I was nine and you were six and two hours felt like a lifetime. With only the middle seat separating our feuding, our legs cramped behind the front seats and we squirmed ‘til our seatbelts locked us in place. My only escape on this endless car ride was the window to my very immediate right.
Durable glass, which kept the damp summer air from swirling in and entangling itself with our unkempt hair, was smeared with fingerprints. I ran my grubby fingertips from the top to the bottom, tracing the lines made by the few drops of rain starting to collect.
Also kept out was the scent of that which was gathering on the other side among the grasses that could swallow us whole if we were to open to door and in one fell swoop tumble past the bumpy rumble strip, off the steaming and groaning asphalt, and finally land in the field.
We would have to get up quickly and step gingerly, watching for small brown patches of the foulest stench. One foot in front of the other, I would lead the way, though you wouldn’t take my hand. Your independence from me was the source of our fighting, and I knew not to contest it. We would beat our way through the grass that hid us from the sparse highway near by.
The sound would lead us, our ears perking up with each exultant call. I would look back at you each time and your mouth would creep into a smile that I could tell your pale cheeks were trying to hide. I would pick up the pace to encourage you to follow closer. The scent grew stronger, a deep earthy smell that warmed and rose in the air, playing with our nostrils.
And that is when we would see them. Strong and terrifying, cloven feet caked with mud. Their dark eyes would stare us down, intruders in their sequestered oasis. You would finally look at me, coming around to my side, standing with me and not behind me. With a tentative swiftness you would grab my hand, and we would watch the cows graze.
But the childlock was on, and no matter how hard I tugged at the handle, the door did not budge. You looked down and stole the coloring book from my grasp, sneering. I squinted and saw the cows roaming in the distance.