A New Buddy

Peter had been on the highway for a little over ninety minutes and while he felt good being out of the office, he didn’t like where he was going. There was always an air of dread about him whenever he was heading out to Mom and Dad’s house for thanksgiving. The relationship with his parents was on and off, depending on what mood everyone was in by the time the big bird was served. Some years were peaceful, while others felt he was stepping into the octagon for a big fight. When Peter went to college, putting several thousand miles between himself and the folks was the best thing he ever did for their relationship. He wasn’t as far away these days, and that left him with no excuses when it came to spending time with the people who brought him into this world. Peter was ripping down the highway in a new car, one that he knew was going to make his brothers jealous. He wasn’t afraid to flaunt his success in everyone’s face and Peter knew this was going to make more than a few of them green with envy. It was a new mustang, and it had a nice silver paint on it that made it look like a bullet as it flew down the highway. His younger brother who was a mechanic was going to drool all day over it, while his mother would probably give him a lecture about money. Dad would always agree with mom, but give him a wink when mom wasn’t looking. That’s how things were between them, and that would likely never change.

As if they knew he was thinking about them, his cell phone started to ring. Peter tapped a button on his new car which answered the call for him and put his caller on the vehicle’s speakers.

“Hey Mom,” Peter said, keeping his eyes on the road. “What’s up?”

“How did you know it was me calling?” Mom asked.

“Everyone in my contact list has their own ring tone,” Peter answered, “I know who’s calling just based on what sound the phone makes. I don’t even have to look at the it anymore, I just know.”

“Fair enough,” Dad’s voice jumped in. “I can hear cars. Are you on the road?”

“Yes, I’m on my way.” Peter confirmed.

“How many settings should I make?” Mom asked.

“Jesus, Mom.” Peter said, “There’s no one else in the car. I’m going solo. You know Gabby and I broke up few months ago.”

“I was just hoping,” Mom said, “You know how much I liked her.”

“I know,” Peter said, unwilling to argue. “Just one setting, please.”

“Look, things will work out.” Dad chimed in, “Get back out there and find someone new. Plenty of fish in the sea.”

“I already tried that website,” Peter replied, “Never again.”

“What site?” Dad asked.

“Never mind,” Peter said, in no mood to explain. “Hey, I’m almost halfway there. I should be down there in about an hour or so.”

“Don’t drive too fast, dear.” Mom added, “Please be safe.”

“I’ll be alright, Mom.” Peter assured her. “I’ve never been in an accident.”

“Alright, son.” Dad said, “See you soon.”

“Ciao.” Peter said, right before hitting a button and disconnecting.

Peter wasn’t lying about his E.T.A. as he was a little more than halfway to his destination, which was the only home he had ever known. His parents still lived in the same place since the day he was born. There were a few scares during hard economic times when he thought they were going to move, but it never seemed to happen. Yet a short time after speaking to his parents, Peter was starting to hear the call from nature. He needed to take a leak, as that bottomless soda from lunch was finally catching up with him. It felt like forever as he kept driving down the highway, waiting fort he sign that would indicate the next rest stop. That last thing he wanted to do was pee himself in a new car so he was relieved to see a sign that said a gas station was just a few miles up. He even revved the engine a bit and sped up as nature was losing it’s patience with him.

Peter pulled over to the side of the station and parked beside a row of cars. His car looked rather close to the highway, but he didn’t care as he bolted out of the car and walked at a fast pace into the station. He strolled right up to the man at the register who looked around as old as his father but had lot more facial hair and smelt a little worse too.

“Can I help ya?” the old man asked.

“I need to use your bathroom.” Peter replied.

“Bathroom is for customers only,” the old man replied.

“You drive a hard bargain, but I accept.” Peter said as he tossed a twenty onto the table. “Gimme your key and I’ll spend that when I get back.”

The old man smiled and tossed him the key. “It’s around back, take a left out the door and another left, can’t miss it.”

“Thank you,” Peter said, taking the key and bolting out the door rather quickly.

He took a left from the door and then another and the bathroom door was very clear to see as the old man has indicated. As he was strolling to the door, a medium sized dog strolled up and started to walk beside him. Peter looked down at the dog that was about as high as his hip.

“Hey there,” he said, giving the dog a small pat on the head. “I gotta relieve myself. I’ll be right back.”

He unlocked the door and went inside, finally relieving himself of the liquid that had been nagging him for the last twenty or so minutes. He felt a great sense or release as he let out a loud sigh. After washing his hands, and even fixing his hair, Peter walked back out of the bathroom and he was still there. The dog he had seen earlier was sitting down in front of the bathroom, waiting for him to come back out. Peter playfully held the door open for him.

“Do you need to go?” Peter asked him. “No? Okay then.”

Peter chuckled to himself as he walked back into the gas station, and started to look around for things to buy with the twenty he dropped on the counter. He grabbed a few small bottles of mountain dew, a candy bar, a bag of cool ranch doritos, and even meatball sub that looked rather enticing. He knew it was going to be at least a few hours before supper was served, so there was nothing to worry about. Peter nuked the sub in the microwave while the old man rang him up.

“Don’t worry about it,” Peter said, “Keep the change.”

“Thanks, kid.” The old man said, handing him a bag. “Don’t forget your sub. My wife made those, they’re pretty good.”

“Thanks,” Peter said, as he grabbed the bag and the sub from the microwave. “Have a good day.”

“You too, kid.” The old man called back.

