The station wagon slowed to a stop beside Julie. The top of the car was piled with suitcases, and other objects. She looked in the window to see an older man with greying sideburns, thick-rimmed glasses, and a pipe sticking out of his mouth. Surprisingly, even though he was driving though the arid heat of the desert, he was still wearing a suit. Beside him sat a woman who look to be his wife, with curly red hair, and wearing a dress that reminded Julie of something that June Cleaver would have worn on "Leave It to Beaver". The woman smiled widely at Julie. She tried to look in the back seat, but through the tinted windows all she could make out were three faces.
"Can we help you, miss?" the man asked, after taking the pipe out of his mouth.
"Well," Julie said smiling, "If you could give me a ride to the next town, I'd really appreciate it."
The man looked at her as if trying to read her mind before saying, "Well, we normally don't pick up hitchhikers... But I'd hate to leave you out here in the desert all alone. Who knows what might happen to a young girl like you once the sun set. You can sit in the back seat with the kids."
Julie heard a girl's voice pipe up from the back, "She'll have to sit in the middle, Dad. I'm not gonna get the hump!"
"Thanks alot, Mister..." Julie paused realizing she didn't know his name. His friendly attitude and appearance had made her feel like she already knew him.
"Goodman. Norman Goodman," The man replied, "But you can call me Norm. What's your name?"
"Julie."
"Well, hop in the back, Julie," he said.
The rear driver's door opened up and out stepped a girl with dyed black hair and a purple streak through it. Julie counted fifteen piercings on her face just at a glance. She wore a black tanktop and short shorts that exposed enough skin to show off her numerous tattoos to the world. The impatient look on her face made Julie put a jump in her step and slid to the middle of the back seat. As she settled in, she looked at the person seated on her right side. He was a muscular boy, probably seventeen or eighteen, wearing a football jersey. He was normal enough except for the fact that he had two heads on his shoulders.
"Julie, I'd like you to meet my wife, Gladys, my daughter, Angelica, and my sons, Pete and Rhumba."
The second of the boy's head nodded as he was introduced and said, "It'll be nice to have someone else to talk to. We've been on the road for three day's now and Angelica's getting a little boring."
The girl gave the head a steamed look. "I told you! I changed my name to Demona. Get it right, moron."
"Now, Kids, let's behave in front of the guest, shall we?" the father said.
Julie looked at the wife again, who hadn't said a word yet, but who's smile was unfaltering.
The station wagon pulled back onto the road and drove off into the desert.
As the station wagon drove off into the distance, a flying saucer rose from behind a rock formation.
"Drat," said one of the aliens, "She was going to be the perfect specimen for our breast enhancement experiments!"
"Idiot," said the second alien, "We weren't going to do that again! This one was going to be a playmate for my tentacle monster!"
"You're both idiots," said a third waving around a long black rod, "We were going to probe her. We never get to probe anymore!"
"Well," said the first alien, "Let's get back to experimenting on those Jym and Robyn characters."
The ride with the family was an interesting one. Between listening to the siblings taunting one another, and hearing Pete and Rhumba each tell the story of how thier high school football team reached the state championships last year, she listened to the car radio blurt out news radio, while it would frequently fade out and become a strange garbled alien language that Julie didn't recognize.
After driving along the highway for several hours without seeing any towns, the sun began to set. Almost as if on cue, Norm Goodman yawned.
"I think it's time to find a place to stop for the night," he said. "The map said that there's a small motel off the main road up ahead." Norm drove on to a side road and about twenty minutes later, the motel came into view.
The motel was a one floor building, with the entrances to the rooms all facing the road. Next to the motel, there was a long path of stone steps leading to an old house sitting on a hill.
As they pulled into the parking lot, Jim asked his father if they would all have seperate rooms. "I don't want to have to sleep in the same room as Angelica. She snores."
"I do not!" she screached, "And my name is Demona!"
"We'll have to see if there's enough vacancies, kids."
Julie looked around the parking lot a didn't see any other vehicles. "I don't think vacancies will be a problem, Mr. Goodman," she said.
They walked into the motel office and found a young skinny man sitting behind the desk.
"Can I help you folks," he asked.
"Yes," Mr. Goodman said, "We'll need three rooms, and our friend here will need a room for herself."
Julie reached into her jeans pocket and noticed that she couldn't find her wallet. "Um...I guess I'm in trouble here, It seems that I dropped my wallet when I was hitchhiking."
"That's okay, Julie. You can stay with one of us tonight," Mr. Goodman said.
Julie thanked him, but now she had to decide which room to stay in...
Wed Aug 18 10:59:45 1999
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