Silver Bullet

by Extra

"It was a brand new, 1978, aluminum 'Silver Bullet' mobile lifestyle trailer. Thirty-two feet long, eleven feet six inches wide. Four brand new Michelin commercial standard radial tires, white walls even. It was so shiny, I had to clip on my sunglasses. We picked it up the day after I retired and we haven't been back since. We had a house and of course it was larger than the trailer but I can't remember it being any less cozy. It's better that we aren't there any more, I don't know how I'd manage in a place larger than this. Nothing is too far away from anything else but its still a real effort sometimes.

The trailer was exactly how Sam always described it. Ever since we were married he talked about nothing but getting on the road and seeing the country once we had the money. He didn't get the notion of getting the trailer until Dean was born. I remember Dean was so tiny in Sam's long wiry arms when Sam said, 'Midge, this little guy is gonna need something stable to grow up in but it won't be this house. We'll get us one of those trailers and travel in style.' 'Course Dean was full grown by the time we left Fairdealing but travelling was all he heard about as a boy so I had to make sure we went. He would help Sam circle all the places we were going to go with a red pen on a big map I gave Sam for our first Christmas. Fact 'map' was the first word little Dean said. We kept that very same map up on a wall of the trailer and X'ed all the circles once we visited them. Some of the places were just ghost towns and others we couldn't remember why they were circled in the first place but we made sure we went to every one. It was what Sam wanted.

To tell the truth, I was never that set on travelin'. I was happy as long as I had a roof over my head and Sam, and Dean once he came along, with me. But it was Sam's dream and Dean was his boy so I made sure we went. We could've lived on what Sam made and the checks from the government but I still worked over thirty years at the laundry company, except the year little Dean came along, just so that when Sam retired he could take us to all the places on his map.

Sam made all sorts of plans so when he passed I really didn't have to work, little Dean and me had security but I didn't think I should be idle at that age. But the day I turned sixty I retired from the company and the next day Dean and I picked up the trailer. Of course Dean quit his job too to go but we're secure. We put everything we needed in the trailer and hitched it up to the old pick-up. We had to get a new truck three years later but that one had done its share and the one we bought is still holding up Dean says. I saw it through the window when Dean brought it to the park we were in and he gave me a picture of it too. I put it up on the wall with the my postcards. Dean is such a dear. Every place we go he gets me a postcard and on every one he writes, 'Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here.' I love him dearly but his sense of humor's a bit strange.

Dean has been such a good son to me. Most would have left their mothers behind to go on their travels. I would have understood but he's taken me everywhere and taken care of me with nothing but my love in return. He's so industrious and independent, I don't even fold his laundry for him. He takes care of everything so well, he's made my retirement as carefree as it could be.

There's a knock at the door and Dean comes in.

'Hi Mom, how's it going?' he says.

"Just fine dear, A man from Ripley County won on Wheel of Fortune today."

'No kidding? Well ain't that something. Here's your postcard.' he says unlocking his cabinet.

"Back in Ohio soon? This is becoming a regular state for us. What's this say - Clinton? Whereabouts is that?"

'We're in the southern part.' he says, putting another paper bag in his cabinet.

I bend one of the slats of the blinds. "Dean, have we been here before?"

'Of course not! If we had, you'd already have a postcard like that!' he said slamming the cabinet door.

"I'm sorry Dean, it just seemed familiar. That trailer over there looked like the one we parked near -"

'There must be a million trailers like that! Besides every trailer park looks the same, especially from the inside here!'

"I'm sorry dear, I was just wondering."

The lock clicks shut. 'Fine, well I'm going to get dinner. D'you want anything?'

"No, thank you, dear. I'm just going to make a TV dinner and watch Golden Girls."

'I'll see you tomorrow, Mom.' Dean opens the door and steps out but there are men in blue jackets standing in his way. They're pointing guns at Dean!

'Mr. Dean Davis, we have search warrant for this trailer, please cooperate.' Dean sits down on the ground holding his head and rocking. Some of the men come in the trailer and stand over me.

'Ma'am, will you please step outside?'

"But this is my home! What have we done?"

One of the men breaks Dean's lock with a crowbar and takes out one of Dean's paper bags. He opens it and smiles. 'We got 'im, Sir.'

'All right, cuff him and read him his rights. Ma'am, please come with us. This whole trailer is being impounded for evidence.' Two of the men pull me up firmly and force me to walk out the door.

"Dean! What's going on?" I feel tears starting down my face.

'You're finally leaving that Goddam trailer is what's happening!'

'Your son is being arrested for the interstate trafficking of narcotics.' The man looks like he's going to smile.

"Drugs? No! Dean, that can't be true! Dean doesn't need to do any such thing!"

'You thought you were still living on what Dad left us? That was used up on the second truck! How else was I going to make money and still haul you around?' One man puts handcuffs on Dean while another is reading from a card.

"No! It was for you! And for Sam's memory! It was what he wanted, his dream!" The men pull Dean up and take him to a car. I turn around and see my trailer for the first time in - thirteen years? There isn't a single bit of it not covered in filth or rust. The hubcaps are gone and the white walls barely visible. The sun doesn't even shine back off the windows. Two men hook the trailer up to a truck and start pulling away. The men are still holding me and saying something. I watch the trailer roll away from me until it turns towards the sun and I can't see anything anymore.