She glanced into her rearview mirror, half expecting Clem and Jed to be on her tail. "Almost there," she told herself, to calm her misgivings. He was hardly the world's most reliable father. Then bright and early this morning - way earlier than she was used to - she had set her compass due north, and here she was, though with every passing mile she wondered if maybe Marc had been lying to her. She had left New York City yesterday morning and stayed overnight just outside Albany. They took her all in with their shaded eyes, and she wished she hadn't taken her shirt off back at the rest stop on 401. Both men wore ball caps, which they tipped as she flew by. With both hands on the wheel, Mimi swerved around them, glad to be driv ing such a small and responsive vehicle. Farmer One leaned on the driver's side door of Farmer Two. She put the camcorder down in order to negotiate a long S turn, and there up ahead - just to prove her wrong - two huge mud-stained trucks were pulled over onto the shoulder, nose to nose. "you'd think the officials at the border might have warned us about this, wouldn't you? 'Welcome to Canada. "Well, Mimi," she replied in a low and amiable TV sidekick kind of voice.
"What do you think, Chet? Have we actually entered the Land that Time Forgot?" "Not a Starbucks in sight," she said, returning the camcorder to her face. "This is Mimi Shapiro reporting from Nowhere!" She swiveled the wine-red JVC HDD around to take in the countryside: the empty dirt road stretching out before her, the overgrown borders and broken-down fences, the unkempt and empty fields, the desolate forest beyond them. Gripping the wheel tightly in her left hand, she picked up her digital camcorder from the passenger seat and held it at arm's length, aimed at her face. She wore a red T-back sports bra and black low-rise capris, as if the car were an accessory. The little car was red with a black top, and Mimi had red shades and black hair. And the Mini's horn beeped twice in reply. Cooper, we are now officially not in Kansas," she said. Mimi took a deep breath and patted the leather-upholstered steering wheel. Undaunted, the dog stayed on her tail - stayed with her for a hundred yards or so - then finally fell behind, his territory no longer in danger. Then she thrust the stick shift forward and left the paved road, sending out a rooster tail of gravel. She threw the Mini Cooper into reverse again and slewed to the left, almost hitting the ugly mutt. The animal bounced up and down at her door, brindle and with far too many yellow teeth. A gargantuan dog was tearing toward her from the dilapidated house on the corner. She checked the map on the seat beside her, backed up, and squinted through her own dust at the signpost.Ī deep-throated bark seized her attention. MIMI MISSED HER TURN and screeched to a stop.
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