Highway Time (standard:travel stories, 4609 words)
Author: Jenn Jenkinson	Added: Feb 25 2002	Views/Reads: 4000/2585	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.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

beside him.  He held it out towards the girl and she looked at him with 
a question in her eyes. 

"Put that on will ya." he said with a grin.  She glanced at the CD and
smiled shyly.  She fumbled a bit with the CD player but managed to get 
Evan's CD in.  The sounds of Treble Charger filled the car.  Though he 
was still watching the road, he smiled as he noticed that she was 
tapping her feet in time to the music.  "You like?"  he asked. 

"Yeah," she said softly, another one-word answer. 

"Cool." he replied.  "They're pretty good, they rock, ya know?  By the
way, I'm Evan." 

She glanced briefly at him and lapsed into silence, her eyes again
falling to study the papers and magazines between them.  When a few 
moments went by without a word from her, Evan tried again. 

"I'm Evan."  he repeated softly,  "What's your name, kid?" 

Her fingers brushed the magazine cover nervously before she finally
spoke,  "I'm Sky," she answered, "and I'm not a kid." 

He gripped the steering wheel a little tighter as the big car negotiated
an especially tight turn with a dizzying drop off on his left, but all 
the same he'd noticed her fingers had passed over a headline which read 
The Sky is Crying - SRV Gone Ten Years  as she had found a voice to 
introduce herself.  He smiled to himself. 

"Okay Sky, pleased to meet you."  he told her.  "So what takes you to
Vancouver?" 

"You do."  she said, with a sarcastic tone. 

Evan laughed deeply and heartily.  She had spirit and spunk for sure, he
thought, maybe after all she was old enough to be out on the road.  She 
laughed nervously too as though relieved he had not become angry at her 
sarcasm. 

The car sped on eating up miles of road.  Past Field, BC as they had
passed from Alberta to the most western province and through Golden.  
As they continued through the valley between one mountain range and the 
next towards Revelstoke, Evan began to feel hungry and tired.  'Time 
for a break,' he thought, then almost guiltily he wondered how long it 
had been since Sky had eaten. 

"We'll be in Revelstoke in about twenty minutes,"  he told her,  "I need
to get gas, and I'm gonna grab a bite, okay?" 

"Okay,"  she said, still watching the ever changing scenery as they sped
along. 

When he slid from the car at the gas station she clung to her backpack
and watched him with something akin to fear in her eyes.  He wondered 
again just what she was running from or perhaps it was running to.  He 
made a half-hearted effort to clean the highway dust and squished bugs 
off the windshield and when he started on her side of the glass he 
waved and winked at her through the window and was pleased when she 
relaxed a little and stuck out her tongue at him. 

He pulled into a twenty-four hour highway diner just down the strip from
the gas station and slid out of the car once more.  Sky hesitated.  
Evan leaned his six foot frame over to peer across the seat at her. 
"You coming?" he asked. 

She got out, still carrying her pack and followed him into the diner,
her shorter legs moving almost at a run to keep pace with his long lazy 
strides.  They were shown to a booth in a quiet corner of the almost 
empty diner and the hostess poured Evan a mug of coffee then left to 
get the glass of cola that Sky had requested.  Evan stirred a couple of 
large spoons of sugar into his black coffee and glanced through the 
menu.  He watched as Sky didn't offer to open her menu but instead idly 
toyed with the cutlery and paper napkin.  The hostess returned with the 
cola and Sky thanked her softly. 

"You're welcome hon," the hostess said, then turned towards Evan.  "Your
server will be with you in a moment." 

He smiled up at her and nodded his thanks.  As she walked away he took a
long swallow of the coffee.  "Man, I needed that." he chuckled.  Sky 
smiled shyly at him and took a tiny sip from her cola, as though trying 
to make it last a long time.  He stretched his legs comfortably beneath 
the table and leaned back lazily in the booth.  "Better eat now,"  he 
told her.  "I'm not planning on stopping except for gas between here 
and the coast, it's gonna be a long night." 

