Miles to Go

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2“You’re gonna do what?” Mama asked.

“I’m gonna take a week and go work for this guy that drives a truck,” Toby said.

“Doin’ what? You don’t know how to drive a truck.”

“Not yet, but I just might learn. I gotta be able to do somethin’. Meanwhile, he’s gonna pay me to help him unload the truck when he makes deliveries. I haven’t made a damn dime in months so this is gonna at least be a little somethin’.”

“Honey, those are hard jobs—gone away from home a lot, long days. You sure this is where you wanna be headed? I hate the thought of you being gone so much.”

“I don’t know, Mama. I ain’t sure. Just an idea I got driving home from Pop’s. Then I met this guy that was tellin’ me about it and he offered to pay me a little to help him out and I can check out what it’s like to be on the road. I don’t know, Mama, it’s just a chance to learn a little more about it, I guess.”

“Alright, honey. If you think it’s something that might interest you, I don’t reckon there’s much harm in it. It’s just a week, though, right?”

“Yeah, probably less.”

Toby’s phone started ringing. “That’s him. Can I tell him I’m going, Mama?”

“Honey, you’ll be twenty-two soon. You can do whatever you want. Go ahead if you think it’ll be a good thing.”

“Hello?” Toby said into the phone, walking out of the kitchen onto the back patio.

“Hey, partner,” Wayne said. “Just checkin’ in to see if we’re still good for tomorrow? I’m thinkin’ I’ll be up there about ten A.M.”

“Yep, sounds good. Mama’s all set to drive me to the factory. Anything special I need to bring?” Toby asked.

“Nah, not really. You know, clothes, bathroom stuff. If you wanna bring a laptop, that’s cool. You don’t need to bring much, but you’re welcome to bring whatever you like. By the way, once we get to Dallas and finish off-loadin’ the furniture, Mom’s got us a load to pick up in Plano that we gotta drop off in Rocky Mount, so I can take you back home after that.”

“So, when would that be?” Toby asked, knowing his mama would want to know.

“Well, let’s see. Tomorrow’s Tuesday, so we’ll hopefully head out around eleven. We’ll probably have to stop somewhere around Knoxville, Tennessee, cuz that’s when my time’ll run out.”

“Whaddya mean your time’ll run out?”

“Legally, I can’t drive more than eleven hours in a duty shift. I can work a total of fourteen, but I can only drive eleven. After that, I have to take ten hours off—no work. Since it’ll take me a little over four hours to get up there tomorrow, that leaves about six-and-a-half hours of driving tomorrow, which should get us right around Knoxville,” Wayne explained.

“Okay, cool.”

“That’ll probably be around 5:30 in the evening, so technically, we could start up again at 3:30 in the morning on Wednesday, but that don’t much suit me, so I figure we’ll aim to leave about six.”

“That does sound better,” Toby said, laughing.

“I know, right?” Wayne agreed. “We’ll finish the trip to Nashville on Wednesday morning and make it to New Orleans before we have to stop driving. We’ll drive to Dallas the next mornin’ but then, we get the whole weekend to play in Dallas because the load we’re bringing back ain’t ready ‘til Monday mornin’. We should be able to make it to Birmingham, Alabama, Monday night, which would get you back home next Tuesday.”

“Why does it sound like there’s a but coming after that?” Toby asked, grinning.

“Well, I do have to be home next Friday night for my aunt and uncle’s anniversary party. But, if you’ve a mind to, we could make Tuesday an easy day, just drive to Atlanta and spend Tuesday night there. That’d get us another city to play in, you’d be home on Wednesday, and I’d be back before Friday in time for the party.”

“Damn, you got all this figured out down to the minute, don’t you?” Toby asked, feeling impressed.

“Well, yeah,” Wayne said. “The truck don’t make money if it ain’t pullin’ cargo, so we tend to plan these things out pretty tight.”

“Makes sense,” Toby agreed. “Seems like I got a lot to learn about truckin’.”

Wayne laughed. “Alright then, sounds like your education begins tomorrow. Ten o’clock—I’ll be seeing you then.”

“Yessir,” Toby said. They hung up and Toby was suddenly very excited about this trip. He was really looking forward to being in the truck, to visiting these cities he’d never been to and learning a business he’d never taken the time to seriously consider. If he was honest with himself, and Toby often wasn’t, he was also looking forward to spending time getting to know Wayne better. He seemed such a chill guy and so willing to share.

Toby thought how he really could use a new friend. Especially a guy so close to his own age. He had some buddies from high school, but a couple had gone into the military and they didn’t really keep up much. Two of them were already married and one of those already had a kid. He used to go out for beers with some of the guys from the shop, but since the shop closed, nobody had the money to blow, and the few times they did get together it seemed like everybody just reminded everybody else that they were all broke and unemployed.

Toby felt good. For the first time in months, he felt like he might have some sort of direction for his life, he was about to go on an adventure he hadn’t even dreamed of a few days ago, and he might even make a cool, new friend out of the deal.

* * * *

“Come on, Mama, we got to go,” Toby insisted, standing in the door to the carport.

“I’m comin’,” Mama said. “You got everything together? How much money you got?”

“Yes, I’ve got everything and I’ve got enough money. Besides, I left you a hundred and fifty dollars on the counter.”

“Oh no, honey, you take that with you!” Mama insisted.

“That’s for you. It ain’t much, but I haven’t paid you any rent in months and I didn’t buy any groceries the whole three weeks I was at Pop’s. It’s yours, you take it, and I don’t wanna hear another word about it, okay, please and thank you,” Toby said, ending that conversation. “Come on, now, let’s go!”

