It was a late Friday night in north Chicago in early January. Patty was sure there would be snow on the ground by Christmas yet the snow didn't come. It was the sound of the fresh coffee brewing in her and her boyfriend Darrels apartmen that stirred up the beginning of an unplanned weekend. Temperatures were dropping to 20 degrees and mixtures of rain and slush began to fall from a bright gray sky.
The call came in from Tony, Pattys father leaving a message around 4pm that her grandfather had passed away. Patty packed just a pair of sweatpants and a coat and left first thing Saturday morning from Darrels sponge mattress and loud squeaky apartment of steam heaters and old wood floors. Shuffling through the plastic container of snacks for the 16 hour drive to Houston Texas, Patty felt alert and very serious about what was inside.
She spotted out some apples, meat sticks, wheat bagels, and a pound of turkey from the deli. Good choices of snacks for a long road of sitting in the car. Then there were the horrendous corn chips. There were no red grapes. No vegetables. This made Patty furious. She didn't say anything about it to her mom or dad as they kept on eye on the map and one eye on the road.
The gas station stops were the place of sugary and salty snacks. In Missouri after passing the beautiful Mississippi River Patty noticed sadly that she didn't bring her jump rope. She wanted to jump rope at the best chances she could get. She planned to jump rope behind the gas station or along side the car while her dad pumped the gas.
She stayed clear of the toffee bar and the slishies. The walk through the aisles were frightening as the candy grew more and more colorful and sweeter. Slowing down through each aisle the potato chips had new shapes and flavors such as mild lime and BBQ spices, and the twisty twirling corn chips were in a shape of a tiny flute with a lot of zest and more powdery cheese flavors to eye on the shelve.
Grabbing the largest bag of pretzels as fast as she could through all the amazing bags of snack chips and chewy and twisty candies Pattys dad said here, look over here."
He handed her a smaller bag of the same pretzels and she felt relieved since it was a good portion sized bag that she battled to find though the main rows of all gas station goodies. The roads were clear of traffic, and the weather was clear of rain. The first day of the trip to Houston was
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