She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and toyed with her straw.  He
was about to say more but decided against further comment as the 
waitress approached with a pad in hand.  He guessed, correctly, that 
she did not have enough money to afford eating.  'I'm a sucker,' he 
thought wryly, 'But what the hell.' 

"Are you ready to order?"  the young woman with the pad asked with a
tired smile. 

"Yeah thanks,"  Ewan said.  "We'll have two cheeseburgers deluxe, with
gravy for the fries." 

"Alright Sir, thank you."  she said, scribbling quickly and picking up
the menus.  Sky stared open mouthed at him as the waitress moved away.  
He grinned at her in mock shock. 

"What?  You do eat, don't you?"  he asked. 

"Evan, I can't pay for this."  she told him.  "I'm kind of broke, you
know?" 

"Yeah, I kind of guessed, Sky."  he answered her.  "It's my treat okay? 
No strings, don't worry. You look like you could use a meal." 

"Thank you."  she murmured.  She took another sip of her cola and
lowered her face away from his again.  He watched her hand as her 
fingertips brushed across her eyes and came away shiny with her liquid 
tears.  'She's crying.' he marvelled.   He stifled his first instinct 
to comfort her  and instead changed the subject. 

"Glad you like Treble Charger,"  he said. "There's a lotta cool stuff
happening in music these days.  I'm kinda hoping I can get in with some 
players in Vancouver and get a regular studio gig, ya know?" 

"You're a musician?"  she asked. 

"Yeah, guitar player."  he said  "Figure I'll get some work out there
pretty easy.  How 'bout you?" 

She took another drink from her cola before replying.  "I'm going to
join my boyfriend." 

He considered that for a moment, wondering if her parents knew she had
up and run after some guy, and also, if the guy had any idea she was on 
the way to join him.  He drained his coffee and caught the waitress 
with just a quick nod and smile for a refill.  As he sweetened the 
coffee once more, he tried to draw her out more. 

"That's cool Sky." he smiled.  "Bet he's happy you're gonna join him. 
Musta been hard to be so far apart, huh?" 

The waitress came back with their cheeseburgers and Sky was silent until
she had left again. Then, as she took her first bite of the burger, she 
mumbled a barely audible answer.  "He don't know I'm coming exactly.  
But he'll be happy to see me, I just know it." 

Evan got the impression she was trying to convince herself.  He took her
lead and started on his own burger, letting the conversation slide for 
a while.  In the light and face to face like this, Evan guessed she 
could not be more than half his age, fifteen maybe sixteen.  After 
getting half way through his meal in silence, he took a long swallow of 
ice water and let his curiousty find voice again. 

"So, your boyfriend," he begain tentatively, "He go out to Van for work
too?" 

She eyed him as though she were considering one of those sarcastic
answers, but his soft hazel eyes met hers with nothing more than 
kindess and concern.  She dipped a fry into the gravy and watched the 
gravy drip from it onto her plate as she spoke.  "I don't know.  He 
just split, ya know?" 

Evan nodded,  "Yeah I remember what that was like.  When I was sixteen,
I just split.  Couldn't handle my parents and teachers telling me what 
to do anymore.  And there was this chick, well ya know, she thought we 
was getting married or something.  And hell, I was only sixteen.  So I 
just split."   He reached for the other half of his burger, 
concentrating on the food once again and letting his words sink in. 

She ate her fries in silence for a while, her free hand nervously
playing with a long strand of her blonde hair.  Finally, she took a 
deep breath and looked away from him, out the window as she spoke,  "It 
wasn't like that.  He's just confused and scared is all.  He'll be so 
happy when I get there.   It'll be okay.  After all, he's gonna be a 
daddy." 

"Damn!"  Evan exclaimed, all pretense of defference gone as his shock
was obvious.  Sky moved uneasily in her seat, taking a hold of her 
backpack as though she was going to simply run.  He quickly recovered 
some of his dispassionate tone and added with a kind smile, 
"Congratulations that’s awesome.  Eat up girl, you're eating for two."  
The waitress came by just then and refilled Evan's coffee mug for the 
third time.  She took Sky's now empty cola glass and asked her if she 
wanted more.  He quickly interrupted and ordered a glass of milk for 
the girl before she could speak.  Sky at first looked angrily at him 
but her face softened to a shy smile before she spoke. 