“Westerville can’t be more’n thirty minutes’ drive. It’s just now nine o’clock. What’s your hurry?”

“I wanna get there early in case he’s ready to go early.”

On the drive over, Toby told Mama about the different cities they’d be going to and the schedule they were trying to keep. She asked about Wayne, obviously worried about who her son was running off with, and he told her how he was a third-generation trucker and how his family owned the business and he’d been doing it since he was a teenager. Mama asked what Toby had packed and he said he’d brought mostly shorts, T-shirts, jeans, and a couple of polos just in case. He said he had his computer, phone charger and a couple of books in case he felt like reading.

It was mid-May and the temperature was already into the eighties. It was gonna be a hot day. When they pulled into the furniture plant’s parking lot, Toby told Mama to drive around back to where the loading dock was. When he’d had his interview there, they’d showed him around the whole place. Toby wasn’t sure why they’d wasted the time because he was pretty sure they had no intention of offering him a job.

As they came around the back, several trailers had backed into the loading bays. Somewhere around the middle, Toby pointed to a trailer that had a Wren Trucking logo on its side and told Mama that was the trailer they’d be hauling. He had Mama back in against the far edge of the parking lot so they could watch for Wayne’s truck.

“You makin’ it to your dialysis appointments?” Toby asked.

“I am,” Mama said. “I missed that one because I was just so tired.”

“But you wound up in the hospital for missin’ it.”

“I know, Toby, I was there.”

“Mama, you gotta take care of yourself. You still goin’ every Monday and Thursday?”

“Yeah, but they’re gonna draw blood before they start next Monday. Doc says if it ain’t better’n it has been, he’s movin’ me to three times a week. That’s gonna be horrible. Dialysis supposed to make you feel better, but I always feel terrible and exhausted when I get home.”

“I know, Mama. I know. I’m sorry.”

“Ain’t nothin’ but a thing.”

Sure enough, about ten minutes to ten o’clock, Wayne pulled his truck around the corner, swung up in front of the trailer and backed up in perfect alignment. They heard the loud hiss of the air brakes being set and a moment later, Wayne climbed out of the cab.

“Come on, Mama,” Toby said. “That’s Wayne. Come meet him.”

“You sure? You want me to meet him?”

“A’course, Mama. Come on.”

They got out of the car, Toby grabbed his backpack and duffel from the back seat, and walked over to Wayne. He was standing beside his truck looking over papers on a clipboard.

“Hey,” Toby said as they approached.

Wayne looked up, smiled and said, “Hey to you, too.” The two young men shook hands.

“Mama, this is Wayne,” Toby said.

“Why, you didn’t tell me he was such a cute fella, now did you?”

“Oh, my dear gawd, stop,” Toby cried in anguish. “Don’t mind Mama, Wayne. She’s just a big harmless flirt.”

“It’s quite alright,” Wayne said, laughing. “I’ll take a compliment from a pretty lady any day a’the week.” Turning his attention to her, he said, “I’m Wayne and it’s very nice to meet you.”

“Same here, and I do have a name. I’m Janette Wright. Toby’s mama, but I guess you know that already, now, don’t you?” Mama said, laughing at herself.

“Yes ma’am, I did. He said you’d be bringing him over here to meet me and I thank you for that.”

Toby and Mama said their goodbyes while Wayne went inside to take care of the necessary paperwork. When he returned, he called Toby to come up on the dock. “Let’s check the load,” Wayne said. He opened the back doors of the trailer. It was packed full, Toby thought. The large boxes were strapped to the walls with large rubber straps. Wayne pulled a small flashlight out of his pocket and shined it down the sides and over the tops of the boxes. “Everything looks to be secure,” he said. “We don’t want anything moving around back here.”

Next, they climbed down and Wayne used his flashlight to illuminate parts underneath the trailer. He pointed to the legs the trailer stood on and called them landing gear. He pointed to a round thing that stuck out of the bottom of the trailer. “This is the kingpin,” he explained. “It locks into the fifth wheel on the back of the tractor.”

Wayne showed Toby how the fifth wheel tilted back and explained how it’d flatten out as it slid under the trailer. He demonstrated how the locking pins and releases worked and he pointed out how the relative heights of the trailer and the tractor should be for proper coupling. Finally, Wayne climbed in the cab of the tractor, released the brakes, and backed up until Toby heard the locking pin snap into place. Wayne hopped out again, checked to make sure everything was right, then showed Toby how to hook up the electrical and air lines that connected the tractor and the trailer.

Finally, Wayne looked at Toby and said, “You ready? We got miles to go.”

Toby’s eyes got big. He realized he’d just learned more about trucks than he’d ever imagined there was to know and now he was about to go on the longest trip of his life. “Hell, yeah, I’m ready.”

He grabbed his backpack and duffel, went around to the passenger door, climbed up the two steps and took a seat.

“Throw whatever you don’t want with you back here,” Wayne said, pointing to the bunk behind the cab. Toby looked behind him. There were windows at each side of the bunk and today the shades were up, so Toby could see it better. There were cabinets behind the two seats with a passageway between them. There was a large flat mattress behind those with some storage cabinets overhead at the back. “If you get hungry or thirsty, you can dig around for stuff in here,” Wayne said, reaching behind him and pulling out drawers stuffed with diet Cokes, OJs, water, and what looked like Hot Pockets.