(Dallas Green) All My Pasts And Futures (Prologue)

Sophia considered taking the road map out of the glove department. Even took her eyes off the road infront of her long enough to consider and then reject the idea. No, she'd been driving for too long now to pull over, which she would need to do seeing as she was practically alone save the sleeping figure on the backseat. Covering five states and crossing the Canadian border into Moosonee over a mere four days was no easy feat - nerves were buzzing inside her from way too much convenience store bought coffee, her eyelids stung and felt heavy from a lack of sleep and, worst of all, she wasn't even sure if she was still heading directly north anymore; that may have been a wrong turn she'd made all the way back in Boston.

As the lights turned green and the line of traffic gradually picked up speed again, Sophia's eyes flickered toward where she knew the road map to lay crumpled. No, she didn't need it, she convinced herself and stared straight ahead again. The grey Honda infront of her moved forwards.

What was another wrong turn anyway? At the age of twenty-one she'd made plenty but not all of them had turned out for the worse. She used to count Craig as a mistake but she wasn't so sure anymore. What she'd gotten out of their whirlwind most would call a 'relationship' was Caleb, and Caleb was neither a wrong turn in her life or a mistake.
Craig, maybe. Caleb, never.

As Sophia turned on the indicator and waited in the line to turn off the highway, she quickly looked into the backseat like she'd done, what must have been, a thousand times so far during the trip. A mop of white, white blonde hair, the exact opposite of her own, peeked up over the blanket which she'd draped over and then tucked underneath her dozing-off six year old son four hours ago. It was now seven in the morning and despite the loud noise of the traffic, people rushing into work and truck drivers moving produce to their destination before the official working hour of nine, the lump otherwise known as Caleb had not moved. There was a chocolate smear on his right cheek and Sophia smiled fondly when noticing that, even out cold, he had a tight grip on the stuffed elephant 'Olli'. A feeling reminiscent of lovesickness but not quite the same swept over her as she watched the hair that hung in his eyes be softly blown upwards in time with his slightly slack-jawed breathing. The same feeling had been hitting Sophia ever since the start of her motherhood and was a strong, sometimes painful, thing to have wash over her constantly but she wouldn't trade it for the world.

Sophia was jerked out of her reverie by at least three car horns, all from behind her little Datsun and she moved into action, changing gears and driving forwards. When she'd first set off with Caleb and all their belongings, not having told anyone at all, she had no idea where they were headed but when she passed under a green and white road sign, she decided.
'St. Catherines: 150 MILES NW', she read to herself, smiling. That's our new home.