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Route 66-based story (inspired by my 09/2009 Route 66 road trip)
CHAPTER 78: FINDING & REALIZING
Upon hearing her younger brother’s message to her over the WSM airwaves, the middle sibling gasped & frantically started searching for her phone. This amused some of the visitors she had welcomed & startled the shopkeeper & his wife who’d stopped at the family business while they were out driving in the eldest’s maroon 1976 Caprice Classic sedan. The middle sibling asked the shopkeeper & his wife to help search, but the shopkeeper bluntly asked where she last remembered using &/or seeing it. Without another word, the middle sibling dashed into the office.
Upon entering the office, she fumbled through the papers on the desk & finally found her phone. Exhausted from the semi-excitement, she sat (or, rather, landed) in the desk chair & started thumbing through her phone. She discovered she missed several calls, including the 1 from her brothers. She shook her head, mainly at herself because she always has her phone with her. This instance was an exception rather than the rule … & it had to come at a time her brothers had tried to call to check in.
She was about to stand to go back out to the main area when the shopkeeper’s wife poked her head in the office & asked if the phone had been found. The middle sibling smiled & nodded affirmatively. The shopkeeper’s wife motioned the middle sibling to return to the main area to join them listening to the broadcast. The middle sibling took a quick glance around the office, stood up & followed the shopkeeper’s wife out to the main room, where a feigned round of applause awaited her from some of the visitors there. The middle sibling graciously accepted the pseudo congratulations with a smile & a wave of her hand. This brought a round of laughter across the room.
The momentary excitement gone, the middle sibling re-focused her attention on talking with visitors & listening to her younger brother’s radio broadcast. The 1st words from many of the visitors she spoke with were along the lines of how cool it was her brothers were road tripping along Route 66 & keeping people updated with social media photos & WSM radio broadcasts. Each time, the middle sibling answered with a smile, but inside, she was wishing she’d gone with her brothers. Each time that wish crossed her mind, though, she quickly reminded herself of the awesome opportunity to speak with so many others also traveling Route 66 & taking time out of their trip to stop to see their family business &, in many cases, speak with her. She realized listening to the tales of others was another way she was traveling the route, too, even if she wasn’t physically doing so. Her understanding of just how much her parents loved & her older brother still loves Route 66, its places, & most importantly, its people was also deepening.