There's Always Tomorrow (Immortal Series) (27 page)

Driving across
country with Sophie was proving to be quite an experience.
 
She wanted to see everything.
 
She’d never seen the Liberty Bell, nor
had she tasted a genuine Philly Cheese steak sandwich.

“You’ve got to
be kidding.
 
Haven’t you ever been
out of New York?” Tony asked, disbelievingly.
 
“Everyone’s had a Philly steak.
 
Look, we have an extra day or two, how about we take a
slight detour and grab a sandwich from Geno’s?”

“Geno’s?”
Sophie repeated.
 
“Does he fix good
steak sandwiches?”

Tony
laughed.
 
“The best!
 
That is, if you’re not asking a fan of
Pat’s.
 
People have known to come
to blows over which steak is the best.
 
Then we’ll see the bell, and maybe I’ll even show you the statue of
Rocky.”

Sophie’s eyes
grew huge.
 
“Rocky Balboa?”
 
She couldn’t believe it.
 
It was one of her all time favorite
movies.
 
She loved him.
 
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” she exclaimed.
 
“This trip is going to be awesome!
 
I’m glad you thought of it, darling.”

“Anything for
you, kid.
 
Stick with me and I’ll
show you the world.”
 
Tony felt
pretty good about himself, at that precise moment.

“Really?
 
Anything?”

Tony noticed
Sophie had an unusual twinkle in her eye, and it made him a little
nervous.
 
He swallowed, before he
nodded.
 
“Anything,” he said,
quietly.

“Good!” she
practically shouted.
 
“Take me to
Metropolis.”

“Where?”
 
Was he in a bad television series?

“I want to see
Metropolis, Illinois, and the statue of the real Superman.”

Tony broke out
in such a fit of laughter that he had to concentrate on the wheel.
 
He could barely see the road from his
tears.
 
“Oh, Sophie,” he said, after
catching his breath.
 
“You do know
that Superman is a comic book hero.
 
There is no Metropolis.”

“Oh yes there
is, Mr. Know-it-All.
 
It’s in
Illinois.
 
I saw an article in the
newspaper, when I was thirteen.
 
There’s a statue and a museum, and everything.
 
So, can we go?
 
You promised,” she whined.

Tony glanced at
his wide-eye wife sitting so comfortably beside him.
 
Her beauty still took his breath away.
 
He thought, at that moment, he was the
luckiest man on earth, and he knew he’d do anything she asked.

“Sure,
sweetie.
 
Why not?
 
Got any other points of interest you
have to see?”
 
Tony had asked, but
he didn’t expect her to respond in the affirmative.
 
He couldn’t believe what he heard.

“Popeye!
 
In Chester.
 
I want to see the birthplace of Popeye.
 
Then there’s Mastodon State Park.
 
They have the bones of a real, live
Mastodon.”

“A real live
one, eh?” Tony muttered.

“Yes.
 
You know what a Mastodon is, don’t you,
Tony?
 
It’s a very big, hairy
elephant.
 
They’re extinct now,
because it was too expensive to feed them, I think.”

“What?” he
turned to stare at Sophie.
 
Was she
serious?

“Then I just
have to see Elephant Rock.”

“More
Mastodons?” Tony groaned.

“No, you
silly.
 
These are elephants that
turned into rocks, or something.
 
Just imagine…huge, rock elephants.
 
We’ve just got to see them.”

“Sophie, when I
said we could take a few side trips, I didn’t exactly mean we’d see every giant
ball of twine between New York and New Mexico.”

“Ball of
twine?
 
I didn’t say anything about
wanting to see that.
 
Yuck.
 
That sounds stupid.”
 
She rolled her eyes.

“But you want
to see a rock elephant and the real Popeye?”

“Yes.
 
Exactly.
 
And that’s just in Missouri.
 
I did a paper in school once, on the entire Midwest.
 
There’s tons of things to see.”

“Sophie, I do
need to get to New Mexico at some point.
 
You’ll have to pick the most important sites.
 
We don’t have forever.”

Silence filled
the car, while Sophie sat in quiet contemplation.
 
Tony could sense her mind working on her dilemma.
 
“Well?
 
Don’t you have anything to say?” Tony finally asked.

“I do.
 
What’s your hurry?
 
You never slow down and take your
time.
 
It’s not like you’re going
to grow old and die, anytime soon.
 
If I can take the time, so can you.
 
Now, feed me.
 
The baby and I are famished.”
 
She turned her head to look out at the scenery rushing by.

Tony
smiled.
 
She understood things he
did not.
 
Maybe he really was the
silly one.
 
“You’ve got a point,
sweetheart.
 
We’ll see everything,
no matter how long it takes.
 
If
it’s good with you and the baby, then what do I have to complain about?”

“Exactly,” she
said happily.
 
“Oh, look over
there.”
 
She pointed across the
highway to a huge, pink, concrete pig.
 
“It’s barbeque!
 
Stop!” she
squealed.

“But it’s only
9:45 in the morning, precious.
 
How
can you even think of eating that stuff?”
 
Tony grimaced at the mere thought of greasy pork and sauce, oozing over
a soggy bun.
 
“Besides, they aren’t
going to be open.”
 
He hoped.

“Twenty-four
hours!
 
It’s printed on the
sign.
 
Hurry, Tony.”
 
Sophie was sitting on the edge of her
seat.
 
What was he to do?

After traveling
three miles, looking for a turnaround, and risking life and limb to cross four
lanes of traffic, Tony managed to pull into the rutted parking lot,
safely.
 
