Led by the Ring in His Nose

"I love you!"

"Prove it! Fill me up!"

We tried to be quiet. We tried not to break the bed. We were half successful. The bed is fine.

The alarm sounded at four. Neela shut it off and threw off our covers. No point in staying in a bed no longer warm. We got up, dressed warmly and headed for the kitchen.

Mom had coffee made, pancakes on the griddle, eggs in a flying pan and strips of bacon cooking beside the pancakes on the griddle. She had a grocery bag with sandwiches, fruit and a half-gallon of fresh coffee for the road. We ate and ate well.

At four-thirty the timer on the stove sounded and Mom rushed us out the door and onto our adventure. When I kissed her Good-Bye she had tears in her eyes. When Neela kissed her Good-Bye Mom said, "I'm trusting his life into your hands."

While we ate Mom had gone out and started the truck. In over thirty years as a trucker's wife she'd never driven one foot, but she had started and warmed the truck many times. She did it for Dad and now she did it for us.

The thermometer on the outside mirror read thirty degrees. I put the truck in gear and we were off. The clock on the dash read 4:41am. Neela stayed quiet until we were on the Interstate.

I said, "This is a GPS." I turned the screen to face Neela. I taught her how to use it. I had already programmed it for the company address in Pittsburgh. The female voice came on and told me to prepare to turn east from I-294 onto I-80. Neela smiled and said, "I think I can learn to navigate."

I agreed. We watched the sun come up right in front of us. She mentioned how different the view was from up high in the cab of our truck. I noticed how good it felt that she said, "Our truck." At almost eight in the morning I got off the interstate and found a truck stop. Actually, I didn't find it. I knew it was there. I needed a bathroom and knew that for what I wanted to do we hadn't been married long enough to do it in the sleeper's tiny bathroom.

I was inside the truck stop for less than ten minutes. When I came back Neela had figured out why I went. I blushed. She thanked me for being so considerate.

Half way to Pittsburgh is Toledo. We pulled over and ate the lunch Mom had packed. She made my favorite sandwiches, meatloaf for me and tuna salad for Neela. I explained that since we were a team there would be times when the most efficient way to have lunch would be to have her feed me while I kept us moving to our destination.

Neela cleaned up our lunch while I got us back on the highway. Then she spent time turning her seat area into her office. She started a notebook of things she wanted to remember for future reference. She found the radio station in Toledo that broadcast road and weather information for truckers every fifteen minutes. She kept notes on where the various truck stops were along the road we were on. And, we talked.

Mostly we talked about our business. We hadn't talked about being truckers before Dad died. I had believed it would be years in the future before Dad died and that when he died I'd be so well established in the advertising world that trucking wouldn't even be an option. But... the way the economy was going I could see that a good reliable way of making a living was probably a better idea than the world of advertising.

Neela looked and saw that trucking wasn't what she had planned to be doing. She had planned on an office in a glass building, wearing nice suits and heels, and living in a cozy apartment in the city. Suddenly she was sitting ten feet off the ground going sixty miles an hour in a truck.

I offered, "Let's look at this trip as a test. We'll pick up the load in Pittsburgh and take it to San Diego. If we have a load in California back to near home we'll decide then if we stay trucking. If this isn't for us, we sell the truck and get to whatever we do next."

Neela agreed that seeing this trip as a test was a great idea. We talked and talked some more as we moved towards Pittsburgh. As we got closer the traffic got more intense and Neela got quieter. I asked, "You Ok?"

"Yes. I'm quiet so you can focus on driving." She said. About two miles later the GPS voice told me to turn off the highway onto city streets.

I said, "I can't go wrong. I have two ladies helping me!" That relaxed her a little and we made it to the loading dock in Pittsburgh at ten minutes after one in the afternoon, Chicago time. Backing between two other rigs was a skill my Dad made me practice a hundred times in various weather conditions and as I did it I think Neela closed her eyes. It was her first time. I had almost two feet on each side so I was comfortable, but she was worried.

While the dock crew loaded us Neela and I went to the office and did paperwork. Momma had been on the phone with the office folk many times over the years and the paperwork was easy for us. Neela spoke to Momma on the phone and when she was ready she found me watching the crew locking up the load.

