The Life of Oddley - Episode 12

THIS WEEK'S EPISODE - "The Road to California", Part Three

Hello, people, and welcome to another edition of "The Life of Oddley", here on the John Maxwell Blog.  Well, by my count, Oddley's been en route to California for seven weeks now for us, while it's been three days for him.  However, with this week's posting, Oddley will officially complete his journey there.

Now, back to the story.  Last week, Oddley and Rota avoided major jail time when Oddley successful managed to charm a cop out of an arrest.  Once finished with his food, Oddley returned to the road.  After a while, Rita managed to come down.  She then revealed to Oddley that her drug trip was her first and that her last friend gave her the joint.

With the drug adventure behind them, Oddley and Rita drove all the way to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the setting sun forced our travelers to find a hotel.  Thanks to a scheme thought up by Oddley, he and Rita snag a single room, complete with a single bed.  Oddley, wanting to keep their friendship where it is, has a hard time keeping himself composed.

The next morning arrives swiftly and Oddley awakens to find Rita has disappeared...

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I couldn't believe it. Rita had left me behind. She told me that I could trust her. I now saw that trust was nothing but hollow. I got out of bed to see if Rita was still in the room. A through search of the entire room produced no sign of her.

After my search, I decided to leave the room. No use in hanging around if I had no reason left to be there. I grabbed the motel key and walked out the door. I locked it behind me and began walking to the front office.

My mind began racing as I walked. What was I to do? I was hundreds of miles from Chicago. I was still nowhere near my goal: the ocean. My decision was once again, to either head back home and finish my vacation there or continue my trip to California and the ocean.

I was halfway to a decision and halfway to the front office when I happened to take a look around. I felt that if I looked at Albuquerque long enough, it would hasten my decision to get out, east or west. It was as I was scanning the horizon that I spotted it. To think that I would have missed it.

I saw the car that Rita and I had been driving since Tulsa. It was still parked where I had done so last night. I was so surprised to see it there that I stopped in front of it. On closer look, I saw her: Rita. She was sitting in the driver's seat, puffing away on her cigarette. She was blowing a smoke ring when she saw me.

"Good morning, Oddley, you lazyhead." she said.

"Rita! You're still here." I said.

"Did you think I had gone?" she asked me.

"Yes, Rita." I said.

"Well, I just woke up before you. So, I just got dressed and sat out here, waiting for you." she said.

"I can really trust you." I said.

"That you can." she said.

"Let me return this key and I'll join you." I said, resuming my walk.

"I'll be here." she said.

A few minutes later, me and Rita was pulling out of the motel's parking lot and heading westward again on Route 66. As the morning sun shone down on the western desert, I looked over at Rita, with one hand on the wheel and a cigarette in the other. She was proving to be a better traveling companion than Brooke.

New Mexico eventually turned into Arizona. To me, there wasn't much difference between the Arizona desert and the one in New Mexico. It was just one big desert, with only political lines separating it into smaller ones. As the sun climbed higher and higher, boredom began to set in.

"I'm bored." I said one hour into Arizona, without thinking.

"Bored? Of me?" asked Rita.

"No, of this desert outside." I said.

"I can see that." she said, taking a puff.

"I haven't been this bored since... yesterday." I said.

"What happened yesterday?" she asked.

"Miles and miles of Texas." I said.

"That's all behind us." she said.

"Not the miles of desert ahead of us. There's so much sand before the sand on the coastline." I said.

"There's a song lyric." she said.

"It's more than that. It's what's around us." I said.

"What can we do about it?" she asked me.

"Nothing." I said.

"Then why mention it?" she said.

"Because once we get out to California, what are we gonna do?" I said.

"Beats me." she said.

"Me, too. We can forget trying to get into movies or television, and music is something that starts at home." I said.

"Maybe you can get me into a film." she said.

"I have 10 days of vacation left, and I need at least three days to get back home, so we'd only a whole week to get you a film role." I said.