Shaking his head in
dismay, he grumbled, “This had better be worth it.”

He got out and
walked over to his wife’s side of the car.
 
Upon reaching her car door, he noticed she had become
quieter.
 
In fact, she didn’t look
well.
 
“Sophie?
 
Sweetheart, are you okay?
 
You don’t look like you feel well.”

Tony opened the
car door just in time for Sophie to turn her head and hurl all over his
trousers.
 
“For God’s sake,
Sophie!” he shouted.
 
No sooner had
he felt the hot wetness upon his leg, than his own stomach recoiled and he had
to run to the rear of the car.
 
Within moments, both husband and wife were bent over in the parking lot,
making quite a scene.

It didn’t take
the proprietor long to come rushing out, shouting at them to leave,
immediately.
 
He didn’t care that
poor Sophie was having her first bout with morning sickness, or that Tony was
throwing up his socks.
 
“It ain’t
good for business,” he kept yelling.
 
“As it is, I’ll have to spend an hour just cleanin’ up the stench.
 
If’n you’re gonna puke some more…do it
elsewhere.
 
I got a business to run
here.
 
Now, git!”

Tony wiped his
mouth on his sleeve and waved, weakly, at the fat man.
 
After getting a good look at the
proprietor, he was glad he and Sophie would not be eating off the Pork Belly
BBQ menu.
 
They’d probably end up
with ptomaine.

“Yeah, yeah,”
he groaned.
 
“We’re leaving.”

He remembered
seeing an Amoco station just down the road.
 
They would be able to clean up, there.
 
Tony climbed into the Porsche, and
started for the highway.
 
Just as
he reached the entrance to the parking lot, a station wagon pulled in, carrying
a family with a load of kids.
 
Feeling ornery and wanting to get even with the unsympathetic owner, he
lowered his window.

“You might want
to think twice about going in there.
 
The wife and I got really sick.”
 
Sophie looked awful.

The driver
glanced at the fat man in the parking lot, hosing something down.
 
By the disgusted look on the man’s
face, it must have been something nasty.
 
His wife placed her hand on his arm and shook her head.

“Thanks,
mister.
 
Wouldn’t want to get the wife
and kids sick.
 
We’re goin’ to
Branson and don’t have time for that.
 
Thanks again.”
 
He turned
the car around and followed the shiny black Porsche back to the highway.

The fat man
looked up.
 
“Well, I’ll be damned,”
he cursed.

Color slowly
returned to Sophie’s face.
 
“Branson?” she asked, hopefully.

“No way in
hell, sweetie,” Tony replied.
 
“Look at us.
 
We’re finding
a clean hotel, take a hot bath and relax.
 
You’re pregnant and I’m exhausted.
 
We’ll hit the road again, tomorrow.”

“Will I still
get to see the Liberty Bell and eat the steak sandwiches?” she asked.

Tony
chuckled.
 
“Yes, darling.
 
We’ll do it all.
 
But next time, we’ll remember you’re
pregnant and we’ll keep the food reasonable.
 
I’ll get you something to take with you, for the…the…you know.
 
If you feel sick, you can aim for it,
instead of my trousers.”

”I’m truly
sorry, Tony.
 
I’ve never had a
smidgen of morning sickness.
 
It
must be the car ride.
 
I hope I
won’t be sick everyday.”

“Me, too.”

* * *

Needless to
say, none of the famous sights lived up to Sophie’s expectations.
 
Her tummy hadn’t tolerated the long
awaited Philly steak sandwich and the Rocky Balboa statue was anti-climatic.
 
Metropolis turned out to be a snoozy
little hamlet.
 
It didn’t look at
all like what she had dreamed.
 
Where were the skyscrapers?
 
The Daily Planet?
 
The
Superman statue was all right, but she got the distinct impression that the
townsfolk thought of him as a cartoon character; not the protector of truth,
justice and the American way.
 
Popeye was cool, but the Mastodon was just bones.
 
She thought they’d have at least one in
a cage for her to look at.

The biggest
disappointment, for Sophie, was the Elephant Rocks.
 
Tony was amazed at their size and texture.
 
It was a natural wonder, he thought,
and he was glad they hadn’t missed it.
 
He took some great photos.

Sophie,
however, was totally bewildered.
 
She couldn’t see one elephant in the bunch.

“But I thought
they were all elephants, or at least, they resembled elephants.”
 
These are just big, smooth, boulders.”
 
Her bottom lip stuck out as she pouted
all the way back to the car.

Tony couldn’t
believe her.
 
“You’re how old?”

Sophie shrugged
him off and refused to answer his taunt.

“Sophie, these
are magnificent.
 
The size, the
smoothness, and the unusual round shapes are quite impressive.
 
I am finally impressed by one of your
‘must see’ destinations.”
 
He
stopped and turned around toward the massive stones.
 
Waving his arms about, he shouted, “Just look at these.
 
Imagine the power of nature that
created them.”

HONK!
 
HONK!

“What?”
 
Tony jumped back, startled at the
impatient honking.
 
There, in the
front seat, sat a very bored, Sophie.

“What am I
going to do with you?” he snarled, as he started the engine.
 
“This may be the longest car trip in
history.”

Sophie
yawned.
 
“I’m sorry, Tony.
 
Don’t get mad.
 
I like the rocks.
 
Really, I do, but I’m just so
sleepy.”
 
Then Sophie broke out in
tears.
 
She sobbed for no apparent
reason.

“Sophie,
sweetie.
 
What did I do?
 
Was it something I said?
 
I’ve loved all your sites.
 
I’m just older than you …”