Highway Time (standard:travel stories, 4609 words)
Author: Jenn Jenkinson	Added: Feb 25 2002	Views/Reads: 3993/2578	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Highway Time is a modern day "good Samaritan" tale about a kind hearted musician and the young soul that crosses his path one day.

HIGHWAY TIME 

The big older Pontiac sped along eating up mile upon mile of highway. 
The driver slouched indolently behind the wheel, his left elbow resting 
comfortably on the car window fingers steadying the wheel but not 
gripping it, tapping in time to the classic rock on the radio.  His 
right hand gripped the wheel at almost the top, but even that grip was 
relaxed, almost lazy.  His rich hazel eyes were hidden behind aviator 
style sunglasses.  He had a strong chin with a neatly trimmed goatee 
which matched his equally neatly trimmed short black hair. 

The highway he was on stretched the length of the country, The
Trans-Canada Highway, and he was driving west from the prairies towards 
the West Coast.  The Rocky Mountains stretched before him, running 
north to south, like an impenetrable barrier.  But Evan Kirby knew 
better; the highway found its winding way through mountain passes 
across the continental divide over several ranges ending in the Pacific 
Coastal Range and the sea.  There by the sea, on the great Fraser River 
Delta which two million or more souls called home, lay Vancouver:  a 
port city, a crossroads of the world.  But the draw there for Evan was 
the rich and bountiful entertainment industry.  Evan Kirby was a guitar 
player.  He had played with an assortment of bands in prairie towns and 
cities but, drawn to classic rock and the new innovative sounds coming 
out of some of the west coast studios, had decided to try his luck in 
Vancouver.  After all, he had reasoned, the weather's warmer there too. 


The car was a cluttered mess and a Marshall amplifier took up more than
half of the back seat. Some fast food bags and beverage cups littered 
the floor.  On the seat beside him was a Calgary newspaper, a copy of 
Guitarplayer Magazine and a couple of CD's.  As the car cruised further 
into the mountains the Calgary radio station he had been listening to 
started to crackle and break up.  Evan steadied the wheel with a couple 
of fingers only and loaded a CD into the player.  The car was filled 
with the sound of Led Zepplin as he cruised through the Banff National 
Park Gates. 

Just west of the Banff townsite there were a couple of hitchhikers along
the road.  The first two were a grubby looking pair of men which Evan 
barely looked at.  But his eyes were drawn to the slim girlish figure 
standing alone clutching a small pack to her side almost as though it 
were a teddy bear.  The wind was blowing her long straight blonde hair 
wildly from beneath her hat, a crocheted close-fitting soft turquoise 
cap.  She wore a pair of flared, faded and somewhat tattered blue jeans 
and a shirt that was a tight fitting long sleeved soft knit fabric in a 
darker turquoise than her hat with a dragon boldly painted acrosss the 
front.  Evan whistled under his breath as he pulled over to pick her 
up.  'Geez, she's just a kid.' he thought, 'They just get younger.' 

She seemed to struggle to pull open the passenger door and he was again
struck by how young and fragile she looked.  She put her bag on the 
seat between them and managed a shy smile at him before her eyes slid 
selfconsciously to her hands in her lap.  "Thanks."  she said in a near 
whisper. 

Evan put the car back into gear and glanced over his shoulder before
accelerating back onto the highway.  He glanced sidelong at his 
passenger, wondering what she was running away from. "How far you 
going?" he asked. 

"Vancouver."  she murmured softly, still only one word. 

Evan chuckled lightly to himself.  "Great," he told her, "I'm headed
there too, you're in luck." 

"Thanks." she whispered again. 

Evan concentrated more on his driving now as the road wound it's way
through some of the most spectacular scenery on the continent, the 
highway clung to mountainsides and traversed canyons and wound through 
rocky valley floors.  He cast occasional surrepetitious looks at the 
girl beside him.  She, for her part, was absolutely silent but her eyes 
watched the passing scenery with something akin to reverence. 

The Led Zepplin CD ended and Evan reached for the other case on the seat


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