"That's a toughie." she said.

"So what else can we do?" I said.

"I don't know. Maybe we can meet celebrities." she said.

"Like who? What celebrities would wanna meet us?" I asked.

"Maybe someone from your shows?" she said.

"Like I could meet people like Leonard Nimoy or Jonathan Harris." I said.

"Maybe you'll get lucky." she said.

"Maybe. All of this is a big maybe. I didn't even start this." I said.

"I know that." she said.

"The only reason I'm going to California is because I was anxious to get my debt cancelled. Me and a housewife, now me and you. I wonder who'll my next traveling companion is?" I said.

"Don't be so hard on yourself." she said.

"It's just the way I am." I said.

"Listen. I'm helping you the best I can because you strike me as the type who doesn't take no for an answer." she said.

"You're right on that count." I said.

I then fell silence for another hour. As I stared at the desert, I let my mind roam on California. That golden state. I knew that much of the state looked like the sight outside my window but my goal was on the ocean.

It was an hour later, as my mind wandered onto the sights and sounds of Hollywood and Los Angeles that an old memory booted itself to the front of my brain. I had only received the news over a week ago but I was surprised that I had forgotten.

"Ogden!" I said out loud.

"What?" asked a surprised Rita.

"Ogden. I forgot him. Shame on me." I said.

"Wait a minute. Who's Ogden?" she said.

"Ogden Hamilton. He's my oldest and dearest friend." I said.

"Strange. You haven't mentioned him." she said.

"I know. With all the business over the last two weeks, I guess I just let him slip my mind." I said.

"I thought that Gilda was your best friend." she said.

"Only the latest one. Ogden's been there since I was three. He's my sidekick." I said.

"You two must have had many adventures together." she said.

"Always. We both attended the same classes, the same schools. He even got a job at Easy-Mart." I said.

"You two are inseparable." she said.

"That's not true. Despite our long friendship, me and him are two very different people." I said.

"How so?" she asked.

"He's a kind of... cad. He dates women just for the fun. Also, he's nearly broke half the time. He's also a terrible liar." I said.

"That bad, eh?" she said.

"He does have his good side. He's cunning and quick. When I need help, he's there to give it, whether I need it or not. That's why he's my friend." I said.

"Then why isn't your friend anymore?" she asked.

"That's an interesting story." I said.

"Do tell." she said.

"Remember how I said that he dates girls for the fun?" I said.

"Yes." she said.

"I meant it. Ogden's a ladies man. He spends more time in other people's beds than his own." I said.

"Get on with the story." she said.

"Anyway, it happened a couple of weeks ago. Just before this mess between me and Newshaw started." I said.

"Go on." she said.

"It concerns Ogden's latest conquest: a transplanted blonde from Alabama who had the same number of I.Q. points as fingers. She was an easy one for him." I said.

"I see." she said.

"Anyway, they slept together a few times. Purely for fun and the joy." I said.

"Naturally." she said.

"A couple of weeks after Ogden's last date with her. You see, he moved on from her like he usually does." I said.

"Yep." she said in agreement.

"Anyway, this man comes into the store with a 30.06 double-barrel in his hand, demanding to see Odgen, but not those words." I said.

"What words did he use?" she asked.

"I can't repeat most of those words. Anyway, this guy turns out to be the father of the transplanted Alabama blonde with the low I.Q. and he reveals that she is with child and Ogden is the father." I said.

"A plot twist." she said.

"This father has a sense of honor from the hills and the 19th century and he's there to drag Odgen to his wedding. A double-barrel one, if you catch my drift." I said.

"Caught it." she said.

"Odgen then decides that he must do the right thing... and proceeds to run to the back of the store." I said.

"Oh, my." she said.

"Luckily the father decided not to fire within the store. This gave Ogden the chance to run out of the back of the store." I said.

"What happened then?" she asked.

"Well, Odgen climbed into his car and sped away fast. The father then decided to fire... and missed by a barn." I said.

