Science Fiction: Welcome to my Worlds

“Bill Jones. I’ll be back by sometime but I may not be the one who pays for the next week.” Rajiid must have looked his shock because the man continued, “Don’t worry. I’ve been around enough to know an honest man when I see one. Later.”

Jones climbed in the truck, revved the engine and was soon lost to sight down the highway. Amazingly enough, on the nearly deserted stretch of highway another beat-up looking blue car passed the truck before it could get up to speed. Rajiid would be willing to bet it wouldn’t stay ahead long. “Always in a hurry. I guess I will have to get used to the way these Americans do business.”

to give the repair service another call first thing in the morning. The driver slowed, then stopped in his tracks. “Sir, I really don’t have time right now. I’m already late.”

“Surely you would want to see what you will be getting for your money. I had not intended to charge quite so much…”

Missy gave Rajiid a sharp look and interrupted. “But for exclusive use, it certainly isn’t too much. We may have to turn other customers away.”

He glanced toward his truck, still running by the road, then nodded. “You may be right. It is very important that my people have exclusive use for the time they are here.” He pulled a huge wad of bills from his pocket making Missy’s eyes widen. Hastily he peeled off fourteen one hundred dollar bills and stuffed them into Rajiid’s shirt pocket. “That’s $1400 for the first week. They’ll probably be hungry and thirsty too so you might stock some sandwiches and beer before they come.” Turning away, he started to move rapidly back toward the truck.

Even if he didn’t have boots and a cowboy hat, this American was crazy. “I must at least give you a receipt. Come with me to the office. It will just take a minute. I don’t even know your name.”

“Hi. Are you the new owner of the motel?”

Rajiid squeezed his eyes shut tightly for just a second. “Yes, yes. Are you needing a room for the night?”

The trucker looked surprised. “Me? No, not at the moment. But we will be having more drivers by shortly and some of them will.” He coughed at the dust still swirling in the air from the passage of his truck. “Sorry, allergies. I stopped to ask if you would be interested in an exclusive agreement for one week each month.” He seemed to still be having trouble breathing and had pause for a few quick breaths. “I can offer you $100 per day per room.” Rajiid was so startled he didn’t react at all for a minute. The driver added, “Payable in advance.”

Rajiid beamed at the driver. It looked like this might not be such a money-losing prospect after all. He had a fairly comfortable economic cushion after all his years of owning the pharmacy but this would be all to the good. “I see no problem with that at all. Come, let me show you around.” He gestured toward the nearest motel unit and motioned the trucker to follow.

Missy stepped in front of him shaking her head. “Not number six. Remember?”

He winked at her and smoothly redirected the driver toward the next cabin in line. He would have to remember

“Sarah told me her dad uses this road a lot when his truck is overloaded.”

Rajiid’s interest was caught. “So you are making friends already. Good! You must tell me about this Sarah.”

“I was meaning to ask you if she could spend the night sometime…”

Rajiid had just opened his mouth to answer when the driver succeeded in getting the big rig stopped and, leaving it parked along the road, hopped out and started walking rapidly toward them. “Perhaps we have a customer. Are the rooms all ready to be occupied?”

“They’re all cleaned with fresh sheets and everything, but number six still has that hole in the back wall. Unless the workmen have fixed it already.”

Rajiid got a pained expression. “I knew I was forgetting something. Thank you, Little Miss. You have really pitched in to help get ready for the opening.”

“A maid is still a good idea…”

Rajiid was expecting a cowboy hat and boots from what he’d heard about truckers, but this fellow was really quite nondescript. He wouldn’t have gotten a second glance from the people who’d frequented his pharmacy. Instantly, Rajiid regretted thinking about the pharmacy as images of Anna swept through his mind.

She shrugged, obviously not at all concerned. He noticed her eyes kept straying back to the workmen. “Not much logic in anything teachers do if you ask me. School is pretty boring here anyway. They won’t let me test out of anything. They must think everyone is retarded.”

“Missy!”

“Well, it’s stupid for me to go through stuff I already know about. Having an extra day off can’t be a bad thing anyway.”

Watching her eye the workmen, Rajiid wasn’t so sure about that. He almost welcomed the distraction as a big truck came roaring down the road. Rajiid thought he saw the driver do a doubletake as he saw the motel sign. Then the big rig’s wheels were sliding and the engine strained to absorb the momentum as the driver downshifted. Black smoke poured from the exhaust pipe and the truck reluctantly began to slow, growling its displeasure.

