Weighing drive times

"Ugh... so... sand everywhere." Maria commented. "Except...one place, and that feels... just good."

"I call that a win."

"Except I'm going to be feeling like ugh... for the whole ride home?"

I pushed up from the sand, brushing as much as I could from myself. Yeah... I was gonna need to change clothes too. We should have brought a towel or something.

"Well, I mean, if we could find you a shower, you wouldn't have to drive home all gross and sweaty." I reached down for her hand and helped her to her feet with a quick pull. Her dress was still bunched around her thighs, and she smoothed it the best she could, but the overall affect was still heavily disheveled.

"And I am tired. Long day." Maria grabbed up the bits of trash she could find at our feet, and I helped as best I could. Eventually we had a full plastic bag of trash, sweat on our brows, and the chill of the autumn evening was beginning to settle in. "Fun day.. but..."

"Well, I do have a shower back at the cabin." I suggested.

"Thought you were never going to ask, vato." Maria smiled. "Oh crap, what the hell am I going to say to your... fuck... uhm... zombie survival squad? When I see them, I mean? You know, I'm actually really tempted, because I never got to go to one as a kid."

"A what?"

"A sleepover." Maria tossed the bag of trash into the rusted oil barrel near the road which seemed to serve as the local trash receptacle. Even had an official sign on it and everything, promising dire warnings to anybody who dared to not put their trash in the big metal barrel.

"Well, it's not all girls." I pointed out as we approached her car, which flashed in happy anticipation at Maria's keyfob press.

"Sounds like a hell of a party then. " Maria shrugged pulling open her car door and settling into the seat carefully, trying to tap out as much sand as possible before entering the car. "Don't forget your shoes."

I acknowledged her reminder by opening the car door and sitting myself. A stream of sand from my shoes' heels coursed onto the black asphalt, before I stripped off my socks and tapped as much dust as I could from it. It was the best I could do, at that point, so I swung my legs back into the car, frustrated to hear a slight shower of sand despite my best intentions.

"Don't worry, I've been meaning to vac this for a while." Maria noted my look and pointed into the back seat, where I noticed the floor mats were not so much clean as occasionally policed. I noticed a few small books stuffed into various seat orifices.

"I take it I have this to look forward to?"

"You haven't seen the two year old stuff. So many plastic keys tossed all over the place. You're gonna be... well, it's worth it, but I wouldn't do it again without better help." Maria started the car and backed it along the turn out. No cars were evident in any direction, and we idled there for a moment. "Sometimes it feels like It's constant battle with a million childless jerks who think they know better than me what my daughter needs."

"Well, if you're going to the cabin, you turn right." I said after another moment of silence. "If you think she's good to be by herself tonight."

The sound of the dirt of the road under our tires was a signal of the motion, as we turned onto the highway, heading south.