"The Boss says we should head west until our time is up. Weather." Neela said.

One of the dock crew, a man about six-six and well over three hundred pounds looked at Neela and asked, "You the second driver?"

She smiled at him and said, "We're partners. No one is second."

He said, "The regular guy from Evan's trucking always came in alone. What happened?"

I was about to answer when Neela said, "It's a family business. Daddy doesn't drive any more. I'll let him know you said Hello."

"Yeah! Do that. I like him." He turned and went back to work.

We got in the truck and headed west. The GPS put us on I-44 west. I said, "You handled that perfectly. You called Dad Daddy."

"Explaining all the details would have taken time and he really doesn't need the details. Was I really Ok?"

"Yup. He knows Evans Trucking is a family business. He's also thinking about you and me as more than truckers."

"He has a dirty mind!" She said with a smile. I looked over at her and thought, 'He had every good reason to think what he thought.'

I timed out near Columbus. I pulled into the Pilot Travel center at exit 94. I topped off our fuel. Neela did the math and we were getting almost exactly six miles per gallon. Topping off cost us four hundred seventy dollars. I'd been with Dad when fuel had been lots cheaper per gallon and still cost us six hundred for a load. Neela was used to driving her Saab and filling up a twenty-one gallon tank. Her Saab also got twenty miles a gallon. The most she'd ever spent for a fill up had been near eighty dollars. When we parked for a sleep break she asked, "How many gallons can we carry?"

"We have two fuel tanks that hold a hundred and twenty gallons each."

Her mind calculated and she said, "A full load would be two hundred forty gallons and at four dollars per that would cost over nine hundred dollars!"

"And, take us fourteen hundred miles." I said.

Our conversation was about the costs of being in business. We talked while we cooked and got ready for a night's sleep. Neela thought it strange that we were getting ready for a night's sleep when it wasn't even dark yet. Momma had packed our food and meals were labeled by when she wanted us to eat them. The foil wrapped package for 3 Jan included meat loaf, two baked potatoes, Hunan green beans and homemade biscuits. We warmed it up and had a good dinner.

The first three days on the road Dad had been eating Mom's food. Now we were. She cooked up a storm at home and packed meals easy to warm and eat. I knew Dad prized the way Mom took care of him. I called Mom and we talked to her as we finished dinner.

She asked good questions beginning with asking where we were. When she asked I knew she was in the office at the map mounted on the wall. She would put a marker on the map showing where we were each time we called. The marker would mark how many miles we'd traveled, how much fuel we bought and how much it cost. She talked with Neela about the food and if we had enough of everything. Neela asked where some things were stored and Mom helped Neela find them.

Near the end of the call Momma asked if we had spoken to Neela's family. Neela said, "No."

Momma said, "When a family is being torn apart by emotions it would be good for someone to stay level-headed. I think maybe the level heads are in a truck in Ohio."

She told us she loved us and sent us to bed. As soon as she hung up Neela said, "I need to call our apartment." I hugged her and said, "You can do that if that's what you want, but I'm thinking we should do it together. We need to face whatever needs facing together." I got a kiss and a promise for what we would share after the call. She called our apartment and after hearing the message she said, "It's us. Pick up, please."

Her Dad picked up. "Neela? Where are you?"

"Daddy, when we call, don't ask where we are. Please. We choose not to be findable for a while. I will say that it's cold and has been snowing here. We're both healthy and doing fine. How are things with all of you?"

"I think we may be getting a divorce. Your Momma has thrown everyone out of her house! She has threatened all of us with violence. I went over yesterday to get some of my things, clothes mostly and she had thrown all my clothes out in the back yard in the snow! Amir got lots of his sister's clothes out of the house before Momma locked him out, too."

I asked, "Do you need anything we can provide?"

"No." He said, "For now we have a nice apartment, heat and the girls take good care of me. The boys drop by and we feed them, but they sleep over at Uncle Hassan's."

"There is no need for you to look for another apartment." Neela said. "We're not coming back to live in that apartment. You can start making the rent on the tenth of February and stay there, if Momma doesn't come to her senses."