Rajiid was quite sure he had been exceeding the posted speed limit. But then, that seemed to be something that was mostly ignored in America. Along with traffic etiquette. He disliked driving even in the nearby town of Fort Scott. “That is odd. I thought most of the big trucks usually take the four lane highway.”

“Take it up!” The foreman of the work crew called to the crane operator. As the cable tightened, the new sign, bearing the logo ‘Motel 666’, rose slowly into the sweltering dry air. Heat waves shimmered from the newly asphalted lot. Most of the shirtless workmen were sweating profusely as they heaved the lower end of the pipe into position over the hole. It dropped down with a ‘plonk’ and several of them started pouring in wheelbarrows of concrete around it as another made sure it was set plumb.

Rajiid knew the motel was more an excuse than a real business, but he still couldn’t help feeling a twinge of pride as the sign went up and they prepared to open. If they actually got any business it would be a plus. Then he noticed Missy. Thankfully she was dressed decently now, in her skirt and frilly blouse, but she was certainly displaying far more interest in the workmen than he would have liked. He doubted she even noticed there was a new sign. “Where is your school bus?”

“Didn’t I tell you? They’re having a big teacher’s conference in Kansas City today. I get a three day weekend!”

“But you just started a week ago and your school will close for summer vacation in less than a month!”

Sometimes he wondered if they should have picked another country for relocation. But he did have family here—or at least in Kansas City—and his brother’s descriptions of America had always been very positive. “People in American sue each other over the oddest things. Well then, we could call it Motel 66… after that famous road.

She pointed out the window at the empty street. “But we’re not on route 66. If you want to name it for a road, shouldn’t it be the one we’re on?” Missy looked at him and then at the cat who seemed quite dissatisfied that its food dish was empty. “You even named our cat Six!”

Rajiid shrugged. “It has six toes.” Noticing she had their attention, the cat rubbed against Rajiids leg looking pointedly at the empty dish. Unlike daughters, cats were at least fairly transparent about their needs and interests. He refilled the dish, earning a contented purr.

“I still think you’re buggy about sixes.”

“Buggy?”

“Kids at school say that. It means crazy or obsessed, I think.”
Rajiid raised an eyebrow at her.

“Sorry Daddy.”

“Well, since I am ‘buggy’ about sixes, I guess we’ll just have to call it…”
* * *

“Daddy, what are you going to call this place? It needs a name that will stick in people’s heads since it’s practically in the middle of nowhere.” She looked out the window at the empty road in front pointedly. “Shouldn’t you have asked your brother about locations and such before you bought this?”

He had already heard from his brother on the subject. His email hadn’t spared the adjectives in describing either his choice or his judgment in picking the location. But, until he discovered how much of his unasked-for talents Missy had inherited, it was the perfect place to keep her out of trouble and keep others from coming to accidental harm from her. Not knowing how to get started on an explanation of that, he decided to answer the first question. “I was going to put up a big sign with ‘Motel’ on it.”

She looked like she’d just spit out a bug. “Motel?! You can’t just call it ‘Motel’. That would be like naming a restaurant ‘Eat’!” She reached down to pet the cat that dropped in and made itself at home the day they arrived.

He hadn’t really given it much thought. “How about Motel 6 then?” Rajiid gave her a little grin and patted the cat's paw with his finger.

“No good. Someone already has that name. You’d get sued.”

Chapter 3

Rajiid swept the last of the dust bunnies into the dustpan and looked up as he caught a motion from the corner of his eye. Just a few feet away stood his daughter bent over the counter wiping away in her underwear! “Little Miss! You cannot be wearing your underwear in the lobby. What if a customer should walk in? It is not decent!"

She looked down at herself and grinned at him impishly. “It isn’t my underwear Daddy. And, besides, we aren’t open yet anyway."

It certainly looked like underwear. In fact, it looked like less than underwear. Half her bottom was… “But your, your buttocks are showing…”

She laughed at him then gave a couple of quick tugs to the back of the ridiculously short pants. “There. All better.”
As far as he could see it wasn’t any better at all. Maybe just a bit more uneven. He opened his mouth to tell her…

“Girls wear these at school all the time.” Then her voice trailed off so he couldn’t hear the last part.

“Good Heavens! This American school must be a nest of, of… I must speak to the administrators.”

She plopped her cleaning rag down on the counter, apparently thinking she was finished. “We still have to…”