Sarah Warran 9/00 Because a picture is worth a thousand words (or at least 64) Jolee tried valiantly to keep from laughing as she regarded her partner’s antics. Chase was leaning back in the seat as far as he could, feet propped up on the dashboard, crossed at the ankles, one arm out the window, the other sprawled across the seat. He had his ever-present green baseball cap draped over his face to block out the sun. The whole pose was one of the ones he was convinced looked 'cool’. Unfortunately, the baseball cap had other ideas, preferring to creep down toward his chest every few seconds until one of his hands would lazily snake up and grab it; returning it to it’s place. Jolee rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the road ahead of her. There’s nothing quite like the open country road to take your mind off things she thought to herself. 85 mph and no one to know it but me and the road-kill. She saw the magazine open on chase’s lap in the corner of her eye. She didn’t need to look any closer to know what page it was on, she had read that spread so many times herself she had the whole thing memorized. I went to death valley And all I got was this amazing treasure! Announcing the Star Wars road trip contest! The Jawa scene from Star Wars was filmed in death valley in California. We want you to find the exact place it was filmed, known as “Artoo’s Arroyo” If find the spot and photograph it, holding up a clearly visible copy of a current newspaper to prove the photo is recent, We’ll give you the treasure chest they wouldn’t let us bury there! And she and Chase were going to win it. Her dad was a park ranger, with access to all sorts of technical maps of the area- and she knew how to read them. He was the president of the school Sci Fi club, and knew everything there was to know about Star Wars. Together they were sure to win. There was a green blur on the side of the road up ahead. Jolee rubbed her eyes with one hand and slowed down enough to read it. Parson City- 145 miles. She grinned. There were right on schedule. “huh? Wha- are we there yet?” chase’s voice was hoarse from not talking for so long. He pushed his cap up off of his face and raised the seat up from it’s reclining position. Pulling rebellious strand of hair out of his eyes he blinked. “Where are we?” “145 miles out of Parson City.” Jolee exclaimed joyfully. “Nothing for the next hour but cows and little green men.” “Wouldn’t that be little brown Jawas?” “Ha! And Dewbacks! Hey, there’s a rest area coming up. Want to stretch our legs and trade places? I could use a break from the wheel.” Chase yawned. “Yeah, sure. Hey, maybe they’ll sell coffee at this one.” “As if you need any more coffee! You’ve already had, what? Seven cups today?” “Well, it’s not like I had a choice… I had to stay awake through the night.” Jolee stared at him in disbelief. “Why on earth did you stay up!? We’re running on six hours of sleep. We need all the rest we can get!” Chase glared at her. “You’d stay up too if you had seen all those specials about how bears can maul unsuspecting campers in the wilderness! I did my research. You should thank me for standing guard!” Jolee rolled her eyes. “We were in a car; a K-mart parking lot is hardly what I‘d call wilderness, and bears don’t live in southern California. Have you ever been out of the city in your entire life?” Chase snorted and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep. “Just make sure it isn’t de-caf.” Jolee griped. The blue sign by the side of the road promised a rest area in ¼ of a mile. Jolee poked Chase in the shoulder, hoping he’d wake up without further complaint. They’d been driving for nearly two days now, having left directly from school on Thursday afternoon. For the first day or so, it had been a welcome relief to be away from the daily torture of school and the bright lights of Boise, but as time wore on, tempers wore thinner. After over 48 hours together in chase’s patriarchal old station wagon false civility on both their parts and the steady hope of finding Artoo’s Arroyo were the only things keeping them from each other’s throats. Pulling into the turn off for the rest area and parking in an empty space, Jolee reached over and prodded Chase’s shoulder. “Hey. We’re there. Come on.” Chase sat up and fixed her with a glare. “Never wake me up when I’m asleep” He mumbled. Jolee had to go over it a few times before she figured out what he meant. “Go.” She said exasperatedly. “Go get some coffee.” Solid ground- at last! Chase Cummings tried to ignore his protesting leg muscles as he got out of the car and stretched. He glanced over at Jolee who was busy with a map and a highlighter; plotting some new short cut that would get them to their destination 15 minutes sooner. “Hey, you want to see if we can find some food here?” He asked hopefully. He looked at his watch. 5:35 pm. It had been at least four hours since either of them had eaten, and Jolee’s idea of ‘food’ wasn’t the most appetizing; donuts and diet coke (to balance each other out?). Chase’s innards ached sharply at the memory of such abuse, and the thought of a bathroom began to seem very appealing indeed. “I’ll meet you over by the vending machine, ok?” Jolee looked up from her map. “Hm? Yeah. Sure. Where did you see the bathrooms?” “They’re next to that information booth.” He pointed. “Ah.” Chase pushed open the men’s room door. “Eew.” Jolee pushed open the door to the ladies room and went inside. “Eew.” *** ‘On the road again…’ Chase whistled as he drove, properly fed and caffinated once more, if a bit less shower fresh. The sun was sinking sleepily over the horizon; a smudge of fiery orange on a paint splashed sky and he was in a contented mood. He turned the dial on the radio and the speakers in the old car crackled to life. Twanging country ballads. Next. A man preaching the gospel. Next. Something by Bach. Next. Queen. Why not? He looked over at Jolee in the seat next to him; she was sound asleep. He grinned and turned the volume knob up as high as it would go. I see a little silhouetto of a man scaramoush scaramoush will you do the vandango… *** Jolee groaned and started to sit up. The car was stopped by the side of the road, it was completely dark out, the clock said 3:27, and chase was fighting with a map spread out over the steering wheel. He had several more scattered over the