"I cannot afford to pay the mortgage on the house and rent here. If she doesn't calm down I'll have to sell the house."

I said, "I don't want this to sound like I'm telling you what to do, because I'm not. This is just a suggestion. If your wife knows she can't keep the house unless you're in it, she might decide to open the doors."

"And how do I tell her? She won't talk to me!"

Neela said, "Get a For Sale sign planted in the front yard. Tell my brothers and sisters not to call her. She'll call you at work. When she sees how serious the situation is she'll have to bend."

"I've been a good husband for all these years, haven't I?"

"Yes Daddy! You've been the husband she wanted. Her family trained her to be who she is and we went along because we didn't know any better. Remember when grandpa used to tell stories about how hard it was to change when they came to America? Now I know that Momma is facing changes like those. She can't keep living the old way any more. If she won't change easily, she'll still need to change. Before 2009 is over she'll be a divorced woman, living alone in an apartment or living with you in a new way."

"She doesn't want change! She wants you back home, unmarried and being a good daughter. She wants me back, with a ring in my nose!"

"A thousand times I've heard her tell all of us that we don't always get what we want. I'm not coming back home to live, not getting a divorce, not being Momma's follower. I love her and we all need to grow and change to live in 2009."

I loved listening to Neela speak to her Dad. She was showing me her thinking, her commitment to our partnership.

She looked at the clock on the dash and realized we needed to sleep. She said, "Daddy, I need to get off the phone. Ben and I have an appointment in the early morning and we need sleep. I'll call again tomorrow at about this time and we can talk then, Ok?"

""Ok. This is not where I thought my life would be in 2009."

"Surprise! I didn't think I'd be married already or be a partner in a business, but I am. We just need to do our best and keep loving each other."

"Good Night, Neela and Good Night Ben."

We said, "Good Night Dad." And the call was over. Neela crawled into bed with me and said, "You were right. Momma saw what you did to her family and went into action to get her power back."

"I think your finger will heal faster than she will. She has been invested in the power structure with her at the top for thirty years."

She snuggled against me and her hand began convincing me that having sex would be a good idea. We kissed and for the next period of time we connected in our business office for the first time. We mated with me above her, her above me, side by side and like two big dogs. Then we imitated two snakes and wrapped around each other and slithered into sleep.

While Neela was on the phone with her Dad I had set the clock to get us up in time to be on the road just before dawn. We planned to go to Springfield MO on the third. A little over six hundred miles.

Our days became something of a routine. We drove west as near to my time limits as possible, ate, slept, got out and walked some each day and called home every other day. Neela discovered sights she'd never seen before, like driving across the rivers, seeing the desert and watching snow blowing across the highways for two days in a row.

Nothing at our house changed during the five days we drove between Pittsburgh and San Diego. Mom kept doing her things and keeping track of us. She made suggestions about after our delivery, but didn't push.

Our calls to what had been our apartment were calls into an emotional storm. When we called on the third the story was that Momma had tossed everyone out of her home, had threatened to burn the place down and had destroyed everything in the house that belonged to Neela. On the fifth when we called Sariah answered and it was obvious she had been crying. As soon as she heard my voice she burst into sobs again.

I said, "Sariah, you must get control. We cannot help or even understand what is happening if you can't tell us." It took her a minute, but she did calm down enough to talk.

"My brothers went to Daddy's business and demanded that he give in to Momma. They demanded that he get you back in the house and that he do something to get things back the way they were. When Daddy told them he didn't even know where you were they didn't believe him! Amir became so angry that he hit Daddy and broke his nose!"

"When did this happen?" Neela asked.

"Yesterday. Daddy had to go to the emergency room. He took today off and closed his business for the day. Amir went to the house and took down the For Sale sign today. He has called twice."

Neela said, "I need Uncle Hassan's phone number. The boys sleep at his home, don't they?"

"Yes." She gave us the number and I wrote it down. Neela talked to her for a while and calmed her down, giving her instructions for caring for their Daddy. After she hung up we sat together and held each other for quite a few minutes. Finally Neela picked up the phone again and called her Uncle Hassan. They spoke for almost half an hour. I didn't understand any of what was said. I did understand the tears and the tone of voice changes. When she hung up the phone she came into my arms and cried for a while before telling me what she learned.

