Leanna O’ Regan glanced in her rear view mirror, seeing her friend’s son and his small white and grey dog sleeping in the back seat of her Datsun 280Z, the two lit up periodically in the yellow glow of passing interchange lights. She smiled at her friend, Rosa, half asleep in the passenger’s seat next to her.

Leanna and Rosa were often asked if they were sisters, because the two young women looked so much alike. Sometimes they would answer that they were indeed sisters, and in reality it wasn’t that far from the truth. They had been friends since grade school in Ojai, the small town in California where they had grown up together. With the the same makeup and clothes, they could easily pass as twins, and on more than one occasion they took advantage of this deception. Their similarities ended with their appearance; Leanna was sporty and fiercely competitive, while Rosa was more retiring and passive. Leanna wasn’t too interested in starting a family any time soon, but Rosa couldn’t wait to be a mother and wife, and she got married and had her son, Theodore, soon after she finished high school.

Theodore was 9 years old now, and was the apple of Rosa’s eye. He was curious about everything, and loved science, math and foreign languages. He spoke in an overly-articulated manner, which made him sound like he had a British accent. He adored his dog, Arfie, a miniature, white husky with bright blue eyes and black/grey markings. Arfie barked and growled like any other dog, but he also chirped and yelped to Theodore, when he wanted something special. Arfie wore a blue and silver collar that he had worn since he was just a puppy.

Theodore and Arfie were fast asleep in the back of the Datsun, after a long day of driving on the interstate. Rosa yawned and stretched out in the front passenger’s seat, catching Leanna looking at her from the corner of her eye. 

“Where are we now? It feels like we’ve been driving for hours. What time is it? I can’t get over how dark it is.” Rosa looked up at the sky through the windshield. “We must be way outside the city. Look at all the stars up there!”

“We’re passing Beaumont and on our way to Joshua Tree National Park,” Leanna explained, changing lanes to exit the I10. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you where we were going. I had to keep our destination a secret, even from you, Rosa.”

“Now that you brought it up, what’s going on? Why did we have to leave Ojai in such a hurry?” Rosa asked, turning on the car radio, flipping past the preachers ranting about the coming apocalypse to find an easy-listening music station playing the Carpenters.

“… What lies in the future is a mystery to us all
No one can predict the wheel of fortune as it falls…”

Leanna hummed along, singing goodbye to love with Karen. “What a depressing song… Rosa, are you hungry? I packed some sandwiches before we left, I think they’re in the glove compartment.”

Rosa opened the dash compartment, and rummaged around a bit. “No there aren’t. Are they in the back?”

“Oh right. Dammit. We left in such a hurry, I threw them in with the suitcases. Let’s stop at the next overpass.” Leanna exited the off ramp and turned at the overpass, crossing over the highway to stop on the shoulder of a dark country road at the other end. She got out, leaving the Datsun running and went around the back to open the hatch. She pushed aside the heavy suitcases to pull out a squashed paper bag. She noticed in the dim light a glint of gold spilling out of one of the suitcases. She pushed the heavy metal back into the case and zipped it closed again. 

​”There may come a time when I will see that I’ve been wrong,” Leanna murmured, repeating the end of the fading song from the radio.
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*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***