backseat and there was one draped over her lap. He was grumbling to himself around the flashlight clamped between his teeth. “What’s wrong?” She mumbled sleepily. “Where are we?” “Huh. Wouldn’t I just like to know?” “You don’t know where we are?” “No. But I think I’ve figured it out.” “Oh? Really.” Jolee’s voice was completely devoid of emotion. Not a good sign. “Yeah… we’re right…” he searched the map desperately, hoping for a miracle. “I thought so.” She sighed and resisted the urge to hit him with something. Hard. “It’s almost four in the morning. Let’s give this up and just spend the night here. We’ll be able to see where we are in the morning. Maybe there’ll be a place we can stop and ask for directions.” Chase just leaned his seat back and groaned. *** Where are we!? All Jolee could see through the windows was rocks and sand. She opened the door and, stretching, stepped outside. the ‘road’ was little more than tire ruts in the gravel. A chain of mountains stretched endlessly along the horizon, and the entire landscape was of muted yellows and reds. We’re on mars! Jolee thought in a panic. That moron has gotten us completely lost, and there isn’t even a road to follow out of here! Now we’ll not only be beaten to the site, we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere because Mr. ‘Have road, will travel’ over there decides to take the scenic route. Great. Just great. THUNK! Jolee kicked the hubcap as hard as she could. THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! SNAP! “YAAAAAAAAH!!!!” Her scream echoed off into the distance. “What the h- Ow!!” Bolting straight up at her scream, Chase had hit his head against the ceiling of the car. “What was that!? Are you ok?” “Nngh… I think” She strained through gritted teeth “I broke my toe.” Chase muttered a curse. “Are you sure?” “It huurrrts.” She groaned as she shifted her weight and sat down on a rock. “I think you’re supposed to keep it from moving. Can you get your shoe off?” She bit her lip and started to tug at her shoe laces. She hissed in pain as she accidentally bumped her injured toe. “Here. I’ll do it. Geez! Were you trying to make these things as secure as Fort Knox?” Carefully, he pulled and prodded the knots in her shoelaces until they fell open. She bit back an outcry as the shoe slipped over her foot, and screamed again when he brushed her toe and bent it slightly. She snatched the shoe from him angrily. “Be careful!” “Sorry.” Chase retreated to the car and rummaged through the glove compartment. He emerged with a first aid kit in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other. “I’m gonna cut through your sock. I don’t want to move your toe any more than I have to.” “Mm hmh.” The scissors snipped. He opened the first aid kit and grinned ruefully as he took out an Advil packet and a handful of Band-Aids. “Never thought I’d need anything but these.” He handed her the Advil. “Uh, hang on a sec.” He went back to the glove compartment. “This should do it.” His voice was muffled, coming from deep within the dash-board. “Hey, if there’s one good thing about this car, it’s the storage space!” Jolee smiled through the pain. He was holding an industrial size roll of duck tape and a bunch of pencils. “You’re gonna have to help me with this part. The Advil was kicking in, and she found coherent thought was possible again. Chase held two of the pencils under her big toe. “Here. Hold these there.” She did so, and he gently put two more on top of the injury, then wound the duck tape around her foot. “Duck tape is like the force…” She quoted. “It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the galaxy together.” Chase nodded, concentrating hard on the task at hand. Riiiippppp! “There.” He said, satisfied. “Come on, let’s go. If we follow those tire tracks long enough, they’re bound to lead to a main road. Eventually.” Chase supported her as she hopped around to the other side of the car. Shutting the door, Chase slumped in his seat and sighed. “When we find the road, do you want to just go home?” “Do you?” “That doesn’t matter. You’re hurt.” “I want that treasure. A toe won’t stop me from winning the greatest collection of Star Wars stuff ever. …Unless of course you just want to give up when we haven’t even started looking.” She taunted. Chase grinned and turned the ignition. “Uh, wasn’t something supposed to happen?” The car had not even sputtered. Chase turned the key again and again with the same effect. Nothing. “You still want to keep trying for that picture, or should we concentrate on something a little more immediate; like getting to civilization? *** Jolee hobbled over the small boulders, supporting herself with the expandable snow shovel Chase had kept in the car in case he ever had to dig it out in a blizzard. He had a snow shovel but nothing but Band-Aids in the first aid kit. Bro-ther. They had left the car behind hours ago; a single fake-wood-paneled speck amidst the boulders. After walking all day, they had seen few signs of life- none of them human. Chase restlessly shifted his grip on the tire iron in his hand. They had already had one less than enjoyably encounter with a rattle snake, and Chase with his phobia of anything that slithered. They hadn’t spoken for a while, favoring their quickly drying throats over conversation. Finally, she broke the silence. “Look. There’s a nice rock over there. Let’s sit down, I need some more Advil.” “Well, if you hadn’t kicked my car…”Chase grumbled, still on the lookout for snakes. It all came out in a rush. “I don’t care about your stupid car! I don’t even care about the stupid contest anymore! I. Want. To. Get. Out. Of. Here.” “Hey!” The voice startled them both. It had come from down in that ravine over there. “You two want to take your little argument somewhere else?” A man’s voice, with a slight drawl floated up from the crevasse they stood above. “We’re trying to get a little peace here!” Chase went over to the lip and looked down at the man. “Sorry. We were just…” his voice trailed off. “Jolee… would you come here for a second?” “What is it?” She hobbled over to squat beside him. “What’s so…” She gave a long sigh and sat back hard. There were at least a dozen touristy looking people standing around and chatting, and a family stood in front of a familiar looking rock formation… holding up a newspaper… and a cardboard stand-up R2-D2.