled. I glanced up slightly and saw Rhoda’s legs. Her short, blue denim shorts quickly caught my attention. “Babe, how can you wear shorts in this type of weather?”

She glanced down at her legs. “You know, cold weather never seems to bother me. I don’t know why. Maybe I’m just cold blooded.”

“Umm, I think you mean cold resistant because cold blooded is what reptiles are. Maybe you just stay hot a lot. I don’t know,” I said.

“Mm, maybe,” Rhoda shrugged her shoulders. “But I don’t really get hot either.”

I shook my head and leaned back in the seat. I didn’t know how she did it. If it were me, I’d freeze my ass off because I can’t stand being cold. I especially hate waking up in the morning when it’s freezing. As I laid back and got comfortable, I heard a loud thump come from the far left.

“Steve!” Kate shouted. “The hell you doing back there?”

“Oh, sorry Kate,” Steve said with a slight rattle in his voice.

Kate pulled over to the side of the road very roughly which shook all of us. Eric’s game slipped out of his hand, fell on the floor, and slid underneath Kate’s seat. As Kate parked the SUV, Eric reached down to get his game. Kate turned around and looked at Steve with a hard frown and whipped back her long blonde hair.

“Kicking my seat, what the hell?” Kate shouted. “I told you about all that damn roughhousing back there!”

“B-but it was an accident I swear,” Steve said with a crackle in his voice.

“I am sick of you and Eric’s shit!” Kate continued to shout. “The whole damn day you two have been annoying the hell out of me. You kick my seat one more time if you want to. See if I don’t drop you out here!”

Kate’s hard frowning face had a big vein throbbing across her forehead. I crossed my arms and frowned at her sternly.

“At ease, Kate. It was just an accident,” I said calmly.

“No Stanford,” she said. “You didn’t see these two earlier. You should have seen the shit these two were doing when we were coming to your house.”

“Yeah but we stopped,” Eric said.

“You know something, Kate? That’s quite a face you got,” I lost my composure and chuckled. “Right now, you look like you’re about to pop, like I could take a pin and prick you and you’d bounce between the damn doors.”

Steve, Eric and Kate looked at me with twisted faces. Rhoda looked over at Kate and let out a chuckle as well. Kate looked at me for a moment. Her frown slowly faded to a focused glare.

“Whatever,” Kate turned around. She put the gear in drive and drove us back onto the road.

Rhoda continued laughing as she tilted her head to the side. “You should have seen Kate earlier, Stanford. She really flew off the handles screaming at Steve and Eric.”

Kate cocked her hard eyes at Rhoda. “Shut up, Rhoda.”

The laughter died down and we all regained our composure. It’s moments like these that reminded me of the people I was with. Though they sometimes fussed and screamed at one another, we all liked each other. I went back to looking out the window and thought about Kate’s anger issues.

She’s always been known for her short fuse. Even the smallest shit sat her off. This was especially awkward as Kate once had a crush on Eric way back in middle school. This was long before she became popular, when she used to hang out with the geeky group. I chuckled as it reminded me of the Big Bang Theory on CBS that had a hot chick hang out with a bunch of nerds. However, as a kid, she still had heavy anger issues. I wanted to tell her for the longest time that she needed anger management, but I knew if I did, she’d just lay me out for it.

I looked over at Eric and Steve playing their games. I leaned my head on the window and look out. A grunting noise came from the front. I looked up and saw Rhoda holding her head, squinting her eyes, and frowned.

‘Rhoda?’ I thought to myself. She gently massaged both sides of her head slowly. I leaned forward slightly.

“Babe, are you alright? Is there something wrong?” I asked her.

She moved her hands away from her head and looked back at me slowly. “M-mm-my head. It just started hurting and I don’t know why.”

“I have some Excedrin in one of my bags. Do you want me to tell Kate to pull over so I can get you some?”

“N-no, that’s alright,” she muttered and trembled.

“Rhoda, are you sure?” I asked. “It’s no problem. I can get them really quick for you.”

“Thanks, but I think I’m alright now,” her shaking stopped. “I can feel it starting to fade.”

I reached through the gap and rubbed her shoulder.

Kate turned right, exiting off the main highway and crossed over a railroad track. We headed down a road surrounded by pine trees on both sides.