#elsewhere

On the road again..

(Before Thanks giving)

FRANK is in demand! Mind you, folks want to blame the truckers, but the supply fuck ups blame goes on other folks thanks, and a reliaable vet like him can thrive in this sort of climate of demand. Indeed, he's been offered more than usual

One other thing about experience; it teaches you how much you can handle. He takes a full load of work, maybe more than others.... but working on Thanksgiving is a hard no. He'll be with his family that day, thank you.

They try some pressure to get him to change his mind but, wel, trolls are among the most stubborn kith and they back off

But here Frank is, making fair time on the road

That, and the big (well, BIG) old guy has a reputation. Besides, arguing with him... it just bounces off. He does what he's said he'll do.

And he does it well. One doesn't need the latest tech to know the patterns of the roadways during crunch time. Frank pulls up to pick up his supplies in plenty of time and finds the guy who opens things up for him . Turns out, it's an old pro AND fellow changeling. The Boggan goes by "K.C." and he's an easy going fellow "Frank, good to see you. Half these kids don't know what they're doing these days. Did you hear their going to be lowering the age requirement for state truckers down in Tennessee? And removing safety restrictions just to keep the economy going? Folks in power don't much care about our lives eh?"

"Mm." a grunt from the gentle giant "Up to us to teach the new guys, then."

"Oh yeah, my cal of the needy is going to kick my ass I can tell." they load the shipment up as they talk, of course , Frank getting the bulk of it but the boggan no slouch

"Hey, you hear about the orphanarium?"

"Mm?"

"Changeling thing... but I can't say I like the sound of it. Apparently you can BUY yourself a changeling kid. They call it a finder fee to hook up mentors or guardians with young ones, to keep them from facing the world alone, and that the costs help pay for paper work legal wise but still, I hope they have a good vetting process"

Frank works quietly a moment, then says "Did you say ... -buy- a childling? Where?"

"Oh that.. ordering online is how they like to do things... but we just had a truck come by here earlier to pick up kid sized beds. Talked to the guy. Handle Tot Tote. I suppose it is meant to be funny, but I didn't find it so. " He describes the rig "He's about 20 minutes ahead of you at this point, not that it matters"

"Childlings -do- need protection and education." Frank rumbles "And there are costs to getting papers."

"You could be right. Might be nothing"

"Thanks for the heads up." Frank signs off on the shipping papers and invoices, files his forms, and is ready to roll.

"Good to see you again, Rigger" And off Frank goes

Frank's journey resumes, the cargo secure. There is CB chatter going on warning of a some idiot who ended up causing a slow down on the interestate he was about to get on. "Expect to be crawling no faster than 15 mph for the next twenty minutes if you come up to that bottle neck"

He checks his GPS and his route; how does it look?

He's going to have to change routes, it will add 10 minutes to his travel time, but it's better than a half hour or more

So he does.

As he moves along... he sees a hitchhiker , an black man in his late thirties, jeans, thick jacket. Thumb up.

Frank eyes him carefully, even Kenning.

He's not a changeling, but he has a surprisngly low banality

That decides him. Frank carefully slows down and pulls over, popping the cab lock on that side.

"Hey," He gets in easily, tall man, not TROLL tall. "Thank you, my friend. I an't getting you in trouble with your company am I?"

"Good of you to be concerned, but if that were the case I wouldn't have stopped."

"I respect that, but I'm glad it's not the case. Call me Darius. Not sure how far you're going but I'll take what I can get to twenty miles."

"I'm going that far." And Frank pulls the Rig carefully onto the road and away.

"Thanks man," He looks about at the cabin and grins "This is a nice rig. This is some herbie level soul in this thing"

Frank nods. "We have a lot of miles together."

"Sure. If you want to talk, I'll talk sports, cities, philosophy, but I try to stay off politics. Getting nasty now a days"

"Agreed. No, no need to talk politics. How about cities? Where're you heading?"

"Eventually ? Minneapolis. Want to get a feel for the twins"

Frank nods "Long haul."

"Hell are you going all the way to Twin Cities yourself?"

A rumble that sounds like a distant avalanche... oh, no, just the driver chuckling "No. I'm on the downhill side of this run. Home for Thanksgiving."

" I hear you. Family is powerful.. not to be ignored"

"Mmmm."

"What direction are you coming from?"

He tells him

"Don't worry, Twenty miles will get me to a new launch point. I have a connection there"

(Where will 20 miles put him?)

A town called Jenerik

(Frank recognizes the name?)

Yup

(Ok place? Noteworthy?)

(Nope. Small town, much like many others)