Tropical Convergence (3 page)

Kerry relaxed, and finished off the chocolate soda. "Sure," she agreed. "We've got plenty of time."

Dar signaled and pulled to the left, preparing to leave the highway.

After a second, she glanced at Kerry, not surprised to find herself being studied by those sea green eyes. She winked at her partner and was rewarded by a grin, which she returned.

The ride was turning out to be a darn sight more interesting than she'd remembered it.

PEOPLE WERE SO funny. Kerry leaned against the wall and watched some of their fellow travelers walk by. They were pretty much oblivious to everything on their way to get food, or drinks, or relieve themselves, and yet virtually every other one of them paused to look at the figure studying the turnpike map on the wall.

Of course, Kerry was doing the same thing, but she felt she had an innate right to, since the sleek body wrapped in faded denim and cotton tank top belonged to her partner. Dar's jeans were the old, ripped ones Kerry had found way back when for their biker school reunion. She had her tank top tucked in them and boy, she looked good.

She'd recently gotten her second summer haircut, and it left most of her shoulders bare. The last few months of their life had been a lot of work, true, but almost every weekend spent down at the cabin and their new gym classes had given Dar a deeper tan and added a little more muscle to her tall frame.

Mm.

The rest stop was an interesting combination of retail outlet and tourist hard pitch. Kerry wandered around in the main lobby, examining the racks of leaflets as she sucked on a cone full of frozen strawberry yogurt. Florida was definitely both tourist driven, and eclectic, and she riffled through advertisements for things as varied as a mystery house where things ran uphill, to Monkey Jungle, to Weeki Watchee. "Paladar?"

"Yes?" Dar's voice erupted from right behind her, even after all this time making Kerry jump. "You rang?"

"What the heck is a Weeki Watchee?" Kerry selected the lurid pamphlet from the rack and held it up. "It looks like a mermaid farm."

"Sorta," Dar agreed. "It's a place where mermaids give shows, and sell trinkets."

"Mermaids?" Her partner eyed her. "Not manatees?"

"Mermaids," Dar assured her, pointing at the colorful page. "Women in fish tail costumes with big breasts."

Kerry stared at the advertisement. "And people go there? Really?"

"Well." Her partner examined the ad. "They have nice gardens, too, and I think a snack bar."

Kerry giggled, and wandered off, shaking her head. The rest stop was a relatively small place, with a central lobby that had restaurants off either side, and a set of surprisingly clean restrooms. There was also a gift shop, where you could, if for some reason you had forgotten to purchase candy oranges or bright pink flamingo Christmas lights somewhere else, obtain those last minute gifts to bring back home with you.

Hm. "Snow globes." Kerry selected one and shook it, amused by the white plastic flakes drifting down on the palm trees and beach. A flash of motion caught her eye and she glanced to one side, spotting her own reflection in the mirrored back of the display case.

The neatly pressed, carefully ironed and tucked prep she'd once been now was gone. Kerry felt her eyebrows lifting as she reviewed her cutoff, ragged shorts and long, faded T-shirt.

Correction, long faded T-shirt that didn't even belong to her. She'd also let her hair grow out longer than usual, not really out of control, but giving it a touch of shagginess she hadn't had since she'd been small. The overall effect, given her tan and the sun bleaching of her already pale locks, was that of a beach rat caught out shopping.

"So, rat...get shopping," Kerry cheerfully directed herself, toasting her reflection with her yogurt.

She spotted a stuffed alligator and picked it up, finding herself smiling at its toothy cotton visage. She tucked the toy under her arm and continued browsing. To her booty, she added a package of chocolate covered orange slices and a T-shirt before she dropped it all down on the counter and removed her wallet from the back pocket of her shorts. "Hi."

"Hi," the cashier replied. "Yawannalotta?"

Kerry blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Yawannalotta? Big this week."

At a total loss, Kerry instinctively looked around for her native guide, who plunked down a twenty dollar bill on the counter. "She'll take three," Dar pronounced, "and take the rest of this Floridiana out of that."

"Three of what?" Kerry whispered.

"Sure." The cashier took the money and rang up Kerry's purchases. She gave Dar back some change, then punched in some numbers in a black machine nearby and handed over the resulting pink and white tickets. "There ya go. Ya'll have a great old day."

