SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Chapter Forty Four The next morning both Alan and Rose woke early and practiced a few more aikido moves before eating the last of the fish dinners. It was still raining when they woke, but by the time they were finished, the rain was gone and it was a bright sunny day. “Perfect weather,” Alan said, looking out the window. “Hopefully, it’ll stay that way.” While Rose brushed her teeth, he settled down into one of the chairs and opened the atlas giving it one last glance before they left. He traced I-95 with his finger and raised his eyebrow. “Rose, if we follow M95, it looks like it’s gonna take us out of New Jersey into Philadelphia,” he said to her. “Do you wanna do that or do you wanna explore New Jersey a bit more?” She peeked out of the bathroom and took the toothbrush out of her mouth. “I think we should keep on following the motorway so we don’t get lost,” she said. “If it’s going out of New Jersey then we should just follow where it’s leading.” She went back to brushing her teeth while Alan studied the atlas. She heard him laughing, spat out some saliva and leaned her head back out the door. “What? What’s so funny?” she asked. “Um…dear, I think we’re more lost than you realize,” he said. Rose’s mouth dropped open. “Why? Where are we?” she said, panicked. He grinned. “I think we’re right outside Croydon now. How did that happen, do you suppose?” Rose rolled her eyes. “Funny, really funny, Alan,” she said as he snickered. She leaned back in and finished brushing her teeth. “Hey,” Alan called to her, “and right near Croydon is Bristol. My, my, my we are off track, aren’t we?” Rose giggled. She finished brushing her teeth and wiped her mouth off before speaking. “I don’t know if you realize this, Alan, since you are a newborn, but there are plenty of places around here with British names. I mean we are in New Jersey and the state we just came from is New York and right above New York is New Hampshire. See, long ago before you and I were born this used to belong to England and English people came over here and settled and they gave places English names and those English names remained even though the US broke away from England. I’m sure there are a million different cities and towns with English names up and down the east coast.” “I’ll say, there’s an Aberdeen, Maryland.” “Well, you see, that’s exactly my point. And I’m sure when we get to Aberdeen; you’ll be walking around making jokes about how we suddenly ended up in Scotland.” “Nah, Aberdeen’s on M40, we won’t be able to visit it. That’s way off the route we’re taking.” “Oh, well, at least we’re gonna visit Croydon then.” He chuckled. “Yup, that one we’ll definitely hit on the way.” He began to giggle. “What?” Rose said, amused, as she opened her rucksack. “The conversation that Sarah Jane had with the Doctor the night you met her. When the Doctor took her back home, she wanted to go to Croydon and he took her to Aberdeen instead.” “Oh, that figures,” Rose said, rolling her eyes. “I wonder if she meant Aberdeen, Maryland.” “With the Doctor’s sense of direction, I wouldn’t doubt it.” She zipped up her rucksack and sighed. “So, you ready to go. Checkout’s at eleven.” He nodded. “Yeah, just let me get everything packed and ready to go.” About an hour later, they were walking again. The ground was still slightly damp and spongy in places, but it wasn’t too bad and the two of them were making good time. Still, in order to avoid any overly muddy places, they decided to walk right by the interstate, much closer than they ever had before. Alan noticed that a few people glanced their way as they zoomed past but no one stopped for them. Eventually, the wet ground forced them to walk right beside the freeway. Alan walked on the outside nearest the traffic so Rose would be safe. As they walked, he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of the police or anything that looked suspicious. Since they were walking directly beside the interstate, they now had a good view of the road signs and Alan noticed that it wasn’t too far to Croydon. “Think Croydon would have a library?” he asked her. “Or do you wanna just skip checking the internet?” “No, I still want to do that. Even if we’re not going through much of New Jersey, I wanna see what there is in Philadelphia and Maryland and check my email.” He nodded. “Well, it said we’re about ten miles away, so a couple of hours walk, ya think?” Rose nodded. “Yeah and once we reach it, we’ll eat somewhere before checking for a library.” “Sounds good.” He gasped when someone honked at them and a car filled with laughing teenagers zoomed past. “Bloody rain. I don’t like being this close to the motorway. All these idiots and maniacs,” he said. “I think we should brave the mud and get away from here before a drunk driver or an idiot teenager broadsides us.” Rose nodded. They looked along the edge of the road and when they found a patch of grass that was relatively dry headed down and away from the interstate and back into the woods. After about three hours, the two weary travelers finally reached Croydon. “Any England jokes for me?” she said as they climbed the steep hill to the highway. “Nah, too tired to make em,” he said. “We’ll eat somewhere and get our wind back,” she said. “My back is killing me anyway. But, at least we’re getting better at this.” “Yeah, every day we’re traveling more and more miles. At least that’s something.” They reached the top of the hill and paused to get their breath. By now, the sun had almost dried out all the mud, but it blazed down on them and they were sweating like crazy. “Phew, I need a rest, Alan. I think we better wait