Vincent opened car’s door & seated himself in back seat, in right middle. He felt a strong vibe of déjà-vu in this closed space. It smelled really funny inside that car, something very organic and ripe. It wasn’t probably the best idea to travel with his girlfriends’ family.

The front two seats were owned by her parents and last three were occupied by– baba a crying baby, Nancy his girlfriend & rob the elder brother. Rob or rather angry rob, was looking forward to his confrontation with this new traveller. He recently found out about their love affair. Vincent squeezed himself in middle, alongside the teeth grinding-eyeballing brother and obnoxious crying baby, who kept dropping saliva on Vincent’s pants.

Fifteen minutes passed, Vincent broke his silence and enquired the girls’ father, as to why the car was bumping so much. Father explained that the car needed a long due servicing which can only be done after this trip. Vincent being tallest kept hitting the car’s roof like a percussion instrument.

Few Minutes later, they heard a crying voice from car’s trunk. A quarrel of commentary erupted –  “I told u not to..”, “it wasn’t best idea..”, “see I knew it ..”, broke loud inside the car with baby crying again in response. Father stopped the car and took out the dog- a big eyed German shepherd from back trunk and they took it inside the car.

Now dog being inside, Vincent was trying to close his feet to its growls and threats. Meanwhile hitting his head to car’s roof, he thought-

“Damn this dog! No wonder the car smelled funny earlier!”

He overheard a conversation about how dog’s weight was balancing the bad shockers of car and how the ride will now get rougher. Vincent was flabbergasted to the eccentric ideas of family, bumping his head harder and harder to roof, his thoughts got vigorous,

“Damn you Scooby doo! This Flintstone car sucks man!”, he frowned and stared at the dog. The Dog stared back like he read his mind. It expressed his disgust for Vincent by dropping more saliva on his feet.

Vincent whistled and snagged the dog’s tail, looked in another direction unknowingly. The dog got irritated and barked at the baby! .The baby started crying and dog’s mouth got shut, overwhelmed to baba’s high octave sound.  Vincent enjoyed his notoriety with a silent-wicked laughter. The elder brother caught his crap, stared at him with angry eyes & grinding teeth.

The parents asked rob to exchange position with Vincent and keep the dog calm. Vincent was totally flustered by this unsettling nonsense but was still happy to exchange positions. He opened the right window to gasp for fresh air. He looked at Nancy; she was asleep – calm & uncaring to this minor chaos.

The road started turning right and as if, “the stone age monsters were throwing bad luck to this Flintstones car”, thought Vincent.

The elder brother’s eyes lit with mischief and he started pushing Vincent to the door with every centrifuging turn. After a torture of fifteen minutes, family stopped for lunch.

Half hour later they started back en-route. Vincent resumed his war by grabbing the middle seat and started pushing elder brother to the right. However, both looked straight making no eye contact or uttering any words of frustration.

“It’s a mind game, I will win it!” thought Vincent and grinned.

With Vincent’s head still bumping, the scores were finally tied. Complacent Vincent exchanged positions with sleeping Nancy. Vincent dropped the glass and looked out the left window to change his war mood to happy mood.

Smelly dog was now seated in front seat, his snout stuck out of front window gasping for fresh air. He closed the window and baba started crying, he opened it and the dog’s saliva rained on his face. He was stuck oscillating in this unfortunate loop.

Off with frustration and head bumps, he beseeched around for a cushion. His desperate scooping got lucky and he got hold of something that apparently looked to suffice. He got hold of a cotton stuffed thing from back seat and put on his head to prevent from bumping, it dripped!!

“damn-shit it’s the baby’s wet huggies, filled with pee”, Vincent was disgusted. The elder brother chuckled and baby started laughing.

“I will kill you Scooby-doo! Said Vincent.

Now concentrating! With his tongue stuck out to left, aiming sharp nail pins on car’s front tire. Ten tries and finally it hit! With ‘whushhh’ sound it blasted and car stopped. Vincent took a knife and cut chords on suitcases that were placed atop, bound to carrier. He decided to sit above; on car’s roof .It was appreciated by majority of the family – the chuckling brother, the smelly dog and laughing baby. However, Nancy stood indisposed and abstained from her opinion, deep in slumber she lay snoring the entire time. He finally rest atop, gasped for peace and looked above in the Clear sky-

“Damn! It’s enough for the day, some other time”, he thought.

*end*

thanks for reading.

regards.

By : Vishu Mishra