I’ve been tinkering with the details of a road trip Gray and J.D. took. They barely knew each other, but one night, she still hopped into his El Dorado—Elle, as he calls her—and somehow ended up at the beach.
The drive home is a kind of pilgrimage—three Southern-Goth-ish stops that test them both. I’ve had the first and third locked and loaded for a while, but the middle kept eluding me. Then along came this week’s Holy Water prompt from MJ Polk’s Stories from the Jukebox and it gave me exactly the spark I needed.
Also. I ain’t at liberty to share the other two stops. Yet. 1
“You know what I’ve always wanted to try?” Gray asked, wiping peanut brine from her chin.
“What’s that?”
“Peach ice cream,” she said, looking up at the giant peach in the sky. “I’ve lived here since middle school and never had any.”
J.D. grinned. “Then we better fix that. Perfect accompaniment to boiled peanuts.”
“Breakfast of champions.”
“There’s a place about twenty miles out.”
Holy Water Café & Creamery was a low hut painted sky-blue, its name in cloudlike lettering, attached to a gas station that looked almost like a chapel. A hand in the window flipped the sign to OPEN just as J.D. eased Elle Doraydo into a spot by the door.
He strutted around to Gray’s side and took her hand as she stepped out. Her stomach fluttered—surely from the excitement of finally trying this Southern delicacy. She didn’t let go until they reached the counter.
“Mornin’.” The woman behind it wore a pink Mickey Mouse T-shirt and a face shaped for holding a Virginia Slim. Her Viceroy voice confirmed that’s exactly what she did.
“Y’all look like a story I heard once.” She stopped short. “Oh. But I ain’t at liberty to share.”
They glanced at each other. This trip just kept getting weirder.
“Y’all want ice cream?”
“We don’t want to ruin brunch,” Gray said, checking her watch.
J.D. winked. “One cone, two spoons—peach, of course.”
“With or without holy water?” Ms. Mickey-Shirt’s scoop hovered over the tub.
“Oof. It’s early, and I’m driving. Maybe just a sprinkle…”
“Wait—holy water? I thought this place was named after the town. You serve holy water here?”
“No, hon. The town’s named after the place.” She nodded toward the window. “We got a natural occurring holy-water font right out there—springs eternal. But this right here ain’t real holy water. It’s just a little peach-flavored vodka with a message.”
Gray blinked. “Naturally occurring holy water? How does that even work?”
They stood by the window, watching sunlight shimmer over the spring, hands sticky with peach-vodka holy water.
Gray set her spoon down. “Lemme go freshen up before we hit the road again.”
The restroom looked like a tiny chapel inside. A sunbeam through the stained-glass window over the sink lit a stack of hymnals on the supply cupboard.
Interesting reading material.
She turned to dry her hands and, out of the corner of her eye, could’ve sworn the hymnal looked at her before it jumped. It landed with a thud, open to Hymn 101—Amazing Grace. When she stooped to pick it up, she heard it whisper her name—clear as holy water.
“What’s your name, Gray?”
She snapped the book shut and hightailed it out, wiping her damp hands on her jeans.
“Gray, you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I’m good, J.D. You ready?”
As they headed for the car, Ms. Mickey-Shirt nodded.
“Yep. Just like the story.”
And here’s the mixtape
Dirty Water—Slick Lilly
Back Down South—Kings of Leon
Southern Gothic—Tyminski
Devil Always Made Me Think Twice—Chris Stapleton
Peach Fuzz—Caamp
Turtles All the Way Down—Sturgill Simpson
Cold Desert—Kings of Leon
Amazing Grace—Blind Boys of Alabama
You might not have seen this one about my version of the Sunday Scaries:
Sunday Scaries
There is always gonna be turbulence at re-entry for me. And it’s brutal. To be honest, takeoff isn’t all that great either. My dread isn’t just about coming home; the struggle to leave is just the flip side of the same coin.
Written by me—Gray—a half-reformed indie kid with a fake name and a memory like a jukebox. Not the Gray in the story. Probably.
Lots of elements in this one that made it work and travel in unexpected directions. I love the notion that they look like characters in a story she read but is not at liberty to share. :). I also appreciate the description of a face shaped for holding a Virginia Slim! Great work. Hopefully I can participate in the next one of these prompts, it is a fantastic idea and structure.
Great opening to something I look forward to reading more of.
I’ve never heard of any of those songs due to being uncool.