"Thank you, Evan."  she said.  "That would be good for the baby.  Ryan
would take care of me like that, ya know?" 

"Sure kid,"  Evan agreed, half heartedly.  She did not protest his
choice of words.  They both silently went back to eating. 

Sky finished before him and excused herself to find the ladies room.  He
was surprised that she left her pack with him at the table.  'Perhaps a 
gesture of trust.' he thought.  As he finished his fries between sips 
of the strong black coffee, he wondered what sort of home she had left 
behind and whether she had even considered how she would bring a child 
up on the cruel streets of a big city like Vancouver.  His logic told 
him that she should be going home, certainly her parents must be 
worried and, like any parents, though they would be upset with her 
situation, they would help her.  Sky's own assessment of her boyfriend 
was probably quite correct too, he thought, the kid had run because he 
was scared.  Evan doubted that Sky's sudden appearance in Vancouver 
would change that any. 

She returned to the table just as he gulped down the last of his coffee.
 He grinned at her, as he stood up,  "Finish your milk, I'm just gonna 
recycle this coffee.  Then we'll get on the road." 

She smiled gratefully up at him and took the milk glass in both hands as
he turned away. 

When they got back to the car, he unlocked her door first and held it
for her as she settled herself back on the wide front seat.  He opened 
the trunk and pulled a blanket out.  When he got into the car, he 
draped the blanket across the back of the long front seat.  He noticed 
she was no longer clinging to her back pack but had left it on the seat 
between them.  He motioned to the glove compartment in front of her. 

"There's some more CD's in there."  You're in charge of music, okay?" 

"Okay." she giggled and quickly retrieved the small stack of CD's.  As
he started the car and headed along the service road back to the main 
highway, she was going through each CD, examining the covers.  She 
finally selected Red Hot Chili Peppers just as Evan put his foot down 
and accelerated west again along the highway. 

Evan relaxed into his comfortable driving posture as the big car ate up
the miles.  Beside him, Sky continued to watch the scenery go by but as 
the sun was setting quickly ahead of them the once sharp images were 
becoming indistinct and the mountain peaks, once towering majestically 
over the road, began to blend into the darkening sky behind them.  Evan 
tapped his hands in time to the music and resisted the urge to draw the 
girl into further conversation. 

More than a half an hour had passed when she finally broke the silence
between them.  “Evan?” she asked tentatively. “Yah.”  he drawled 
lazily. 

“If you were sixteen and your girl got pregnant, you’d be pretty scared,
huh?”  she asked softly. 

Evan’s fingers briefly stopped their rhythmic tapping.  “Yeah baby, I’da
been scared shitless.” 

“I know Ryan was scared.” she conceded. “But he tried to hide it, you
know?  Like he was all mad at me and all.  Then I heard from some of 
the kids that he’d split for the coast.  And I got all scared too, you 
know?  Like maybe he was just mad at me.” 

Evan took a deep even breath before he answered her.  “It’s a scary
thing for both of you, Sky. That’s a new life, a new person growing 
inside of you now.” 

“Yeah, I know,” she murmured.  “I don’t know if Ryan can handle that,
you know?  We haven’t known each other long.  Like we met at the roller 
rink where a lotta the kids hang out.  And he was so great, you know.  
And my girlfriends said, ‘Like go for it, he’s so good looking.’   Then 
he invited me to go to this party and, well, you know.....”  her voice 
trailed off.  Evan was struck by the irony that she couldn’t bring 
herself to tell him that she had gone to bed with this so-called 
boyfriend but now found herself carrying his child.  He made no 
comment, waiting for her to continue.  When she spoke again, her voice 
was choked with emotion and unshed tears.  “Now I’ve just gotta find 
him, you know?  I can’t do this alone.  Damn, I’m so scared.” 