awhile and then continue when it gets near dusk.” “No arguments here. I need some water or something. I’m parched.” She pointed to a McDonalds a few feet away. “In there?” “Yes because I don’t think I can walk much further than that right now,” he said. They turned and headed for the restaurant. “Ugh! Oh blimey, that feels so good,” Alan moaned as he sank down into the chair with his tray of food. He groaned as he slipped the rucksack off and laid it under the table. Rose did the same and rubbed her aching back. “How Martha managed to do this is beyond me,” she said. “This is rigorous to say the least.” “Yeah, well I don’t think Martha was carrying half of ton of supplies on her back when she did it,” he said. “Blimey, I’m knackered. I think I’ll go in the playground area and curl up in the ball thing over there.” “Me first.” Alan ate his Big Mac while Rose dug into her cheeseburger. As he ate, he noticed a beautiful woman sitting a few tables away staring at them while she ate. She was in her early twenties with long ebony hair that went halfway down her back and bronze colored skin. He smiled and nodded and she did the same. He turned his attention back to his meal and chewed on a French fry while he stared out the window. Suddenly, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the woman was standing beside them and he and Rose looked up at her. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I couldn’t help noticing you have backpacks with you,” she said. Alan nodded. “Forgive me for asking, but are you two traveling?” “Yeah, we’re on our way to Florida and eventually we’re gonna travel the world,” he said. Her eyes nearly popped from her head. “No kidding?” she said, sitting down in a seat beside him. “You two are walking around the world?” Alan nodded. “Wow and here I thought I was the only one crazy enough to travel without a car.” “You’re walking as well?” Rose asked. She nodded. “Yeah, I’m coming from New York. I’m Cherokee and my people live in North Carolina. I went up to New York to work, but I lost my job and I found out my grandmother has cancer and needs to be looked after and I don’t have enough money for a bus ride home, so I’ve been walking and living off the land, so I can save what little money I have. I’m Awinita by the way,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Rose and this is Alan," she said, as they shook it. "I love your name. It’s very pretty.” “Thanks, my grandmother named me. It’s Cherokee for fawn.” She looked at Alan. “So, where did you guys start from? You’re not American, I can tell that much.” “Well, we started from New York; same as you and we’re slowly following M95 into Florida and then we’re gonna go to Disneyworld.” “Oh cool, I’ve never been there myself. Sounds like a lot of fun. Well, I was just wondering about the backpacks and I won’t bother you any more. You two have a safe journey.” “Wait,” Rose said, when she started to get up. “Are you on your own?” “Yeah, I am.” Rose looked at Alan who smiled and nodded. “You wanna walk with us until you get to your home?” she asked her. “You mean it?” “Yeah,” Alan said. “I mean, it’s not safe for you to be traveling on your own and we wouldn’t mind if you joined us. It’ll be more fun for all of us that way.” “But, you guys…I don’t wanna impose. I just came over here to talk, not to join up with you.” “Yes, but Alan’s right, it’s safer if you come with us. We’re heading that way anyway and if you don’t mind us stopping every once in awhile to see the sights or whatever...” “It doesn’t matter to me. It’s gonna take awhile to get down there anyway, but…really, guys, this is way too generous of you. I mean, I don’t know you or anything.” “Well, we’re not rapists or serial killers or anything like that,” Alan said. “I’m not either, believe me,” she said, holding up her hands. “I’ve never done anything like that in my life. The only things I’ve ever killed were mosquitoes and bugs. I’m sure you guys are the same way, right?” Alan shifted in his seat. “That’s right,” he said as casually as he could. “We’re not a threat to anyone, right Rose?” “Nope. The only danger you’ll have is Alan talking your ear off and being goofy till you’re completely insane.” She laughed. “Sounds like my younger brother,” she said. She smiled at them. “Okay, I’ll come with you. It sounds like it might be fun,” she said. “And I’ll help out as much as I can. My grandfather and father taught me how to live off the land when I was younger, so I can help you guys gather food and things. Like I said, I have a bit of money so I can also help out with supplies.” “Don’t worry about it; we’ll put you up with us in a room whenever we stop at a hotel. We usually get a double anyway, so if you don’t mind sharing…” “Oh, Rose, that’s…too much, I mean, I don’t wanna mooch off you.” “You won’t be. Like I said, Alan and I get double rooms so we can have some space, as long as you don’t mind sharing a room with us, it’s perfectly alright.” “Thank you, thank you so much. I appreciate you guys doing this. I had to admit I was kinda scared starting out because I didn’t know if I was gonna be okay, but I guess God was smiling on me today.” Alan and Rose smiled and nodded in return. Awinita glanced at their food. “Um…I guess I better let you guys eat before the food gets cold,” she said. “Bring your food over here and sit with us,” Alan said. “If we’re gonna travel, we might as well get to know each other.” She nodded. “I’ll be right back then,” she said, getting up. They watched while she walked over to retrieve her things. “Look at that, Rose,” Alan said to her. “We just found our first companion.”
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