Long and winding road

 Day 6 of the Flash Fiction Marathon.

Photo prompt

The lyric, “a long and winding road,” ran through Marie-Anne’s mind, only the road wasn’t winding. It was straight and seemed to go on forever

She had to pee desperately. There were no rest stops. Since only one car had passed her in the last hour, she felt she had no choice but to squat by the side of the road. Resuming the trip, she compared this pothole ridden highway with the ones in France with smooth surfaces, rest stops with shops, restaurants, picnic tables, wifi and exercise areas.

It was a good thing she had slept on the plane from Charles de Gaulle to Chicago before renting the car three hours ago. She figured she had another two hours at least before she reached the address her sister Margaux had sent with the message. “Help. Come get me and Sophie.” When your twin who barely ever contacts you sends a message like that you don't ask, you just go.

Anne-Marie, as a free-lance journalist, could drop everything to get on a plane coping with vaccination codes, masks and q-tips being shoved up her nose to gain admission to the U.S. to get to her twin and niece.

“Welcome to Evans, population 150,” the sign read. This was where her sister had moved after marrying an American soldier she’d met when her father had been assigned to the French diplomatic embassy in Prague. The soldier had been stationed at the American embassy. Everyone thought she was too young to marry, but Margaux had always been the more stubborn of the two of them declaring love was much more important than going to university.

Evans had four streets and a gas station sold some basic groceries. Anne-Marie had no trouble finding 38 Elmer Grove, the address she'd been given. All the homes were trailers in various states from disaster to well cared for. Thirty-eight was well cared for.

A gray-haired woman answered the door. “You must be Anne-Marie. Thank God you’ve come.”

Sophie emerged from the back of the trailer. She’d put on 50 pounds since Anne-Marie had last seen her. That wasn’t what Anne-Marie noticed first. Her sisters eye was swollen shut and her arm was in a sling.

“I’ve got to get out of here. Quick.”

Twenty minutes later, Margaux, Anne-Marie and Sophie were headed back to Chicago catching up on eight years and strategizing how to get Sophie a passport, all of them vaccinated and onto a plane for Paris. 

412 words