Road Trip

It was Sunday afternoon in the town of Shadbush. I was standing behind the serving counter at Flo’s Roadside Diner watching the brunch crowd disperse. I took a sip of two-hour old coffee to give me a spark to deal with the upcoming lunch crowd. The lunch traffic on Sunday afternoons was normally slow at Flo’s but I had a feeling it was going to pick up.

Mrs. Jenna Wisedale and her three kids, two boys and one girl, entered the diner. The determined Mother corralled her young children into a booth. The young energetic family were regular customers at Flo’s. Samantha, the server, went over to take the Wisedale’s order, while I rang up the remaining checks from the departing patrons. Flo took off Sundays, so I doubled as shift manager and short order cook. 

After collecting the cash, I waited for Samantha to return with the family’s order. Usually the patriarch of the Wisedale family, Jerry, was with them. Jerry and Jenna Wisedale were childhood sweethearts and, since I’ve known them, were always together. I wondered where Jerry was that Sunday afternoon. Before going any further discussing Jerry and Jenna Wisedale, I must tell you how I lost my Wife in this very diner.

Years earlier, my Wife Danielle and I were celebrating our tenth-year wedding anniversary with a vacation. It was a road trip along U.S. Highway 66 in Arizona. We loved being on the road together in our old rusty Jeep. On the road is how we met. Both of us were hitchhiking around the Blue Ridge Mountains, when we bumped into each other at a diner in Tennessee. Both of us were free spirits back then. I was a trust fund kid from New England while Dani never knew her parents and stayed at foster homes in the Midwest. We fell in love and never looked back.

Danielle, Dani, loved the open road and dreamt of us becoming truck drivers cruising the U.S. roadside looking for diners. Dani loved to eat at diners. It was funny because my red-headed wife was very thin and did not resembled a frequent consumer of diner food. Yes, it was odd that she loved diners, but everyone had their one or two quirky things that thrilled them. For Dani it was driving on the open road looking for hole-in-the-wall diners.

Dani said that diners felt comforting to her. Maybe it was the scented atmosphere about diners. Dani loved diner smells and considered the combatting fragrances as spirits from great cuisines. Every time Dani wiggled her nose, I wondered if she was a hound dog in a prior life. My scent driven Wife couldn’t recall her earlier life but wondered if it centered around a diner. She would joke that there was a mysterious diner out there waiting for her.

There were a few days left on our trip before heading home to upstate New York. In New Mexico, we came across an old off-ramp that led to a country dirt road. I steered the jeep down that road that led into a valley and towards the town of Shadbush. Shadbush was part of a region known as Pleasant Valley. Pleasant Valley was a lake, forest and mountain region that had a handful of small Norman Rockwell-esque looking towns sprinkled in it. Our Jeep chugged us through the scenic valley. Every view was so breathtaking that it seemed unreal. It reminded me of the Grand Canyon, so beautiful and vast that it looked fake like a painting.

Dani laughed as we drove past the Shadbush entrance sign. The sign said, “Welcome to Shadbush-Here you are!” We drove into town to a parking lot and then walked the main Street’s sidewalks looking at the various stores.  The town had a cozy western-hick vibe that reminded me of the fictional town of Mayberry. The people we met were kind and welcoming. Dani noticed that the fashion of the citizens was a mixed bag of styles that reminded her of the variety clothes at a thrift shop. The town seemed technologically slow, no cell phone reception, which was normal for a lot of these backroad destinations.

While walking Main Street, greeted by everyone we passed, Dani thought some of the Citizens looked like famous dead people. She pointed out a Woman who looked like Princess Diana. I laughed, but the Woman, did resemble Diana around the time she died. We talked to the Diana look alike, named Helena. Despite her resemblance to the deceased Princess, she did not have an English accent. We asked Helena if there were any diners. Helena told us about Flo’s roadside diner and pointed to it down off of Main Street.

After thanking Helena, we walked towards the diner holding hands. Actually, Dani was pulling me like a child dragging her parent onto some devious amusement ride. We entered the diner that forever would change our lives. There were not many patrons in the diner, but there was remnants of a lunch rush. Flo’s diner was a retro 1950’s style design and very similar to many diners we visited. Along one side there was a bar area. The bar’s countertop was sheathed in Formica. The Formica was light blue with specks of gold that matched the padded chrome stools and the many standalone tables and booths.  

It was a seat yourself establishment, so we found a clean booth. Dani took two menus that were on the table and handed me one. Dani waved the laminated menu around.

“Sturdy menu. That’s a good sign!” She said with a smile.

“Good bones, right?” I asked.

“Unless it is in the meatloaf!”

I rolled my eyes at our old bone in the meatloaf joke. Years earlier at a diner, I found a bone in my meatloaf. I should have recognized the signs when we saw the Cook’s apron. The apron said, “Chef Ptomaine.” Whenever one of us would order the meatloaf at a diner, we would ask to hold the bone or ask if the meatloaf was boneless.

Dani placed the menu in front covering her face while scoping the pictures of the food.

“Hmm, I’m thinking a good turkey club with some slaw,” she said. “How about you?”

“I’m thinking pastrami. Though the Hop-Sing special looks good.” I replied.

Dani didn’t comment, she was still hiding behind the menu.

“Smell any good smells?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” Dani said. “I think I smell something different. Actually, I do.”

Dani paused. I saw the dessert section on the side of Dani’s menu facing me.

“On the other side of the menu that you are hiding behind, are some parfaits. You might want to check that out.”

Dani did not answer, still staring at the menu items. A large-burly Man approached. He had a welcoming grin and was wearing a stained white t-shirt to go with his white apron and pants. The Man’s balding head was so large that he resembled a St. Bernard dog.

