Page 15 of Anywhere with You
“Silent, attentive, and can make a cocktail?” I asked.
Cara thought about it. “Yes. And such a snazzy dresser.”
I dragged Cara away from the bar and into a UFO, where we posted more reels and shared the valuable lessons we’d learned about not tempting fate by standing under tractor beams next to cows at night.
I checked Bridget’s Mesmio page while I had the app open. “No new posts from Bridget and Lorenzo today.”
“I’m sorry,” Cara said. “I don’t know anyone by those names.”
She said it with sass and a hair flip. I rolled my eyes.
“So,” I said as we headed back to the car. “What did you think of the museum? Are you convinced that there’s life out there?”
Cara shook her head. “I’m convinced that the people of Roswell have found a lucrative hobby.”
“Skeptic,” I said, making my new alien bobblehead mimic her head shake.
* * *
Later, while Cara filled up the gas tank, I browsed convenience store snacks and stretched my sore back. Sitting in a car shouldn’t hurt, but I supposed I wasn’t twenty anymore.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I glanced at the screen and answered.
“Happy Maha Shivaratri, Honey.”
“I’m not Hindu, Dad. And neither are you.”
“Don’t tell me what I’m not. I could be Hindu.”
“Are you?” I grabbed a mini roll of Oreos, then put them back and grabbed the family size.
“No. But I believe we should all coexist. Each to their om.”
“Dad…”
“Do you know why we pray to Lord Ganesha?”
“Please stop.”
“We have to address the elephant in the room!”
“Let me talk to Mom.”
There was a muffled shuffling sound and my mother’s voice, “I’m never letting your father talk to your Uncle Farid again. They were on the phone for over an hour last night, and I thought your father was going to laugh until he suffocated.”
From the background, Dad said, “A Hindu swami, a Jewish rabbi, and a Catholic priest walk into a bar. The bartender says,What is this, a joke?” Then he laughed until I could hear him start to wheeze, unable to catch his breath.
“God help us. Seriously,” Mom said.
“Do you need to go check on him?”
“Maybe. But if he passes out, at least I’ll get a break from the world’s worst religious comedian.”
“That’s kind of a mouthful. I think I’ll just keep calling himDad.”
Mom yelled, “Go get your inhaler, nitwit.”
“That works, too. How’s Badger?”
