Free Dream Chaser by Kate Vale

“I’ll bet Maude’s been there. She told me she takes a cruise every year. I never asked if it was the same one.”
    “What about Yellowstone makes you want to see it?”
    “Curiosity, I guess. Did you know it’s supposed to be part of an old volcano? That must be why it has all those geysers and things. And the Grand Tetons aren’t far from there. I could see both in the same trip.”
    Suzanna was eager to pack now that her mind was made up. Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons this trip. Maybe she would go to Crater Lake next year. And if it wasn’t that far from Montana, maybe she would take up Mr. Kingsley’s invitation, too, except that she still hadn’t checked the Atlas for Willow Grove. She smiled at the thought, recalling how it felt when he’d shaken her hand that day they walked around Lake Harriet. If he wasn’t there, she could always leave him a note before heading west.
    She felt excited and anxious by turns, as she looked at the map. She’d never taken a trip by herself. What if she had car trouble? Or she couldn’t find a place to stay for the nights she would be gone? But she sensed this was a new beginning. If only she had the courage to leave.
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    Suzanna left town, still hearing Penny’s insistence that she was making a huge mistake, that Yellowstone was too far, that she would be gone too long. And shouldn’t she fly if all her mother wanted was to see Yellowstone Park? Suzanna had replied (calmly she thought) that she would check in by phone after she reached the motel her first night away. Penny’s first call rattled in Suzanna’s pocket only two blocks from the house. The second one occurred less than thirty minutes later. Suzanna turned off her phone and continued driving.
    She arrived in San Antonio four days later. With Sam on a leash, they wandered the grounds of the Alamo. Suzanna touched the bullet holes in the side of the building then wandered along the bank of the nearby river as she recalled the books about the battle she had read to the children . She stopped at a roadside restaurant and ordered Tex-Mex fare, which she ate in the spring sunshine, enjoying its warmth after days of too-cold blustery breezes.
    That evening at the motel, Suzanna looked for her cell phone , eager to share what she had seen with Penny and Kevin . It was nowhere to be found. “I w onder where I put the thing,” she muttered to Sam , as she look ed through her nearly-empty suitcase, scattering her clothes on to the bed in her search. I’ll write a letter instead.
    Dear Penny:
    I’m having a wonderful time exploring the Alamo and what folks here call the “hill country.” I would really appreciate it if you would be more positive in your tone when you leave me phone messages.
    Good luck with the possible trip to New York. I’m sure you’ll enjoy spending your promotion money at Bloomingdale’s. Your father would approve. I can’t seem to find the cell phone. When I do, I will call, but please try to be more pleasant.
    Love you, Mom
    Dear Kevin:
    Veronica sounds like a lovely person. It’s been a while since you’ve mentioned a girlfriend. Please tell me more.
    I take it from your last call that Penny is being nasty. Hang up on her if she won’t stop. You don’t have to put up with her rants. I seem to have misplaced my cell phone. When I find it again, I’ll call.
    I’m fine, Sam is fine, and I met some nice people while I was touring the Alamo. I’ll be in touch.
    Love, Mom
     
    Suzanna turned the Jeep with the camouflage colors n orthward, continuing to keep to the back roads after discovering they had far less truck traffic than the faster freeways . The more leisurely pace suited her mood. Each day she saw more evidence of spring, even as they climbed the southern edge of the Rockies with their craggy peaks, many still blanketed in white . Twice she found places to pull off the road to eat lunch amid meadows blooming into thick carpets of wild