A Bit of Writing

Audrey threw her head back in frustration and wiped her bangs from her hot forehead. This was the second time the window on her side of the vehicle wouldn’t roll down, somehow jammed, and of course in Samuel’s old car the air-conditioner was in need of repair.
She had tried and failed for her third time in convincing Samuel to drive around Peabody High School, perhaps she would even get a glimpse of the beautiful wooden bridge across Peabody Lake. Samuel threw the “all-important” itinerary in her face every time, declaring that they weren’t in Pittsburgh for a fun romp around town. “We’re on important business, Audrey. Now drop all your dreamy ideas about driving around every place you remembered since you were six,” Samuel would always say in his nasally voice.
They had already spent half the morning in some stuffy old office on the highest floor in the building, and the elevator would have to break right as they walked in the door. Besides, the lawyer who intended to handle their case hadn’t shown much of a friendly attitude towards either of them. He was so stuck-up and reserved.
The car rattled as Samuel drove not so calmly across two pairs of railroad tracks. Audrey tried rolling the window down again and thankfully this time it gave a low mechanical hum and the window slowly slid down. She leaned her head out in the warm air watching the familiar sights and signs pass.
They were supposed to be heading to some expensive restaurant but once Samuel got stuck at a red light the lawyer’s car was nowhere in sight and she was sure Samuel had got himself lost… again.
It was planned on Samuel’s all-too-strict itinerary to meet the lawyer, take him out to lunch, and then head out for an endless round of visits to people who might be called as witnesses. Audrey wondered how Samuel was going to pay for the lawyer’s meal and then that stuffy conservative had to drag his assistant along. It was obvious now that she was going to have to pay Samuel back for her part of the meal once the day was over, which she wondered if it would ever end.
All this about lawyers and cases and witnesses started to make her head pound, and the heat of the day didn’t help any. Samuel’s high-pitched chattering really started to hit a nerve and so for half of the drive up to Pennsylvania she faked a tiresome sleep. She supposed she should be thankful for Samuel in a way, considering that he did get the work done. If it were left up to her she would have visited all her old haunts, checked up on friends, and most likely gone rollerblading at the old rink that served those delicious ice-cream sundaes.
Samuel started unfolding the map again, Audrey hated when he did that. His speed would go from ten to thirty in odd surges while he held a pencil in his mouth, tracing the roads with his finger, barely paying any attention to the road, while mumbling to himself the whole time. Samuel never used that pencil anyway; Audrey began wondering if that was the only way he could think, with a pencil shoved between his lips. They were now driving in a direction where the sun was glaring at them through the windshield, causing Samuel to swerve and jerk at the steering wheel even more ferociously. She had given up trying to help with directions, he wanted everything done right and if he couldn’t swerve while intently staring at the map then she needed to shut up or find herself another ride.
Audrey slumped back down in the cracked-leather seat and allowed the swerving to go on, hoping that it wouldn’t cost them their lives.