No response from Jenny.
“Jenny?”
Hugh looked over to the passenger seat and saw Jenny with tissue in hand trying, but failing, to hold back tears.
Chapter Six
“We should call James. Let him know we are on the road again,” Jenny said.
Hugh’s truck was about to hit pavement, coming onto the highway heading south toward Sandpoint after covering the several miles of gravel county roads leading away from the Mann Ranch.
“That’s a good idea. Do you have your phone?” Hugh asked.
Jenny looked on the truck’s dash.
“That’s the last place I remember seeing it. It’s long gone now, gone to who-knows-where after everything we went through the last time we were in the truck together. Don’t you have yours?”
“No. I already know mine is lost. We’re stopping at the cell phone store in Sandpoint in a few minutes, and I’m going to get one. I suppose we should get one for you too.”
“I’m thinking one of the latest models,” he added. “After that stunt your uncle pulled putting a tracking app on your phone, we should get more familiar with how these things work.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Jenny replied.
No main street parking was available in front of the cell phone store for Hugh’s truck even though he was bobtailing it without a trailer. The diagonal parking would have had his tandem rear drives sticking way too far out into traffic.
Also, the width of his truck would have required him to take two spots, and there were no two adjacent spots open.
He drove down the road to the next block and made two right turns to come back the other way and park on a wide shoulder on a secondary street behind the store.
Hugh and Jenny were amazed and confused by the dizzying array of choices available in the way of cell phones and accessories. Hugh solved that problem by telling the salesman all they wanted was the latest smartphone and a couple of cases to protect them.
“Sign us up. Two of everything. Identical.”
Hugh could tell he and Jenny had quickly become the salesman’s favorite customers for the day, maybe even for the week. The salesman made a show of bringing out two phones of the latest model with all the bells and whistles.
In the manner of cell phone salesmen everywhere, their guy, Steven, tap-tapped efficiently on the screens of both phones to start the setup and registration process.
“I can transfer your old contacts, messages, photos and emails now,” he said to Hugh and Jenny.
Hugh looked at Jenny. Jenny looked back at Hugh. Both shrugged their shoulders.
“No need, I guess. We don’t have our old phones. We’ll have to start from scratch.”
“Maybe you have it all on the cloud.”
Still more vacant looks from Hugh and Jenny.
“What’s a cloud?” Hugh asked.
“Ah, OK. No problem. We’ll start from scratch.”
He gave them almost identical phone numbers, off by only the last digit, which was one number higher for Hugh’s phone.
“That’s cute,” Jenny said. She hugged Hugh’s arm, and smiled up at him.
“One last thing,” Hugh said. “Can you put that tracking app on each of our phones, but hide the icon so nobody can tell it is there?”
“Good idea, honey,” Jenny said.
Back on the road, they left town and were finally on their way to Spokane via State Highway 95 south. They would hook up with Interstate 90/Highway 395 after a while, and take it west all the way into the city.
Hugh was feeling extraordinary pleasure at the sensation of finally being behind the wheel of a semi-truck again. The rumble of the diesel engine, the vibration of all the truck’s moving parts he could feel in his seat, and the physical feedback he could pick up from the tires running over pavement reminded him of how happy he was to be on the road again.
Shifting the Eaton-Fuller 10-speed, long-ingrained into his muscle memory from his fifteen years of driving, came back to him without a second’s thought.
“This feels so good. So right,” Hugh said to Jenny. “I’m glad I was able to talk you into coming with me.”
Hugh said that last part with a straight face.
“Yeah. Well, I know how hard you tried. I couldn’t resist,” Jenny replied, playing along with the joke.
“Seriously, Hugh, this feels so right. You and me together, in this truck. I can’t wait to see what’s waiting for us down the road.”
Hugh had to laugh at that.
“Don’t hope too hard for something to happen, sweetie. You know the kind of trouble we can get into.”
“We need to call the ranch and give them our new phone numbers,” Hugh said, handing his phone to Jenny to call the ranch’s land line number for him.
“That reminds me. The next time we are at a travel center we should buy a couple of Bluetooth headsets. I’d like to buy a dashcam as well,” he said. The carrier Hugh was contracted with recommended dashcams, but hadn’t yet made them a requirement. Given the circumstances of the last few trips he had made in his truck, Hugh thought it would be a wise move.
On Hugh’s phone, Jenny tapped the icon labeled “Mom and Dad” the salesman had put on the home screen of both their phones. They also had icons for each other’s phone numbers.
Jenny put the phone to her ear.
“Put it on speaker,” Hugh said.
Jenny tapped the little icon that looked like a speaker and held the phone up for both of them to hear and speak.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Mom. It’s me and Jenny,” Hugh spoke loudly into the phone.
“I was wondering who was calling. I almost didn’t pick up because I didn’t recognize the number.”
“That number on