Peter was a few steps out the door when he took a big bite out of the sub, and it was just as good as the old man had advertised. Not too much sauce or cheese, and the meatballs were clearly homemade. The old man’s old woman was rather good at putting the sub together, much to Peter’s surprise. As he stood there, chewing his first bite, he couldn’t help but notice the dog had come back. He was sitting nicely beside Peter, looking up at him with those puppy dog eyes while licking his lips. Peter knew what that look meant, as he used to have a few dogs when he was growing up. He looked down at the dog and smiled.

“I probably shouldn’t spoil my supper anyway, so we can split it.” Peter conceded as he tore a small piece off the sub that had a nice meatball in it and gave it to the dog. He took a few more bites out of it and gave the dog another piece as they both stood there, eating the sub together. Peter didn’t want to eat it in the new car either, so this was probably for the best.

What happened next was totally unexpected as a car driving by made a sudden stop, because they just realized they were passing by the gas station and had wanted to make a pit stop. The car behind them that was riding their ass for the last few miles had no time to stop, and slammed right into the car in front of them rather hard. They were both not going too fast to begin with, so the impact sounded a lot worse than it actually was. The real problem was the transport truck that was coming up fast right behind them. The truck driver also had no time to stop, and was suddenly left with a terrifying choice: he could ram into the two cars in front of him and that would certainly injure and even kill someone, or he could run off the road and plow into the parked cars, and hope that no one was in them. It was clearly a no brainer for the driver, as he turned his trunk into the parked cars and said a prayer for them to be empty. Despite hitting his brakes to try to minimize the impact, the truck still slammed into the first four parked cars, demolishing them all.

Peter stood there with the dog and watched in awe as a few cars, including his own, was smoked by the truck. The old man had come running out of the station and he noticed that Peter was standing there.

“Are you alright?” he called out.

“I’m fine,” Peter said, “I can’t say the same for my car.”

“Holy moley.” The old man said, “the other cars are here for repairs, so they’re all empty. I could have sworn you were in there.”

“I almost was,” Peter said, “Your dog actually saved me. If he hadn’t distracted me, I probably would have been in there when this all happened.”

“That’s not my dog,” The old man said, “He’s just a stray. Come on, let’s make sure everyone’s okay.”

Peter followed the old man and they checked up on all three vehicles. Not only was the truck driver alright, but the people from the original fender bender only had minor injuries. Everyone was going to be alright. The police showed up and took statements from everyone, and Peter had been delayed for quite a while speaking to the officers and waiting for someone to pick him up. Peter waved as he watched is father’s mini-van pull into the gas station’s parking lot.

“Hey dad,” Peter said, walking up to the vehicle. “Thanks for picking me up.”

“You said you had car trouble,” Dad said, looking around. “Where is it?”

“Right over there, under that truck.” Peter said, pointing to the accident.

“Holy crap,” his Dad said, looking at it.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Peter said, “Thankfully I wasn’t inside.”

Just before Peter got in, he turned around and could see the same dog sitting there and looking happy as he did the first time he saw him. Peter stood there for a moment, and smiled back at the dog before opening the back door to the mini-van.

“Come on buddy,” Peter called out and even whistled, “Somebody’s earned a turkey leg today.”

The dog happily bolted over to the fan and jumped into he backseat, and Peter closed the door before jumping into the passenger side front seat.

“Whose dog is that?” Dad asked.

“Mine,” Peter said, “Looks like I’m not going solo after all.”

“Alright, let’s get going.” Dad said as he pulled back out onto the highway. Mom was going to be lecturing them for being late, no point losing more time debating his son about the new dog.

Peter wasn’t going to take no for an answer anyway, as he wasn’t going to do anything less for the little buddy that just saved his life. The least he could do was save that furball’s life and return the favor.

“How long have you had buddy?” Dad asked.

“Not long,” Peter said.

“Buddy is a nice name,” Dad complimented, “Seems to fit him.”

“It does,” Peter agreed, “Buddy is a very nice name.”

The dog barked as if to approve of it himself.

“Sorry about the car,” Dad said, “Was that new?”

“It was,” Peter confirmed, “But it was insured. I’ll be alright.”

“That’s good,” Dad said, “We’ll hit Walmart on the way back, grab you a change of clothes and some toiletries.”

“Oh, thanks Dad.” Peter said, as he never thought of it. He was still kind of shocked from seeing his car get wiped out.

“It’s just things,” Dad added as he pat his son’s leg. “We can replace those, but we can’t replace you. Now we have something to be thankful for, right buddy?”

The dog in the back barked twice to respond.

“I like him,” Dad said, “Lots of spunk. Seems very friendly too.”

“He is,” Peter concurred, “He’s also a lifesaver.”

“So much for you never being in an accident!” His Dad said, laughing to himself.

“I wasn’t in the car,” Peter corrected him, “So technically I wasn’t in it.”

“Good luck explaining that to your insurance company,” Dad retorted, “You rates are still going up, son.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Peter said, slouching in the chair, “I can afford it.”

Peter didn’t seem to care about that, as he was just happy to be alive. The car was totaled and if he was in it, Peter knew would have been killed for sure. He had a new lease on life, and was clearly on burrowed time from here out. He even have a friend to share this leg of the race with, and suddenly things didn’t seem as bad as they had earlier that day. He was going to be alright, and even looked forward to thanksgiving with he family for the first time in quite a while. The first of many Peter would share with his new buddy.