“Howdy there folks welcome to Flo’s!” He said, “I’m Flo. I see some new faces to Shadbush!”

Behind Flo was Samantha, the young waitress I talked about earlier, holding a hot glass pot of coffee.

“Hi Flo, my name is Gregg, and this is my Wife Danielle.

When Dani removed the menu down from her face, Flo opened his mouth in awe. So did Samantha dropping the coffee pot that shattered over the checkered tiled floor. Flo turned to me, with an angered look on his face.

“Call the Sheriff Sam!” Flo ordered.

“The Sheriff? Is there a problem Flo?” I asked.

Flo folded his arms and blocked me from getting out of the booth. I looked at Dani.

“Dani something isn’t right here,” I said.

Dani didn’t respond only giving me an odd look.

“Dani?”

Dani’s face had an expression on it that I have never seen before. I laughed thinking this was a prank, but Dani looked afraid.

“I’m sorry,” She said.

“It’s ok Dani. We’ll figure this out,” I said.

“It appears that I have sat down in the wrong booth. I didn’t know this one was taken.” She said. “I’m sorry sir.”

Dani’s voice changed. She always had a midwestern twang to her voice that I found endearing, but this time it seemed like she was impersonating the locals. Dani scooched off the booth bench and was hugged by Flo.

“What? Dani is this a joke?”

“Abducting someone is no joke mister.” Flo said. “I want no trouble with you. You just stay right here.”

Flo handed Dani off to Samantha who escorted her away from me. Dani looked dazed and afraid as she stared at me.

“Where are you taking her?” I asked. I tried to get up from the booth, but Flo leaned his large hand on my shoulder.

“No trouble mister,” he said.

Local law enforcement, Sheriff and Deputy, entered the diner and approached us. I watched Dani getting escorted out of the diner. I was angry and afraid for Dani and needed to make sure she was alright. I wondered if she had a stroke or if they drugged her. During our years together, I have never seen that confounded expression on her face. She seemed like a different person! The Sheriff told me to settle down, but that pissed me off more. The Sheriff not liking my tone, arrested me.

At the police station, in my jail cell, the Deputy told me that Dani was reported missing by her husband two years ago. I told them that was impossible since Dani and I have been married for the last ten years. The Sheriff chimed in showing me a photo album that Dani’s supposed first Husband sent them. It was a wedding album of Dani and this Man. For more than twelve years Dani and I have been together. We have never spent any time away from each other. There was no way Dani could of went behind my back and gotten married. How could this be? Nothing was making sense!

There were other albums of Dani and the man from their younger years. There was even a photo album of Dani with her parents and siblings. I told the officers that Dani was an orphan and lived her childhood in foster homes. The Sheriff told me that he knew Dani ever since she was a child. It seemed that the whole town was in on this ruse. Is that what this town does? Bait you into the town and convert you?

The Sheriff told me that I will be in a cell for a few days until I calmed down. I asked to meet with Dani and the Sheriff obliged. I was still behind the bars when Dani came in with her Sister. I could tell that Dani had changed but I don’t know how. I thought maybe this was a cult and she was being brain washed, but all of the evidence of her life in Shadbush was there. It didn’t look fake. Dani apologized saying that she didn’t know me.

I argued that this was a case of mistaken identity and I had proof of my life with Dani. I tried showing pictures of us from my phone, but it didn’t work. There was only one thing that I could do and that was to leave and bring back my own evidence of our life together. The Sheriff, realizing I was no threat and that Dani was not going to press charges, released me. I got in the Jeep and drove off through Pleasant Valley. After hours of driving, I could not find my way back to the main highway. For days I tried to escape but ended up back near Shadbush. As I drove back into town, I saw the Shadbush sign that Dani and I laughed about. The sign had changed from saying “Welcome to Shadbush-Here you are!” to “Welcome to Shadbush-Where are you?” I was trapped.

There were worse places to be lost and trapped. Being in Pleasant Valley’s town of Shadbush wasn’t a bad place to live. I decided to stay in Shadbush to make sure Dani, whoever she became, was good. There was a part of me that hoped her mind would change. I got the cooking job at Flo’s and had been working here for many years. It’s not a bad job and Flo is a good boss. What is really odd is that when I returned to Shadbush, no one remembered me as a kidnapper. It was as if Dani never got abducted and went missing. It seemed like some kind of time reset. Speaking of time, it seems that it is slower here in Shadbush.

When I was four years old, my Parents bought a new home. On the day we moved in, me and my Sisters were playing on a swing set in the backyard. On the ground under the swing set were these wet wood chips. The smell was damp wood. When I was in college, me and my buddies were playing touch football by a playground. I smelled that odd wood scent which took me back to that time as a child at the swing set. It amazed me how a scent that I had not smelled in over twenty years brought me back to a childhood memory. That’s what I think happened to Dani. I think Dani smelled something in that diner whether it was food, furniture, fixtures or the menu itself. With one whiff, Dani’s identity changed. She was no longer my Wife Dani but another person with real memories of a prior life. Whatever scent it was, it flipped her mind.

That’s the reason why I took the job, not only to see Dani but to maybe trigger that smell to bring her back to me. On my off days I ventured looking for a way out but could not find one. And when Dani showed at the diner, I would go out of my way to introduce to her a new scent hoping for some trigger. As the years went on, I lost hope. Even if Dani remembered, we could never get back home. This place was off the map and maybe off the planet.

On this Sunday I sparked up the grill and waited for the Wisedale family food order. Samantha dropped off the meal ticket. The order was two grilled cheese sandwiches, three orders of fries, order of chicken nuggets and a slice of meatloaf but hold the bones.

THE END