A Song for the Road by Kathleen Basi (classic literature books txt) 📕

butt and whom she’d resolved to drop off at the bus station at the first possible opportunity. The friend she’d been rude to last night.

Now she really needed to apologize.

Miriam almost burst into tears when she entered the waiting area and saw Dicey, looking pale and drawn, struggle to her feet.

Dicey did burst into tears. “I’m so sorry!” she wailed. She threw her arms around Miriam, the hard swell of her belly like a punch in the gut. “I had the livestream running, and I thought I’d go get some panoramic shots, and I didn’t realize it had all gone to shit until too late. They confiscated the phone and the guitar and everything. It took me an hour to convince them to talk to me!”

Miriam patted her back. “It’s okay, honey. I’m just so grateful you didn’t bail on me. Especially after I was such a bitch to you last night.”

“You weren’t a bitch.”

Miriam opened her mouth to argue, but then Dicey’s earlier statement sank in. “Hang on,” she said slowly. “Did you just say ‘livestream’?”

Dicey coughed hard, once only, and blew her nose. “Uh, yeah. I’m sorry. I know I didn’t ask, but when that boy—”

“Livestream.”

“Yeah. I mean …” Dicey’s shoulders hunched. “You didn’t say no, so I figured …”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.” Dicey looked at the floor, fiddling with her blue bracelet, her shoulders hunched. She clearly thought Miriam would bite her head off.

A tempting idea. If only Dicey hadn’t just saved her butt.

Miriam sighed and rubbed her forehead. This day just kept getting better and better. “Do his parents know their kid was livestreamed?”

Dicey looked like she wanted to crawl in a hole. “Um, yes.”

“And they said what about it?”

“Well …” She shrugged. “They’re more philosophical than anything.”

“Did you apologize?”

Dicey gave her a withering stare. “Of course I did.”

“A lot?”

“Profusely.”

Miriam sighed. Nothing to be done about it now. “All right,” she said. “Let’s get going, then.”

They stepped toward the door, and traffic noise swept over them in a warm, humid wave. Becky’s Hyundai sat in front of the station, loaded with all the equipment. Miriam turned to Dicey. “You loaded it all by yourself?”

Dicey shrugged. “Somebody should have been livestreaming me. I probably looked like a camel with a hump on both sides.” She gave Miriam a mischievous look. “Race you to the car.”

Miriam’s eyebrows skyrocketed. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Totally serious. But you run. I’ll waddle.”

Miriam chuckled. “Fine.”

“On the count of three. One—GO!” said Dicey, and took off down the stairs, giggling.

She did look pretty comical waddling down the steps of the police station. Miriam laughed out loud as she followed. She hadn’t had a good belly laugh in a long time. It lifted her spirits, but she didn’t know why for a moment.

When her brain caught up, everything became clear. Why not?

As Dicey settled into the passenger seat, her laughter spiraled into coughing. Miriam reached over with alarm. “Are you okay? Dicey, honey—”

“Okay,” she gasped. “Just go.” She shoved Miriam’s arm away.

Miriam put up both hands and left her to her coughing fit. She nosed her way out into traffic.

By the time she merged onto the highway, Dicey’s hacking had eased. The younger woman leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes. Miriam stole a glance at her. “Are you okay?”

Dicey nodded. They both knew the itinerary: a short jaunt to the bus station and a farewell Miriam no longer wanted. Maybe she didn’t have to do this alone.

She cleared her throat. “So, Dicey, I was thinking.”

“Yeah?”

“Wondering, really, where exactly it is you’re headed. And how much of a hurry you’re in to get there. Because, if you’ve got a little time, you’re welcome to ride with me, as long as it’s generally on the way.”

The slow smile was so unlike Talia’s quicksilver grin, it underscored how alike the two girls were in other ways. “I’m headed home,” Dicey said. “To California. And I’d love to tag along.”

Miriam pulled Blaise’s wheat penny from her wallet. “Well, you’re in luck, because I’m going to California too. Care to do the honors?”

Dicey grinned and took the penny. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Part 4

St. Louis, Missouri

Such is my experience—not that I ever mourned the loss of a child, but that I consider myself as lost!

—Deborah Sampson

Talia’s intro

So, have you got the hang of this yet? Here’s hoping. Though Mom’s probably a lost cause. Dad, you’ll have to walk her through it.

Your next stop is Cahokia Mounds. You’ll like this one, Dad. The Almighty Wiki says this is a … “pre-Columbian Native American city, circa 600–1400 CE, situated directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri.” It’s got eighty mounds, and one of them is really big. Like, a hundred and fifty-four steps high. Hope you packed your walking shoes.

 17

Saturday, April 30

En route to St. Louis, Missouri

THE MILE MARKERS FLASHED past unseen, Miriam steering for St. Louis on autopilot. She’d planned to camp tonight, to save money, but the thunderheads gathered above, flashing blue without ever revealing a single lightning bolt, changed her mind. As usual, Becky saved the day, texting her the number for a Benedictine monastery in north St. Louis that offered rooms to travelers in need.

And now, with Dicey absorbed in her scrapbooking app, there was nothing to keep her mind occupied except Talia. Beautiful Talia and her unbeautiful crack at Miriam’s discomfort with technology, now on display for everyone to hear.

It made no difference, knowing the video had been recorded long before the big fight. It still felt like a poisoned dart.

Her phone rang through the Bluetooth. Miriam glanced at the screen and groaned.

Dicey looked up. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Miriam said, and answered. “Hi, Jo.”

“Miriam,” said her sister. “Please tell me you told Mom.”

“Told Mom what?” Too late, Miriam heard the defensiveness in her own voice. Jo had always known exactly what buttons to push.

“Hello? You got arrested on Facebook Live?”

Miriam stole a glance at Dicey, whose shoulders hunched. “Ease up, Jo. It was all a misunderstanding. Everything’s fine.”

“Ease up? Ease up? My kids found