Valerie and Chris left early the next morning. The only bone of contention between Valerie and Chris that bothered them before they left was what car they were going to take, Vals or Chris's. The solution came quickly once Valeries car died within half a block of the house. After much swearing and cursing and pushing the car back home, they loaded up the family car and headed out to Vegas.
"Its an omen, I knew it." Valerie said as Chris turned onto the freeway toward Nevada.
"Its not an omen." Chris assured her friend. "Your car is ancient anyway."
"I love that car." Valerie said. "On the other hand it should have rightly burst into flames by now."
"Everything will be fine. Small setback." Chris laughed. "Lord it was fun pushing the car back."
"We might want to try 'Neutral' first next time." Valerie said looking out the window.
"Yeah, true, but then we would have missed your 'damn it car move!' spaz attack on the side of the road."
"It wasnt a spaz attack, it was a....a...."
"Monumental spaz attack." Chris looked at her.
"Its how I think." Valerie said defensively. "You should see me when I really get going."
The rest of the ride was so uneventful it was barely worth mentioning. They stopped at one or two of the "required freebee tourist trap" museums to look around. Valerie thought it was a total waste of time till she remembered that she was out there to have fun. Still the possibility of seeing the worlds biggest hambone wasnt entirely enthralling to her.
A few hours after they left California they arrived in Las Vegas. It was still daytime so all the lights people were accustomed to see in movies wouldnt be lit till after dark. Showing up in the middle of Vegas in the middle of the day suddenly seemed like a lackluster event without all the razzle dazzle and the cool lights.
"We'll see it later." Chris said as they searched for the Hotel Pacifica. "Right now I want to get some rest and maybe a bath." Chris said stifling a yawn.
"I'm sorry you had to drive all the way here. I forgot to get my license renewed." Valerie apologized. Chris slightly turned to her with a knowing look in her eye. "Okay I let it expire cause I don't even have the money to renew my license." She sighed. "I shouldnt even be on vacation."
"Why do you say that? This is a gift to you." Chris said as she located the hotel on the right side of the road. It was a two story structure that was an ungodly combination of green, pink and blue. The pink was a color that you would find in most ugly bathrooms. The office was a separate building that seemed to be a newer structure than the hotel. The hotel seemed to be from the era of Bugsy Siegel, back when Vegas was miles of sand in the middle of nowhere.
"Yuck." Chris and Valerie chorused.
"If this is my gift, I hope you saved the receipt." Valerie said with a grossed out look on her face.
"Thats funny." Chris said. "It looked better in the brochure."
"So you knew it looked like this? Ugh." Valerie said.
"Must have been an old one." Chris confessed. "And hey, its all we could afford. At the time we only had one kid and we could afford something like this."
"La cocaroach hotel, nice. You check in and you can't check out." Valerie cracked. "At least the Bates Motel looked like it was clean."
"Yea, and a peekhole in the first room." Chris said. "I saw that movie too."
They pulled into what seemed like the last remaining parking space. Valerie popped out and unloaded the car while Chris went to check on the reservations. With her luck, Valerie almost wanted to guess that Chris would tell them they no longer had a room and they could go home. She had no idea why she thought that would happen, but she had a weird feeling that something else weird would happen after the car stalled on the way out of town. She couldnt shake that omen feel.
Valerie felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped a mile before she turned around.
"Don't do that!" Valerie said waving her hands.
"Nervous about something?" Chris asked. "Don't be. This is gonna be fun. I ain't gonna tell you again."
"We'll have fun." Valerie tried her best at a grin. "Its fun to have fun. And plus Michael will be in town tomorrow."
"Thats what you should think about, Michael will be in town." Chris said. "What more encouragement do you need?"
"I dunno. That bath sounds nice." Valerie admitted. Just riding in the car for hours on end made her tired.
"We have even better." Chris said. "Our desk clerk, Norman, says there is a spa we can enjoy."
"The rat trap has a spa? This I have to see." Valerie rolled her eyes.
"You're kidding about the Norman part right?"
Chris smiled evily as she walked away.
"You are kidding, right? Right?" Valerie said as she followed her friend to their room. It was on the second floor. As they ascended the stairs a ten year old freckly faced kid ran by them on the way down.
"Candy!" He yelled as he almost mowed Valerie to the ground.
"Hey!" Valerie said. "Stupid brat, watch where you are going!"
The kid turned smiled and then made a gesture that Valerie had no idea a ten year old kid would know.
"Ok thats just not right." Chris said. "We'll have to wash your hand off with soap!"
"Whatever lady!" The kid said. He ran over to a candy machine and started beating on it. After two minutes, the manager...this Norman guy came and shooed him off.
"Chris," Valerie said as Chris unlocked the door to their room. "you are looking at reason #114 of why I will never have children."
"Oh they aren't that bad." Chris smiled as she turned a light on.
"My mother always said that bad kids are doomed to have kids that acted twice as bad as they did when they were children. Thats why I need to nip it in the bud, my child will have three sixes etched into his or her scalp." Valerie finished as they looked at the room. There was one bed in the middle of the room, one closet and what seemed to be a bathroom without a toliet. "I hope you're not on a liquid diet."
"I guess there is a community bathroom in the hotel somewhere." Chris said. Valerie threw her a glare. "Norman told me."
"Again with the Norman." Valerie sighed. She opened a closet door. "Well at least we don't have to share a bed, a rollaway mattress is in the closet." Valerie said. She sniffed the air. "And now I know why." She rolled the bed back into the closet. "I hope you wear socks."
"This isnt bad." Chris said. "I'm sure we got the right hotel."
"I'm sure too." Valerie said. "Lets go see that spa. Things can't get worse from here."
"Fine." Chris said taking a couple of towels from the "bathroom".
"Oh and don't forget the keys this time." Valerie said as a polite reminder. "I'm not sure we can jigger this lock open."
