Page 39 of The Hitchhikers
Jenny sat at the dinette, nervously smoothing her fingers over the wrinkles in her dress, while Simon untied Alice, who gathered up clothes, and moved toward the RV shower.
“Don’t take too long,” Simon said. Alice didn’t look at him or Jenny, and just closed the door with, what felt like to Jenny, an angry click. When Alice came out, she looked better, with pink cheeks, and a sunflower-patterned halter top and green pleated shorts. Her eyes were still shadowed, though, and her damp hair was drying into curls that sprung in all different directions.
“I can braid your hair,” Jenny said, and then felt her own cheeks grow hot when Alice stared at her. Jenny knew what she was thinking. They weren’t sisters or friends. Still, she couldn’t help wanting the older woman to like her, to understand that she wasn’t a bad person. She missed how it was before. Alice helpingwith the Band-Aids, bringing them water and blankets, smiling when Jenny had dug into her pancakes. Like it made herhappy.
Simon moved to the back and helped Tom get off the bed.
“I have to help him undress,” Alice said. “He could fall.”
“Keep the door open.”
Simon searched through the cupboards and fridge while the couple were in the bathroom. Jenny felt awkward, listening to Alice and Tom. Their murmurs. Clothes dropping. The shuffling steps and the random thumps as one of them hit against a wall or the counter. Jenny gazed out the window as if that would give them more privacy. Soap-scented steam filled the RV.
The shower shut off. More movement, a gasp of pain, an apology. Alice came out with Tom, who was still using his tank top as a sling but was now wearing a pair of red nylon shorts. The bruises on his legs had turned blue and purple. They must hurt a lot. Alice kept her arm around his waist as she guided him to the bed and eased him down. His face was strained and pale. Jenny grimaced. She couldn’t imagine what it felt like to have a broken collarbone. The area from his neck to his shoulder was horribly swollen and such a dark purple it looked painted.
Alice took two pills from the bottle of Tylenol on the counter, helped Tom drink some water, and replaced his frozen bag of vegetables.
“Alice, get over here and make some breakfast.”
“One second.” Alice’s voice was tight, as though she was biting back all the things she wanted to say. Jenny didn’t like how Simon was ordering Alice around. The mean tone. He sprawled across from her on the other side of the dinette and caught her worried look.
“What?”
“Do you have to be rude?” she whispered.
He leaned across the table. “They have to be scared of us, remember?”
She did remember, but it still made her uncomfortable. He’d been abrupt with her a few times too. She told herself that it was just because he was stressed.
“I’ll make breakfast.” She got to her feet. Simon looked like he wanted to say something else, but this time he stayed silent. She wondered what might be easy to cook. Fried eggs?
“I can do it.” Alice had come to stand beside her.
“No. I want to.” Jenny set a frying pan onto the stove and got the carton of eggs out of the fridge. She cracked one into the pan. Parts of the shell landed on top of the yolk. She picked the pieces out. She tried another. It broke too. She got a third egg but stood frozen. What were they going to eat if she wrecked them all? She hadn’t turned the stove on. Was she supposed to do that first to heat the frying pan? She couldn’t remember. She stared at the knobs.
Not long after Robert and her mother had gotten married, Jenny had tried to make them breakfast in bed. Robert had been cooler toward Jenny now that they were living in the same house, and she’d worried he was having regrets. Maybe he didn’t want a kid around after all.
She’d found a cookbook, decided on an omelet, but the omelet had broken apart, the oil spit all over the stove, and she’d caught the tea towel on fire. She’d panicked and tossed it on the floor, where it continued to burn and filled the kitchen with smoke. The alarm’s shrill beeping had woken Robert and her mother, and they had come running. Robert stomped on the towel, while her mother picked up the pan and scraped the charred omelet into the garbage.
That night her mother served two perfect omelets. Light yellow, dusted with thinly sliced chives, a salad on the side. One for herself, and one for Robert. Jenny was only allowed salad. Punishment for the mess. The scent of smoke. For ruining their morning.
Jenny couldn’t seem to make herself move. Now Alice wasbeside her, taking the egg from her hand, moving the pan to the side, and flicking on the stove. Blue flames whooshed up.
“Like this.” Alice tapped the egg on the side of the pan and showed her how to separate the two halves. Jenny tried to focus, but she wanted to cry. She had no life skills. How was she going to take care of a baby? She had to learn. She’d learn everything she could. She’d buy books. She’d become the best cook. The best mom. She took a breath and stood straighter.
“Can you show me how to fry them? My dad used to like them sunny-side up.”
Alice looked at the mess in the pan, then back at Jenny.
“How about we start with scrambled.”
“Oh, yeah. Okay.”
Jenny went first to the washrooms, keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact with any other campers. It was early, but the air already smelled of campfire, coffee, and bacon. People moved around their sites, setting up for breakfast or taking down their tents.
When Jenny was finished with her shower, which had been mostly cold because she didn’t want to wait for the water to warm up, she dressed quickly and hurried back. While Simon took his turn, she huddled in one of the lawn chairs outside the RV, a towel wrapped around her head in a turban. Even though Alice and Tom were tied up, Jenny couldn’t stand the feeling that they hated her, that in the silence they were probably thinking of ways they could escape.
It was already hot when the four of them left the campground, the sun glaring through the windshield. Alice flipped down her sunshade and tried to grab her sunglasses on the dash, but she was taking a corner and the sunglasses slid away, nearly falling out the passenger window.