Evan glanced sidelong at her, noting her hands were clutched tightly
together in her lap.  The expected tears didn’t come but her face 
turned away from him and she stared out into the growing darkness.  
Evan spoke, without taking his eyes from the highway,  “Sky, you have 
every right to be scared.  But you gotta let that fear work for ya, 
baby.  You’ve got a baby coming now and that baby needs you.  What’s 
best for your baby, Sky?  Running to Vancouver, where you might find 
this Ryan guy and he might help you or not.  That don’t sound too good 
for you or your baby, ya know?” 

“I know.”  she whispered, then sobbed almost desparately, “But I can’t
go home now!  Mom and Dad, don’t even know I’m pregnant.  They’d kill 
me.”  When her tears came, they were silent. 

Again Evan resisted his first urge to comfort her.  ‘God.’ he thought,
‘You’re in way too deep here Evan, this is a kid, having a baby!’  He 
drove in silence as she cried herself out.  Finally when she calmed a 
bit he spoke again. 

“Sky, I don’t think you’re giving your parents enough credit.  After
all, girl, they raised you.  And look at all the courage and smarts 
you’ve got.  To be out here at all took guts, girl.  Maybe you should 
think about telling them where you are, you know.  And what’s been 
going on.  Then just see what happens.  You can call when we get down 
close to Vancouver, then if you don’t hear what you want, you don’t 
have to do anything about it.  Just go on and look for Ryan.  That’s if 
you still think he wants to be found.” 

She was silent for so long that Evan was unsure if he’d gone too far. 
Finally, she sniffled a couple of times and turned from the darkness 
towards him.  “You really think it’d be okay? My parents, I mean.”  she 
asked. 

“Yeah baby,” he assured her. “They’ll be upset, of course, but it’ll be
fine.” 

“I’ll think about it, Evan.  ‘Cause Ryan, ya know, he’s too scared I
think.”  she said into a silence made more profound by the fact that 
the CD had just ended.  Evan smiled in the darkness. 

Sky changed the CD again, sliding Goo Goo Dolls into the player. 
Shortly after that, Evan noted that she had slipped into a far more 
relaxed posture.  Within a couple of miles, she had slumped over onto 
her backpack which made a good pillow.  He reached behind him and 
pulled the blanket down from the back of the seat, spreading it across 
her sleeping form as best he could. Evan hummed to himself as the big 
Pontiac continued eat up the miles, winding down through the Fraser 
Canyon towards the coast. 

Hours later, as Evan decelerated into a service road in Abbotsford, Sky
stirred beside him.  She yawned, stretched and rubbed the sleep from 
her eyes.  When she sat upright, he saw her glancing around, trying to 
get some bearings, the post midnight darkness combined with the nearby 
brightness of street and neon lighting completely hid any landmarks 
from view and Evan wondered if she would have recognized them in any 
case. 

“We’re in Abbotsford, sleepyhead.”  he told her.  “Almost there. 
Thought I’d stop for a coffee and maybe if you still wanna make that 
call....”  he trailed off, leaving the thought unfinished. 

“Umm Evan, I’d have to call collect.”  she said softly.  “I really
didn’t bring much with me.” 

He pulled in to an all night diner parking lot and parked next to the
building where a neon blue strip lit up a pay phone.  He turned to face 
her, reaching across the back seat for his jacket as he spoke,  “So 
call collect.  I’m betting they won’t mind much about a few bucks for a 
phone call, just so they know their girl’s okay, ya know?”  Without 
waiting for her response, he slid from the car and she watched his 
retreating form enter the diner. 

When he returned with a large styrofoam coffee cup in his hand, she was
standing shivering in front of the phone.  Evan put the coffee onto the 
roof of the big Pontiac and grabbed the blanket from the front seat.  
She looked sidelong at him as he draped it round her shoulders and her 
hesitant fingers picked up the receiver.  He stepped a respectful 
distance away as she placed the call, picking up the coffee and staring 
into the darkness.   It took a few moments for the operator to connect 
the call and she looked up at him with fear in her pretty eyes.  He 
gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile and a thumbs up from the 
hand not holding the coffee.  Then her full attention went to the phone 
and he knew he had gambled right and her parents had accepted the call. 


