TG Race Week 2 Day 4b
”Rolling, Rolling, Rolling. Keep those doggies Rolling.”
Tracey rotates the wheel as she crosses the black ash surrounding the volcano. Her speaker comes to life. “So, Tracey, we got a ride to the islands from one brother, rockets from another, and car repair from a third. How many siblings do you have?”
“7 or 8.”
“You don’t know?”
“It depends how you count. I’ve got 7 blood brothers and 1 adopted brother.”
“All brothers.”
“Yup. I’m the only girl. Timmy and Tommy are the oldest. They are twins. Timmy’s about 45 minutes older. Then there’s Toby. You met him. He’s the car mechanic. Next is Tony. He works for NASA.”
“I see. That’s where we got the rockets from.”
“Right.” She continues her family tree, “Then there’s the next pair of twins, me and Troy. He lives by us and is a captain who flies 747s all over. He sent us the supplies for Race 2. I’m older by 6 minutes.”
“I’ll have to thank him later.”
Tracey beams, “Next is Tiny. He is in the Navy. He was the one who arranged our ride to Cape Verde. And the youngest is Ty. He’s the builder. He’s in construction and knew from a young age that he wanted to do that. He taught me building skills. That’s how I knew how to build our Panic Room.”
“Ok, that’s 7. Are any of them adopted?”
“Oh, no. Terrell is the youngest and the adopted one.”
“Terrell? What happened to the names that start with ‘T’ and end with ‘y’?”
“Mom ran out of names.” They both laugh. “So what about you, Doc? What family do you have?”
He pauses for a moment before replying, “Not much anymore. I only have my sister, now. And since she lives in a different state we don’t see much of each other anymore.”
“Oh.” They continue their journey and their conversation for hours more.
At dusk, Tracey sees an irregular shape rising. “Doc, you know what that is?”
“If it’s not the border to Egypt, I have no idea. I haven’t been to before.”
They pull to a stop near it. “The Oasis Meteor Crater.”
They switch spots. “Huh,” she says as she enters the back, “You’d think with a name like that there’d be an oasis or something.”
Doc agrees, “Well, let’s get to Egypt.”
They head off and cross the border a little while later.