"Thanks." Dar took the tickets, the change, the bag, and a totally befuddled Midwesterner and hauled them all out of the gift shop and out into the lobby. "Here. Put your Lotto tickets away. If you win on 'em, I get ten percent."

"My what?" Kerry took the tickets and examined them. "Oh!" She nibbled her cone. "Jesus, you know in all this time down here I never bothered to buy one of these things?" She followed Dar outside, trading the stinging chill of the air conditioning for the warm soup of the night air. "Thank you for buying my junk, sweetheart. You didn't have to do that. I've got my wallet."

Next to them, a minivan with Dade County plates had just parked, and the side door slid open allowing a gaggle of children to emerge. They bolted for the doors to the building, with a harried looking woman chasing after them. In the back of the van Mickey Mouse droppings were squeezed into every square inch.

A man got out of the driver's side and shut the door with an air of martyred exhaustion. He glanced at Kerry and Dar and gave them a civil nod before he trudged after his family.

Dar watched him go. "Think it'd be cruel to tell him he's going in the wrong direction?"

Kerry peered after him, then glanced at the big "Northbound" sign over the door. "What if he isn't, and that's all just from last time?" She pointed at the van. "And you didn't answer me about buying my stuff."

"Uh huh." Dar unlocked the Lexus, tossing the booty inside on the rear seat. "You bought dinner." She glanced at the van again. "Mom had a point."

"About?"

"Only one." Dar pointed at her chest and slid into the driver's seat.

"Ah. Hm. Yeah." Kerry got in on the passenger side and settled comfortably into the big leather seat. "That restaurant was pretty good, wasn't it? I really liked those spices they used."

Dar sucked up a mouthful of milkshake and set her cup into its holder before she started up the car. "It was pretty good, but yours is better," she said. "I like those crunchy things you put in."

"Peanuts?" Kerry chuckled. "Or do you mean the water chestnuts?"

"Whatever it is." Dar backed carefully out of the spot she'd parked in, and navigated her way through the parking lot and past the massive truck park. "I like it." She let an aggressively speeding Volvo pass them by, and then got into the merge lane to return to the turnpike.

"Careful, Roberts. If it's the water chestnuts that's almost a vegetable."

"Pfft." Dar stuck her tongue out. Once on the road, she leaned back in her seat and relaxed, enjoying Kerry's nearby presence and the prospect of spending the long trip at her side.

It was quiet. The roads were nearly empty now that they'd left the more populated part of Florida, and at the end of the drive there was some serious fun waiting for her.

Life was good. Dar tapped the side of her thumb against the wheel and nodded a little to the music coming out of the speakers. "So, what did you think about that bird theory?"

Kerry had shed her sandals, and now had her bare feet propped up on the dashboard again. "Dar, did you know that it's pretty darn likely you'd have been tied to a tree and beaten to death by the teachers at my high school just for thinking about the bird theory?"

Dar looked at her. Both eyebrows shot up. "What did they have against birds?"

"Nothing." Kerry neatly nibbled an exact circle around her cone.

"But boy, did they have a problem with Darwin."

"Ah."

"Mm." Kerry agreed. "You know something, it's funny, but I think that was the first time I found myself questioning the absolute nature of my religion," she mused. "I remember seeing something--on PBS, I guess--about species evolution, and the way they explained it, it just made so much sense, Dar."

"Uh huh. Always pissed me off they insisted on calling it the theory of evolution instead of the science of it," Dar agreed. "I had this argument with someone on base about it and the woman wanted to have me jailed for heresy."

"Mm." Kerry nodded. "That's about what happened to me when I went into school the next day and started asking my teachers about it. Hooboy." She finished up her treat and dusted her fingertips off. "But you know, for me it never caused a problem if I bought into evolutionary science but still believed in God, and in Jesus and the Bible," she continued. "Seeing the exquisite wonder of how life works, how could anyone not believe in a higher power?"

