GAINING AN HOUR

Pack the car with dirty laundry. Lock all the doors. Proceed forward. Continue .3 miles then take a right onto North Shafter Street. Honk twice, just like mother does. Follow the curve of Rardin Avenue until you reach the stop sign. Watch for the blind spot on both sides. Proceed up Slaughter Drive. Take a right onto 2^nd Street. Wait at the light, because you always catch the light. Continue on a slight left towards Columbus Road/ the road that has that one Dairy Queen on it. Head East. Sometime soon, push in the white cassette. Let Purple Rain play while merging onto US-33. Head West. Maybe the season is fall; because you wish it were fall. Merge onto I-70 W towards Indiana. Travel 171.2 miles. Set cruise control at 70 mph. Settle into the speeding 1995 sputtering Subaru. Stay to the left. Do not go through the city. Go around the city. The state line is invisible or rather it’s just a very large pale blue arch. There isn’t anything to discover anymore. Once you ended up in Lima. But the crossroads of America are the crossroads of America for a reason. Take I-65 N toward Chicago. Watch for cops. Take exit 104 by Post Road. Refuel at the Shell station exactly one mile down. Return to the highway. Travel another 117.3 miles. Avoid Merrillville, Indiana. Stay to the left. But you’ll miss and stay to the right which looks like the left. You’ll go through the city. But the skyview skyline toll prices are worth the view. Keep up with the traffic. You’ll start to recognize building names. You’ll remember how to re-pronounce names like Algonquin and Des Plaines. Merge onto I-294 N toward Milwaukee. Continue .3 miles then take the Willow Road exit. Willow Road becomes Palatine Road, but stay in the express lane. You can’t remember when cruise control was last in control. Watch for cops. In .07 miles take a slight right toward 83. If you reach Essex Street you’ve gone about 0.1 miles too far! What else has changed this time? That’s new. New. New. Painted. New. Turn right onto S Dennis Road. Poko Loco Child Care Center is on the left. Not new. Not even painted new. Blow through the four way intersection. Weave around the curve. Take the first right onto Cindy Lane. Catch the sign in the mirror. The checkered flag is in view. Arriving at 281 Cindy Lane on right. Honk twice, just like mother does.

-sonja lynn mata