“Daddy,” she said uncertainly.  Then, “Daddy I’m okay.  I’m in
Abbotsford.”  Another pause and then,  “I hitchhiked, I was looking for 
Ryan.”  She listened a long time and cast a tear-filled glance at Evan. 
 He nodded as positively as he could at her.  At last she spoke again, 
her voice shaking, “Daddy I have something to tell you...”  a short 
pause, then her words came in a sobbing rush, “I’m pregnant.  That’s 
why I was looking for Ryan.  And then Evan gave me a ride and he said I 
should call you, and I ... “  She looked directly at Evan now, tears 
streaming again, but listening still.  Finally she spoke again,  “Evan 
is a guitar player, he’s going to work in recording studios in 
Vancouver, he... No Daddy he’s really been nice,  he said to talk to 
you. Daddy, I wanna come home.”  she finished plaintively.  She 
listened for a long time then, without warning, thrust the receiver 
towards Evan.  At first he shook his head in dismay, then he relented 
and took the phone. 

“Hello?” he said hesitantly. 

The voice on the other end was firm but not angry.  “I understand you
picked up my daughter, Evan?  That’s right isn’t it? Evan?.” 

“Yes Sir, my name’s Evan Kirby.”  he said keeping his voice even and
calm.  “She kinda looked like she needed a friend.  I’m a sucker for 
strays, ya know?” 

“Seems to me, young man, I owe you.”  the other man said,  “Meredith was
lucky that it was you that picked her up and convinced her to make this 
call.” 

Evan had looked in some surprise at Sky when her father had mentioned
her real name.  The girl would always be Sky in his mind.  “She 
convinced herself, Sir.  I just listened, ya know?” 

“Don’t call me Sir, Evan.  The name’s Geoff Cavanaugh.”  Meredith’s
father told him.  “I have a last favour to ask of you, if you could see 
your way clear to drive my girl to the Vancouver Airport?  I’ll see 
that a ticket home is waiting there for her.” 

“Yeah Mr. Cavanaugh, it’d be a pleasure.”  he replied. 

“Thank you, Mr. Kirby.  I won’t ever forget what you did for her.” 

Neither Evan nor Sky spoke for much of the rest of the drive into
Vancouver.  It was starting to get light and the city was grey and 
somewhat somber under early morning cloud cover.  Evan tuned the radio 
in to a local Vancouver classic rock station.  Beside him, Sky gazed 
around at everything as though trying to memorize it; her first ever 
view of Vancouver.  He rapidly located the route through the city to 
the southside and the International Airport. 

“You don’t have to come inside with me.” she told him halfheartedly. 

Evan chuckled at her.  “Of course I do, baby.  Completes the circle, ya
know?”  he parked the car, pocketed the key and walked beside her to 
the terminal. 

She picked up the ticket which her father had left for her.  With Evan
protectively beside her, they found their way towards the departures 
hallway.  She stopped just short of the security clearance area and 
looked up at her tall travelling companion.  Tears filled her eyes once 
more. 

“Evan, thank you.”  she whispered, solemnly sticking out her small hand
to shake his larger one. He winked at her and, instead of taking her 
hand, opened both his arms and wrapped the slim girl in a warm big 
brotherly hug. 

“Thank you, sweet Sky.”  he crooned at her.  “Take care of yourself,
kiddo.  And take care of your baby, okay?” 

He stepped back and she turned towards the gate.  She looked back over
her shoulder, smiling through her tears,  “Good bye Evan,”  she called, 
“I’ll look for you on MTV.” 

He grinned at her, blew her a kiss and called back.  “If it’s a boy,
Evan’s a good strong name, ya know?” 

She turned and was gone. 

Thirty minutes later, Evan Kirby sat in front of the viewing lounge
windows in Vancouver International Airport and watched the 767 lift 
into the sky heading east.  He took and long drink of yet another sweet 
black coffee and ineffectually wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. 
 He arose, leaving the rest of his coffee where it sat, and strode 
quickly towards the exit doors. 

Copr.  January 2001 Jennifer Jenkinson


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