Dar stretched her arm across the divider and let it rest casually on Kerry's shoulders. "It's easy for people to get stuck in a narrow view, Ker. You know that. Even those guys, the scientists--they were practically fist fighting over the idea that dinosaurs evolved into birds...and it's so structurally obvious." Dar's voice grew a touch more animated. "All you have to do is look at those carnivorous dinosaurs, and look at an ostrich, and it's right there in your face."

"Dinosaurs into birds, lizards into snakes, proto-hominids into us..." Kerry mused. "Whoops...guess I'm going to hell for that last one. Again." She chuckled. "Hey, what did you think about that one we saw the other night about humans being water mammals during their evolution?"

The theory was an interesting one, Dar conceded. "Navy brat's the wrong person to ask about that," she joked. "I always assumed I was some kind of freak otter." Her face grew faintly introspective. "For me, the water was always home."

"Yeah," Kerry agreed, with a smile. "You're so natural underwater. I thought of you when I was watching that show. I wish I felt that comfortable."

"Give it time," Dar advised her. "I've been diving since I was two."

Leaning back, Kerry tipped her head to one side and regarded the thick, black night sky. It was fun to just sit and talk. Dar had an active, intelligent mind and she was as curious about many things as Kerry was. Keeping your mind in a learning state, she'd realized, made you a lot better at whatever you did. You were always open to new ideas, and new ways of looking at things. "Hey Dar?"

"Yeeeesss?"

"Wanna play 'what is it?'"

"Okay." Dar grinned. "You start." She gave Kerry a few microseconds. "Animal, vegetable, or mineral?"

"Would I pick a vegetable for you to guess? Give me a minute."

Dar drummed her fingers on the wheel and waited, humming under her breath, already anticipating the game. Would it be an animal? Kerry liked animals. She'd pick a strange one though.

Platypus duck, maybe?

THEY ARRIVED AT the convention center later than Dar had originally planned. The building was lit on the outside though, and there were both security guards, and a stir of motion about the place that reassured them.

Dar strolled across the front courtyard, approaching the doors and making eye contact with the guards. "Evening," she greeted the first one cordially, as she removed her ID from her back pocket and offered it up.

The man studied the card, and then glanced at her. "Dock entrance is round back," he told her politely.

One finely arched dark eyebrow lifted. "Excuse me?"

"Construction workers enter in the back," the guard clarified, still with careful politeness.

Dar looked down at herself, then up at the guard. "Do I look like a construction worker to you?"

"Yes, ma'am," the man replied. "You can enter in the back."

Kerry covered her mouth to keep in the laughter threatening to burst out. The expression on her lover's face was so priceless.

"This is not funny," Dar told her, testily.

"C'mon." Kerry swallowed her amusement, taking Dar's arm and starting for the rear of the center. "No point in arguing with him, Dar. Call the convention services group in the morning and have the entire company fired." She let her voice raise slightly, enough to know that the guard would hear her.

"Do I look like a construction worker to you?" Dar ignored the speech, turning and giving her an indignant look.

"Absolutely not," Kerry reassured her. "It's must be the tank top and ripped jeans, sweetie. Orlando is obviously not ready for CIO's in less than pin stripes." She took Dar's arm again and patted it. "C'mon." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the guard's eyes turning into round saucers. "I bet if you really tried, you could get the entire convention services company kicked out. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Dar's eyes narrowed suddenly. "You're having fun freaking the guard out, aren't you?" she uttered, in a low voice.

"Yes." Kerry smiled charmingly at her. "Give me two more minutes, and he'll need a change of shorts." She waggled her fingers at the man. "He deserves it for being a prick butt with the vision of a rhino in the dark."

Dar snickered, her humor restored. She draped her arm over Kerry's shoulders and headed toward the rear of the building, leaving the hapless guard behind them. Her ego was still stinging from the man's remark, though, and she was self aware enough to know it.

"Jerk." Kerry held the gate open that lead into the loading dock and waited for Dar to pass through. "What could he be thinking, Dar? Let's just say it was true."

"What?"

"Shh. Let's just say you were one of the setup crew," Kerry pacified her prickly partner. "It's nearly midnight. Who cares if you go in the front door? Who's gonna see you, the cleaning staff?" She closed the gate behind them and followed Dar toward an open loading dock door, the sounds of hammering and banging clearly audible inside.