sleep in the CR-V but I knew I was going to crash hard. I had only gotten eight hours of sleep during the last four days and I was beat.
Thankfully, last night Miquel had taken me pulling a knife on him in stride. I was very lucky he had been close when he shook me awake so I had instinctively gone for the knife. If he had been further away I would have pulled the sword. A knife he took in stride and just assumed I had it tucked in a pocket. A sword would have been a horse of a different color. I had been waiting in a chair for him to get done making my ID. The chair was a plaid Lazy-Boy recliner. I had not reclined it but it was still sublimely comfortable none the less. I am ashamed to admit I fell asleep.
So that led me to the decision for a motel room. I knew I was going to crash hard and I wanted and needed the added protection of walls around me.
Normally, it only takes me one night and two days to do a resupply. But this time, with the holiday weekend I felt like I had more time and had stretched things out too far. I had been careless and lucky I had not gotten in trouble. I vowed to do better from now on.
I had ended up in Oklahoma because I had come from the north and back tracking was a good way to get killed. There wasn’t too much land left in the US to the west of New Mexico, and none to the south, so that had left east. I had brought my box of Personal Bathroom Stuff and my map in, locked the feeble door lock, chanted an alarm spell that would wake me up if anyone entered the room, and crashed for 7 straight hours. It was now 10 am Monday morning and check out time was noon. I needed to get busy because I had a lot to do.
First I took a shower. The bad thing about dives is they don’t have any travel shampoo like I have seen in TV shows. Thankfully, this dive at least had one small bar of soap and two towels that smelled like bleach even though they were still stained. I died my hair with hair coloring and stained the towels some more. I was mixing things up and had chosen a light blond color for my hair. I had never resorted to being blond before which is why I had chosen that color. I had realized I was becoming too predictable by always choosing brown, black, or red hair color. Otherwise, I think I could have gone my whole life without being a blond. But then again I would have liked to have gone my whole life without knowing about wizards too but that ship sailed a long time ago.
When I was done I dressed in the same clothes as before. What can I say? I think I am finally developing a thick skin when it came to clean clothes.
Finally, it was time to make a decision. Well it wasn’t time for me to make a decision per se but it was time for a decision to be made. I positioned the map against the head board of the bed. I grabbed the dart, stood at the end of the bed, closed my eyes and let the dart fly. When I heard the thump I opened my eyes. It landed on Greybull Wyoming. Nice. That would be a good 20 hour drive.
Now that my old self was completely gone I would find the drive very relaxing. I bet there were some good tourist destinations in Wyoming. Wasn’t the large cliff with the presidents in Wyoming?
Next, came the big decision. Oregon or Michigan. Come on Oregon. Don’t let me down dart of destiny . I chanted as I stepped back, closed my eyes, and let the dart fly. When I heard the thump of the dart hitting the map I opened my eyes again. Shivers ran up my arms and I got goose bumps. Normally, the dart would land somewhere in the middle of my two choices and I had to decide which one it was closer too. However, this time the dart was leaving nothing to interpretation. The dart had landed right in the middle of the lower of the mitten shaped state.
Great, just great. Nice job dart. I thought bitterly to myself.
I gave a resigned sigh. The Goddess had spoken loud and clear. Arguing wouldn’t bring anything but heartache. I sighed again fully committing myself. I was going to Michigan by
Marteeka Karland, Shara Azod
Mina Khan Carolyn Jewel Michele Callahan S.E. Smith