Alex The Inventor-Chapter 6 (Pt.2)

Read Chapters 1 - 6 at: Deep Sky Stories & Illustrations

Chapter 6 (Part 2) - The Cheery-Doze Receives a Very Strange Guest.

Farther away to the northwest from Alex’s home and beyond the scrapyard lay the town of Delta itself, or Delta-Town, as most people living there liked calling it. All the shops, hotels and of course, Rosie's Diner, could be found nestled in the middle of the small farming town. Delta lay just far enough away from the main highway that it did not receive as many visitors as other places did. This was a situation which was quite alright with the folks in the little community; they liked being a bit "out-of-the-way" from the rest of the big, modern world.

Yet, there was still enough business which found its way to the town that Delta continued on just fine, thank you very much. Not far to the west, on the outskirts, was the main highway running north and south. This straight stretch of dry and desolate road stretched for miles in both directions, with nothing to see except wide open prairie and distant Mackintosh Mountain to the north.

But, every now and then, a rest stop or two could be found dotting the side of the highway. These small, out-of-the-way inns and motels were often used by weary travels who needed somewhere to stop and stay for the night.

One such aged and dusty establishment which sat on a lonely plot of land just off of the highway was the Cheery-Doze Motel. It had remained where it was - only an hour’s drive from Delta-Town - for as long as any of the older truckers or bus drivers could recall. The "CD" as they nicknamed it would likely remain standing for as long as it could possibly hold itself together.

By now, it was so ramshackle and ill-kept that the usual joke was that one day soon "Ol' Cheery" would have the misfortune of receiving a guest who would accidentally slam the front door too hard, thus causing a chain-reaction that would reduce the dilapidated shack to a pile of dust and rubble.

Bob, the manager of the Cheery-Doze scratched an itch on his gray, balding head as he puzzled over the last few words of his first crossword puzzle for the night. The Cheery was quiet and still as that Friday evening dimmed toward the black of night.

Only a few minutes passed, though, before a sudden gust of prairie wind kicked up the dust and grit outside and caused loose shingles to clatter loudly up on the old sun-bleached roof. A storm was approaching from just beyond the flat, dark horizon.

Bob was an ordinary sort, "Not too fast and not too slow", was Bob's motto. "Just keep between the lines, in the middle of the road and everything will work out just fine in the end."

Thus, in the end, old Bob was where he was: a manager, managing an old, rickety Motel which sat at the side of a lonely stretch of highway, somewhere between here and there. That was just fine with Bob though; just so long as nobody bothered him too much, that is...

At half past the hour of ten, though, a Grey Liner Bus pulled up to the front door of the Cheery-Doze, whereupon a solitary passenger disembarked and walked straight toward him, smiling…

Next: Chapter 7 (Part 1) - The Song is the Beacon

As Alex slumbers on into the night, he falls into a dream most profound and lucid. He dreams of another time, another place; it is also far more than that, for Alex is, indeed, very faraway. And his name is not Alex...

As of 2017-10-14, Chapter 6 (Part 2) can be read at: DeepSkyStories.com