Lifting up his shirt he saw the swollen mess that was his ribcage. To his untrained eye it seemed one of the cuts was becoming infected and the bruising was spreading rapidly. He’d seen enough television to guess he was bleeding internally. Still though, he felt he must plod on to reach Carl. He couldn’t stop until he saw his face and apologized.
Glancing back at his side he saw the bruising and infection was so rampant in his body that his ribcage began to look distorted. He felt as though he were looking at the body of someone else. There was no way this monstrosity could be attached to him.
Breathing through the pain he pulled his shirt back down and pulled back out onto the highway. It was only a couple hours to the house. He knew he kept painkillers there and other supplies, he just had to grit his teeth and bear it for a little while longer.
But the more Carl’s father drove the more his teeth began to grind together as pain took hold of him. He began to sweat profusely as he felt a fever fast approaching. It wouldn’t be long until he couldn’t sit up any longer.
~
Anna looked at her passport as it hung from a miniature washing line. She never imagined it would take so long to dry but she was happy to sip at her coffee for a little while longer.
“So….” Chuck grinned at the couple. “Mexico… How romantic. Gonna check out one of those donkey shows?” he joked.
“No… we are not,” Carl placed his mug down with a clunk and wiped at some rogue milk foam on his chin.
“What’s a donkey show?” asked Anna innocently and then she remembered a TV show she’d seen once. “Oooooohhhh,”
Both boys laughed and she blushed.
Chuck prodded at her passport gently and concluded it was ready.
“And boom! Here you go madam,” he pulled it carefully from the line and placed it inside a Ziploc bag for safe keeping. “Now this will grant you only three wishes so you must choose wisely,” he handed it over.
“Shut up Chuck,” Carl pretended to slap him across the face and they both laughed. “But seriously we’re so grateful. You’ve done us the biggest favour anyone could have ever done,”
“Really man it’s no worries. If I’m not mistaken you actually saved my life back in the Congo,”
“The Congo?” Anna was flabbergasted.
“Another story for another time,” Carl patted her on the back and kissed her cheek.
The more she found out about Carl the less she knew. He was a human enigma.
“Well we better be on our way. Hope I’ll see you again someday,” the two men hugged.
“Don’t be a stranger,” Chuck looked slightly tearful at his friend’s departure.
~
When the couple arrived at the bus station it was as if they had a second wind and were more excited than ever. If everything worked out they’d be over the border in only a few hours. But as they took their seats at the back of the bus something niggled inside Anna. Carl could see something brewing in her eyes.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“What if the Mob find us over there? Surely it’s possible,”
“Well anything is possible,” Carl nodded in agreement. “But believe me this place is on the outskirts of a beautiful city and surrounded by so much land. You can see for miles and the locals are known to be pretty hostile to strangers,”
“So how are they gonna respond to us?” Anna asked irritated.
“I spent a lot of time there as a kid. Have some distant cousins in the area,”
“I thought you had no family!”
“They’re not really family. More like cousins of cousins,”
“I’m confused again. This is starting to get old,”
“What is?” he looked upset at her sudden bad mood.
“This whole God damn rigmarole of you and your secrets, just tell us where we’re going Carl. I don’t wanna have to ask again,” she sighed heavily and pleaded with her eyes.
“Fine… We’re going to my Dad’s holiday home in Monterrey. It’s where his parents grew up and well… That’s it,”
“Why didn’t you just say that? Why would that possibly be so difficult for you to explain?”
“Because….. Because…. My Dad comes from a long line of cops. I thought you’d be suspicious of that. Bein’ a Mob kid and all,”
“Well I’m suspicious of a lot of things about you but not that!” she was so delirious with the whole situation she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Yeah but…. You know when you hold something small back for a moment and it just snowballs. And suddenly you feel like you have to cover up everything and not let anyone in?” he was squeezing her hand so tight his knuckles were turning white.
It was then she realized he had more problems than she initially thought and that he was wounded in places she was only just starting to discover.
“I understand that more than you can know,” she smiled faintly and kissed his cheek.
He nodded to show he understood. Then their conversation was broken by the sound of the engine clanking into gear. The sun streamed through the window as San Antonio said goodbye.
“Can we come back here again someday?” Anna asked.
“Of course we can. One day we’ll travel the world,” he leaned over to look out the window beside her.
“But do you think we’ll always have people chasing us?”
“I can’t answer that,” Carl sounded sad.