Maxine's New Life Ch. 04

8 AM Monday morning found me in the jump seat of Marty's Ford pickup truck. Ted was driving the truck toward the Atlantic Ocean. Marty sat beside him in the front seat of the truck which was loaded down with motorized bicycles and trailers for our trip. I sat, quietly sipping coffee, while they argued. I wasn't all that concerned, since all families argue. I knew that my best play was to just stay quiet and try to nap while they discussed, whatever it was they planned to fight about as we headed east...

It was almost four hours to the minute when we pulled into the parking lot of the Wrightsville Beach fishing pier. The two of them unloaded the bicycles and trailers, while I removed the small plastic trash bags with our personal items from the truck's interior.

Marty had done his research. The purpose of the plastic trash bags was to keep our few extra clothes dry; the clothes were just in case of rain. The plastic credit cards would take care of clean clothes along the way. Even there, Marty had done his research. He had purchased and loaded three prepaid Visa cards. He would be carrying the card with the most money. I would be carrying a card with a lesser amount, and a third was to be hidden on his bike just for emergencies. The idea was that if something happened to him, I could use my card to get home. His card would be paying for the expenses of the trip, but if stolen, nothing much would be lost. In his opinion it wasn't much, but in my opinion ten grand was a lot of money.

In addition to three pairs of clean panties and a very lightweight jogging suit, I carried my hammerless .38. I also carried a small plastic bag with additional cartridges. Other than those few items, it was a toothbrush and deodorant that filled my bag,

Into the trailer's plastic milk carton bed, I placed the plastic bag. Ted put in the filled gallon gas can and a quart of oil. Both Marty and I carried the extra gas and oil, along with a tire and two tubes. The tire pump was placed into Marty's trailer, while I carried a case of peanut butter crackers and a large water bottle.

Other than those items, everything was hung on the bike. The cell phone Marty planned to use was one of those fancy things. It allowed him to connect to the Internet, as well as to the cell network. Even more important, the cell phone had an excellent GPS.

After the bicycles were packed and ready for the trip, Marty turned to me and handed me a plastic bag from Victoria Secret's. "Put this on, Max. I want a picture of you on the bike with the ocean in the background. It's for the bike forum."

Inside the bag, I found a shockingly small bikini. Not only that, it was shockingly red as well. "You have to be kidding?"

"Oh, come on, it will look great on you."

"This thing is way too small for me."

"No, it isn't. Jennifer gave me your sizes. Just give it a try. Put your jeans and top on over it. When we find a spot, you can pose for me." I glanced at Ted who did not look at all happy. I almost told him not to worry, that I didn't want his inheritance, but I then realized that I wouldn't mind having the few million in Marty's estate.

I went into the public bathroom at the land end of the pier. When I came out, I looked the same to those who had seen me go in. I knew that I wasn't the same at all. I was wearing the tiny red bikini under the moderately tight jeans and baggy sweat shirt, which had the sleeves chopped off, so it was super comfortable...

"Well, let's get this show on the road," Marty said, smiling at me.

"Dad, I want you to know this is probably the dumbest thing you have ever done."

"It's not too late, Ted, I can send Max home with the truck. You and I can make this trip." Marty knew it was a waste of time, but he was obviously determined to offer his kid one more chance to man up."

"I have way too much going on to just take a month off." Ted tried to sound regretful, but it just wasn't working for him.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Ted, but Maxine and I are going to be leaving now. I want to get on down the road before we stop for the evening." Marty and Ted parted with an awkward hug. Marty and I left Wrightsville Beach after a quick stop for a cell phone photo of me in my red bikini sitting on the bike that Marty built. That was the high point of the afternoon. We rode south for eighty miles. The idea was to avoid riding the underpowered bikes through the mountains, so we headed along the coastal highway.

Four hours later, I found myself following Marty into a mom and pop motel outside of Myrtle Beach, SC. The tourist season hadn't ended by that time, so we could only book one room. The owner and Marty came to an understanding quickly. It was based on Marty's willingness to pay for the overnight storage of our bikes in the motel's utility room.

Marty did consult with me before he agreed to accept just the one room. "The room does have two beds, but if you prefer your own room, we can keep going."

"Marty, if you wanted to rape me, there were lots of lonely pieces of road between Wrightsville and here. Besides a bodyguard is more effective if they are in the same room."

"Okay then, we will stay here tonight and get an early start in the morning."

"Fair enough," I replied.

While I took a shower, Marty went onto the Internet and uploaded the picture, as well as his account of the day, to the motorbike forum. It was still very much daylight when I came from the shower. "So, Max, what do you want to do for dinner?"

"Let's ask someone to recommend a seafood restaurant. I would like some shrimp. Since we have seagulls circling the parking lot, seafood of some kind, seems to be called for."

"That sounds perfectly reasonable," Marty said.

We rode the bikes to the restaurant about five miles from the motel. It was a decent meal, nothing special; but then it's hard to screw up a batch of deep fried fresh shrimp. After dinner, I had an idea I shared with Marty. Since it was a simple idea which would not take u p any real space in the bikes trailer, he agreed.

What I had wanted to do was to find a heating element. One of those rods I could drop into a cup of coffee. Once plugged into the wall it got really hot. Hot enough to reheat coffee. We couldn't find that at the dollar store near the motel, but we did find a small electric coffee pot. We just removed all the inside hardware. It left us with just a heating element at the bottom of the pot.

I explained to Marty that I would clean it in the mornings. I could pack things inside the pot before I put it into the trailer, so that the increase in required space would be negligible. Once he agreed, we stopped at a convenience store near the motel. I filled up four very large plastic cups with coffee. There was no way I would survive the trip without coffee. Marty seemed to feel pretty much the same way.

Marty stayed on the Internet most of the evening. I watched TV and drank coffee until almost 10 PM. I was surprised to find how tired I was. I went to bed, leaving Marty still banging around the Internet. I fell asleep before Marty came to bed. I guess he technically went to bed, since he used the second bed.