October 15, 2002 - 9:17 p.m.
Well I made it to Fredericksburg and back again. In a white minivan, no less. But I wasn't about to let this serial/spree/terrorist killer keep me from visiting my Grandmommy for her birthday. Her 80th. Still, I gassed up the car in Richmond before we left, picked up fried chicken in a drive thru for lunch and only braved getting out of the car, except in Grandmommy's driveway, at Carl's Frozen Custard to pick up two quarts of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Carl's was worth the risk.
Fortunately this nut hasn't taken to shooting people while they drive on the highway so we felt rather safe speeding along with the 75-90 mph traffic on I-95. (Yes, there's supposed to be irony in that sentence.) Dad and I entertained ourselves by placing bets on when the minivan ahead of us would lose the mattress and box spring some fool had tied to the roof (sans rack). He was probably driving closer to the 90 mph speed of the traffic (faster than me, anyway) and the wind had caught underneath the mattress, blowing it up from the car's roof at about a 35 degree angle and listing it to the passenger side. Pretty much the only thing holding it down was a rope running over the van, hood to bumper. (On second thought, it probably ran under the car as well. Cars don't come with the kind of bumpers you can tie things to anymore). I spent several miles of road just trying not to be behind this guy when the inevitable would happen. Eventually he whizzed up ahead and out of sight and we forgot about him until we saw his cargo halfway on the shoulder just below the Fredericksburg exit, pretty badly crushed.
A lesson to us all - spring for delivery when you purchase things that don't fit into your car.
We're finally back in Virginia Beach tonight and my boys missed their father so much that neither of them wants to go to bed. We've finally gotten Zachary (a little cranky because his two year molars are coming in) to go to sleep but Marcus is still in Daddy's arms, grinning that cute gummy grin and cooing. And drooling. A lot. It took Zachary nearly a year to cut a his first tooth and now I'm wondering if his brother is getting his at 4 months...
But it's good to be home.
