Chapter Text
Lucy gives up explaining to Larry that she’s not hallucinating, she’s not feverish, she’s not dehydrated, and that if he offers her one more sip of water she’s going to pour the whole bottle down his pants. She takes her drink instead, and then makes sure that the kids don’t have sand in their sippy cups. The windows are up and covered with wet towels, but the sand gets everywhere.
The rock formation on the horizon keeps catching her eye, leading her gaze back off the road. Which is nearly where she’d ended up, swerving the Jeep to avoid the two women who’d suddenly appeared on the median strip.
Maybe Larry’s right and she is tripping on the desert’s heat. She gives over the car keys and crawls into the very back, past the twins, who are already halfway back to sleep. Poor babies. The heat is hard on her, let alone on three-year-olds who don’t understand that it’s a necessary evil.
Lucy raises herself to a half-sit-up as Larry starts the engine and they carry on along I-70, California bound for now. She looks out of the rear window, squinting between bags and boxes.
Yes; there, on the road. Not a heat haze or a figment of her dried-up-brain’s imagination. Two women. She’s about to yell out to Larry when she realizes who they—impossibly—are.
Sue blows her a kiss.
Dayna raises one hand in a half-solemn, half-saucy salute.
And then both of them vanish.