TRUE DREAMS OF WICHITA
Shaun Jex
Jacob West sat in the passenger seat of a run-down Honda and stared out the window. The blinking red lights of cell towers dotted the landscape, the only visible feature against the black of night. He wore a cheap pair of earbuds purchased at a gas station.
Three other wrestlers were jammed into the car. They were on their way to Wichita for a Saturday night show. It was a 363-mile haul from Dallas, where they’d wrestled at a mostly empty VA hall a few hours before. The trek was a straight shot up I-35. Five and a half hours without stops.
Even during daylight, there wasn’t much to see on the drive. Just billboards, mile markers, and the occasional lurid glow of an adult video store. They passed a few 18-wheelers and pickups as they made their way through the Arbuckle Mountains and Paul’s Valley. Jacob tried to get one of the truckers to blow his horn, something he hadn’t done since he was a kid. The guy gave him the finger and kept driving.
Jacob’s phone buzzed. It was a message from Pam. He opened the text and saw a picture of their little boy blowing out the candles of a birthday cake at Chuck E. Cheese. He typed out a quick response.
How was the party?
Good. All his little friends from the pre-school showed up.
I’ll bet that was crazy.
Yeah. I’m exhausted. Whoever came up with Chuck E. Cheese should be shot.
I’ll challenge him to a deathmatch. Beat him with a barbed wire bat.
LOL
Did Ethan like the present I got him?
A few seconds later, a picture came through of their boy holding a plastic wrestling belt over his head. His face wore a scowl, the one he used when Jacob pretended to wrestle with him. A deep purple shiner surrounded his right eye.
What happened to his face???
Oh, I thought I told you…He was playing and jumped off the arm of the
couch. He hit his eye on the table.
Oh, shit. Did he have to go to the hospital?
We went to the doctor, but there were no breaks or anything. Just a bruise.
Poor guy.
He was asking for you when we drove to the doctor’s office and while we sat in the waiting
room. He really wanted you to be there.
…
We miss you.
I miss you too. You know that.
The two had been an off-and-on couple since high school. They grew up in the same small, East Texas town and attended the same Methodist church. She was a cheerleader, a petite brunette with shoulder-length hair, ice grey eyes, and a mouth that could outswear a sailor. He was smitten from the moment they met.
They lost touch when she’d gone to college in Lubbock but re-connected when she returned two years later. She’d dropped out. Burn out, she said. Plus, Lubbock sucked. Like living in a dust-choked circle of hell.
He needed to start thinking about his next match. The show at Wichita was going to be televised. It was a late-night local broadcast, but it was his first time on television. He needed to do well. That type of exposure could help get him out of the bullshit local circuits.
Hey, I hate to do this, but I’ve gotta go. It’s my turn to drive. I’ll drop you a note when we get to Wichita.
…
I love you.
…
Pam?
I love you too.
Jacob powered off the phone and jammed it in his pocket. He spent a few minutes staring out the passenger side window, listening to the uneven whir of the pavement as it met the car’s threadbare tires. He hoped the drone would drive thoughts of home from his head, but they kept a firm hold on him.
He couldn’t afford the distraction. He needed to focus on Wichita. The rest would be there when he was done. At least, that was the hope.
“Hey,” Jacob said. “Do you mind if I drive awhile?”
Shaun Jex
Jacob West sat in the passenger seat of a run-down Honda and stared out the window. The blinking red lights of cell towers dotted the landscape, the only visible feature against the black of night. He wore a cheap pair of earbuds purchased at a gas station.
Three other wrestlers were jammed into the car. They were on their way to Wichita for a Saturday night show. It was a 363-mile haul from Dallas, where they’d wrestled at a mostly empty VA hall a few hours before. The trek was a straight shot up I-35. Five and a half hours without stops.
Even during daylight, there wasn’t much to see on the drive. Just billboards, mile markers, and the occasional lurid glow of an adult video store. They passed a few 18-wheelers and pickups as they made their way through the Arbuckle Mountains and Paul’s Valley. Jacob tried to get one of the truckers to blow his horn, something he hadn’t done since he was a kid. The guy gave him the finger and kept driving.
Jacob’s phone buzzed. It was a message from Pam. He opened the text and saw a picture of their little boy blowing out the candles of a birthday cake at Chuck E. Cheese. He typed out a quick response.
How was the party?
Good. All his little friends from the pre-school showed up.
I’ll bet that was crazy.
Yeah. I’m exhausted. Whoever came up with Chuck E. Cheese should be shot.
I’ll challenge him to a deathmatch. Beat him with a barbed wire bat.
LOL
Did Ethan like the present I got him?
A few seconds later, a picture came through of their boy holding a plastic wrestling belt over his head. His face wore a scowl, the one he used when Jacob pretended to wrestle with him. A deep purple shiner surrounded his right eye.
What happened to his face???
Oh, I thought I told you…He was playing and jumped off the arm of the
couch. He hit his eye on the table.
Oh, shit. Did he have to go to the hospital?
We went to the doctor, but there were no breaks or anything. Just a bruise.
Poor guy.
He was asking for you when we drove to the doctor’s office and while we sat in the waiting
room. He really wanted you to be there.
…
We miss you.
I miss you too. You know that.
The two had been an off-and-on couple since high school. They grew up in the same small, East Texas town and attended the same Methodist church. She was a cheerleader, a petite brunette with shoulder-length hair, ice grey eyes, and a mouth that could outswear a sailor. He was smitten from the moment they met.
They lost touch when she’d gone to college in Lubbock but re-connected when she returned two years later. She’d dropped out. Burn out, she said. Plus, Lubbock sucked. Like living in a dust-choked circle of hell.
He needed to start thinking about his next match. The show at Wichita was going to be televised. It was a late-night local broadcast, but it was his first time on television. He needed to do well. That type of exposure could help get him out of the bullshit local circuits.
Hey, I hate to do this, but I’ve gotta go. It’s my turn to drive. I’ll drop you a note when we get to Wichita.
…
I love you.
…
Pam?
I love you too.
Jacob powered off the phone and jammed it in his pocket. He spent a few minutes staring out the passenger side window, listening to the uneven whir of the pavement as it met the car’s threadbare tires. He hoped the drone would drive thoughts of home from his head, but they kept a firm hold on him.
He couldn’t afford the distraction. He needed to focus on Wichita. The rest would be there when he was done. At least, that was the hope.
“Hey,” Jacob said. “Do you mind if I drive awhile?”