"The whole community has taken sides. Those who lived in our old country and those who were born just after the families came to America are on Momma's side. Many of the younger, second generation family are on Daddy's side. Actually, not on Daddy's side. On our side. They believe we live in a new country and there are new ways. If a vote was taken today, our side is out numbered. No one seems to understand why the bull's ring is an insult. Uncle Hassan wants me to come home, go to Momma and apologize."

"Is that what you want to do?" I asked. I held my voice as neutral as I could.

"No! If I did that I would be condemning my sisters and my brothers to life in the old way! If they could only open their eyes and see how much better life could be as a partnership!" Her arms tightened around me and I held on. I thought about how I had been raised inside a partnership and took it for granted. My parents had taught me an entirely different way to think and act than Neela's family taught their children to think and act.

"Ben, I need your help." She didn't let go, but lifted her face to look into mine.

"Whatever you need." I said.

"The phone calls were expensive. I don't know enough about our partnership to know if we can afford what I've already done, much less more. On the emotional side, I'm a wreck. I want to crawl under the covers with you and cry for a couple of days."

"Whatever you need. Our load isn't due in San Diego until the eleventh. If you need two days under the covers, we can do it. You need three hours more on the phone, do it. I'm here for you."

"We can do this, can't we?"

"Which this do you mean?"

"We can live our lives as partners? I don't want my mother to win this power struggle. Sariah and Asmir need freedom, too!"

"I cannot guarantee that they will have it, without a fight. We can live our lives inside this partnership and have great lives. We have two great things going for us, we love each other and we're both smart."

"Three great things. We have the example set by your parents. We already know a partnership like ours can work, they did it. I'm so glad I got to meet them both and learn from them."

For the rest of that day and night I did whatever I could do to comfort Neela. I made chicken soup and fed it to her. I held her. I helped her cry when she cried and mostly I was quiet. The morning of the seventh I started the truck and drove from Flagstaff to Phoenix. I had a good friend from college who lived in Phoenix. As I drove I asked Neela to call him and put the call on speaker.

He answered and I asked, "In about three hours I'm going to be in Phoenix Arizona. Got any idea where a boy from Chicago can find good brots in Arizona?"

"Ben, is that really you?" He asked.

"Yup! Honestly I know better than to hope there are good brots in Arizona, but we will be hungry when we get there. Any chance you could take a little time off?"

"I know the boss pretty well. I can close the shop down for two days!" He paused, "Wait! You said we. We, as in, I'm not alone."

"Are you sitting down? I'm married and my wife and I have a business together."

"Do I know her?"

"No. I met her after Nicole and I broke up. You were already out west."

"I didn't know you and Nicole broke up. Let me guess, it had something to do with your Vette?"

"I sold her the car and she drove off, never to be seen again."

"Damn, Buddy that's sad."

"No. One door closes so a better one can open. Give us your address and Neela will plug you into our GPS. Is there a lot of room to park close to you?"

"Wal-Mart is a block away."

"I'll call you when we're there. Ok?"

"No. I have a three-bedroom house, know where every restaurant worth eating at can be found and I've missed you! How long can you stay?"

"Randy, what we need most is a place where Neela can crash for a day or two. Her family is in turmoil and she just needs a place to drop into the fetal position and sleep or cry for a while."

"Call me when you're at Wal-Mart. I'll meet you there. What are you driving?"

"A semi. Remember my Dad's truck? It's ours now."

"Wow! Ok. See you in a couple hours."

Neela hung up just a second after Randy did. She said, "You found me a place to cry and heal. You love me."

"More than anything else in the Universe." The rest of the way to the Wal-Mart parking lot the only one who spoke was the woman inside the GPS. Neela and I stayed quiet.

Randy arrived driving a four-door Silverado Pick-up. I packed enough clothes for two days for Neela and off we went to his home. I planned to come back to the truck and move it, often and be back on the road to San Diego on the tenth. Seven hours driving on the tenth and we'd deliver a full day early.