Country Car Ride:

However, there were still good times to look at. One of those was our first day of summer. I remember that Sunday. Kat came into our rooms around ten in the morning. She sat on my bed with a smile on her face.

�Good morning,� she whispered. I sat up in bed, blinking at her.

�What is it?� I asked. �Did something happen?� Kat smiled as she shook her head.

�No,� she replied. �Let�s go out today.� I raised an eyebrow at her.

�Huh?� I asked. Kat patted me on the leg.

�Get up,� she said. �I�ll go get your brother.� She climbed off of the bed and walked out of my room.

I watched her, blinking. Okay�, I thought. Once I took a shower and got dressed, I headed down to the living room to find Kat and Lyle sitting on the couch, waiting for me. I stood in the doorway and blinked at them.

�What�s going on?� I asked.

�Yeah,� Lyle agreed. Kat gave a huge grin.

�Let�s go out today!� she said. Lyle and I still didn�t get where she was going with this.

�Why?� he asked. �Did something happen?� Kat shook her head.

�Then, what is it?� I asked. Kat pressed her hands together.

�Thought that we could all go for a little drive around the countryside,� she replied. Lyle and I looked at her with big eyes. My little jaw dropped.

�No way!� I gasped. Kat held up her car keys.

�Shall we get going?� she asked. Lyle and I gasped in joy.

�Yeah!� we cheered. We followed her out to the car like little puppies. We had a nice German car. Not a sports car, a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia convertible. This was one of those German cars from the mid-50�s. I call the car �Bertie.� Kat keeps him in the garage because he�s too expensive to fuel up on a daily basis. So, we only take him out on special occasions. Kat, Lyle, and I all walked out to garage. I ran my little hand along Bertie�s bumper. His candy apple red paint screamed, �Take me outside, now!�

�Hi Bertie!� I cheered. Lyle groaned as he always did when I call the car by his name.

�Stop calling it that,� he grumbled. I ignored him and turned to Kat.

�Can we ride with the top down today?� I asked. She shrugged her shoulders at me.

�Sure,� she said. �I don�t see why not.�

�Yay!� I said. Lyle hopped in the passenger seat while I got in the back. Kat turned the car to start up Bertie. I counted down to the open road as the garage down drew open.

�Everyone all belted in?� Kat asked as she looked out her rear-view mirror.

�Yeah!� Lyle and I said.

�Okay,� she said. �Let�s go!� She put Bertie in reserve and pulled out.

Winds whipping around my dark brown pigtails as Bertie curved the rood. The bright sun shining down on Kat�s dark brown boyish haircut and Lyle�s equally dark brown messy mop as we kept riding along the back roads. I heard my own laughter circling my head. Kat drives along with the speed limit. Lyle sat back, listening to the British rock flooding the speakers of Bertie�s satellite radio. Kat would occasionally glance up at me in the rear view mirror.

�Enjoying this drive?� she asked me and Lyle.

�Yeah!� I called against the wind and the music. Lyle just nodded at her question. Kat focused back on the road. I paused as for a second, I thought I saw her smiling at me. Sure, she smiled once in a while, but not like that. I have only seen Kat smile like that once before. It was in an old photograph on the piano in the living room. She was younger then and standing with a young man, leaning against Bertie. She looked nothing like the woman we knew today. No pearls and no power suits. She had on shorts and a halter top with shades on her head. Her hair came down to her small shoulders then. The young man was dressed like a sailor next to her. They both grinned like wild puppies. Lyle and I always tried to guess the story behind that picture.

This led me to find out why.

We pulled up to a stop light. I looked over at Kat.

�Kat,� I said. �Why do you love Bertie so much?� She glanced over at me in the rear mirror.

�Well,� she said. �It�s very valuable to me.�

�Why?� I asked.

�It was a present from your father,� Kat said with some distance in her voice. I gave her a strange look.

�From Daddy?� I asked. The light suddenly changed green and she pulled away. I stared at the back of her head.

�What about Daddy?� I asked. I noticed that even Lyle looked up and took notice.

�It was our first date,� Kat went on. �He pulled up at my dorm building and buzzed me to come downstairs. We took this car out for a car on our date. I didn�t really care where we went at the time. I was just happy to be with him.�

Bertie turned the curve past a cow pasture.

�This car was like his first girlfriend to him,� she went on. �I didn�t mind it. In fact, he and his car became my way to see all of Germany on the weekends until we got married.�

Bertie crossed over slowly on a bridge over a gurgling brook. Kat stopped the car on the other side. Her hands trembled as she gripped the steering wheel.

�Ever since he�s been gone,� she summed up with her voice choked with emotion. �I haven�t been able to part with this car.� Lyle and I sat in silence. So that�s it�, I thought. Kat recomposed herself after taking a short breath.

�Is there anywhere that you would like to stop to eat lunch?� she asked in her usual calm tone. Lyle and I were quick to perk up.

�I want to eat at a country buffet!� I announced.

�I don�t mind, really,� Lyle replied. Kat loosened her grip on the wheel.

�Alright then,� she said. �A country buffet it is.� She drove Bertie all the way back to the main dirt road back to town. That was the last of the peaceful days that we would ever experience in Germany.