Chapter 3

Dinner had been a success and now Alicia, Tim, Fred, and Toni were in the family room of Alicia and Fred's house, cheerily enjoying a round of after dinner drinks.

Fred Madson was the physical opposite of his wife. Alicia's coloring was dark and Fred's was light, more closely resembling that of Toni's. The same was true of Toni and Jim Collins; Toni was light and Jim was dark.

Toni caught Alicia's attention with a swift, meaningful glance of her eyes, and both girls silently agreed that, very shortly, Toni would bring up the subject of the hitchhiking trip.

"Listen, fellas," Toni began coyly as she took an extra swig of her drink for reinforcement.

"Alicia and I have been thinking and we've decided that we'd both like to get away from it all for awhile, that we'd like to take a little trip."

"Why, sure," Fred replied. "You girls can go anywhere you want to! Right, Jim?"

"Yes," Jim said as he finished his drink and mixed himself another. "Let's call up the airlines now and make reservations."

"That isn't quite what Toni and I had in mind," Alicia replied. "We were thinking more along the lines of a real adventure . . . like a hitchhiking trip across the United States."

There was a brief moment of contemplative silence as both men absorbed what they had just heard.

"I don't think so," Fred replied.

"I agree," Jim joined in, "sounds pretty dangerous to me. You've heard what happens on those roads."

"We know," Toni said. "Alicia and I have spent a lot of time thinking about it. You have to remember, we'll be traveling together. Most of that weird stuff usually happens to people traveling alone."

"Besides," Alicia replied, "we both know Karate, we each have a gun, and we each know how to use our guns."

"We wouldn't take a ride if it looked funny," Toni said. "Please, please. We want to take a look at the country, really see it. This will be something we'll remember the rest of our lives. Come on, give us a chance!"

Jim looked at Fred. The husbands didn't want to disappoint or give the impression that they were trying to control or dictate what their wives could or could not do. Each husband was genuinely concerned for the welfare of his wife.

"Wait a second," Jim said. "I think I might have an idea, a sort of compromise if you like. Fred and I have enough vacation time coming around the office, heck . . . we could take off a month if we wanted to.

"Since you're so set on hitchhiking, why don't we work it like this: why don't Fred and I start out by car, a day ahead of you. We'll agree to wait for you to get to a pre-agreed upon destination, then drive you for, let's say a day, then let you go on your own, catch up with you, and so forth. That way, you'll get some of that excitement you're looking for, and

Fred and I'll get some peace of mind and, we'll be together for a little while."

"Wait a minute," Toni said, "won't you be waiting around a lot?"

"Maybe . . . maybe not," Jim said. "Just depends on how fast you are."

"I don't mind," Fred replied.

"O.K., " Alicia said, "We'll make it simple. We'll go across Interstate 40, what used to be 66. You fellas can rent the car, drop it off in New York, and we'll fly back together."

"Sounds good," Toni said. "We'll make our first meeting place Phoenix. It should take you about half a day to drive there and I don't think it'll take us longer than two days to hitchhike there."

"It's a deal," Fred said and the four joined glasses in a toast of goodwill.