"So, Odgen just cut out and run?" she said.

"A week later, in the midst of my time at the lab, I received a letter from him, saying that he had reached the ocean, the one we're heading towards, and he was gonna stay there until either the transplants headed back to Alabama or hell froze over." I said.

"Did you reply?" she asked.

"I did. I told him that both things will happen at the same time." I said.

"That's a wry thing to say." she said.

"I hope I manage to find Odgen, then we can settle the matter of the double-barrel wedding." I said.

"I wanna meet him." she said.

"And him you if he sees you." I said.

After a moment, the car fell silent again. It was this way all through Arizona. My mind was spent on the memory of Odgen, running for his life away from the shotgun and the wedding that awaits him if the owner of that shotgun ever captures him.

At midday, we passed into California, the last state before the ocean. I smiled when I saw the welcome sign on the side of the road. There was still more desert around me but I knew that soon, water would be in my vision.

A few minutes into California, I turned my eyes to Rita, still driving and smoking. I gazed at the woman who had brought me this far in two days and I had known for three. What a person she was for taking me to the ocean and let me have a dream to see it once in my life and also an opprotunity to be reunited with Ogden.

Then, a serious thought entered my head. What if Rita would only take me to the ocean? She could easily leave me on the shore and drive back to Tulsa. I would then be marooned in California, with only a slim chance on running into Ogden. That thought had not entered my mind before.

Rita had told me that I always put my trust in people, even those I hardly know. She also told me that it would one day come back on me. I now wondered if today was that day. I soon put my worry away, because I needed to enjoy the rest of the way to the ocean. I would worry about it later.

I couldn't even count on Route 66 leading me to the ocean. I found out that it now ended in Pasadena. It didn't matter to us, because we continued along the same road. The sun was now on its downward side, heading towards the western horizon. I was determined to make it to the ocean before sundown.

Eventually, we reach Los Angeles, where Hollywood lay. As we drove into the city, I marveled at the sights I saw. However, it was secondary to our goal of reaching the ocean. My worry resurfaced, each time I looked at the clock in the dashboard, reading 3:00 pm, 4:00 pm, 5:00 pm, and so on.

As the sun set lower and lower in the sky, we got closer and closer to the ocean. I had never set my eyes on one before and I was about to get my chance. Rita was looking straight at the road, waiting to see the ocean herself. It had been a sight that Ogden had relayed in his letter but even he wrote that he couldn't put what he saw into words.

Finally, we saw it. Beyond the unbroken line of sand was the solid mass of blue water that is called the Pacific Ocean. I stared at it as best I could. The sun was just hovering over the horizon line and so, I had to look away every minute or so to avoid eye damage. I knew that my journey was complete.

Rita pulled the car into a parking lot for a public beach as the clock in the dashboard reach 6:00 pm. I knew that in 30 minutes, the sun would be gone for the day. I got out of the car as soon as it came to a stop. As soon as I had removed my shoes, I handed them to Rita and made my run towards the water.

It seemed like a slow run but it was probably done in less than 30 seconds. Each of those seconds pass slowly as I got closer and closer to the water itself. I could just feel the sand between toes. It was nice and warm after a day under the sun. Then, I felt a change. The ground between my toes was cold and runny.

Water! I had reached it. My feet were now in the Pacific Ocean. When I stopped my run, I found that I was now up to my knees in ocean water. I then just stared out at the sun, now beginning its low sink below the horizon. To tell the truth, I don't why I was so happy to be there. I didn't start this trip on purpose but now, the road to California was done.

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After eight weeks and two complete serials, Oddley had managed to complete his accidental journey to California and Hollywood.  What's next for Oddley?  With the cliffhanger I gave you this week, I know your curiousity will bring you back for next week.
 
Next week, we begin a five-part story titled "Hollywood Oddley", which includes a visit to the Chinese Theater, a look at the hand and show prints of the stars, a moment of relevance, and one heck of a cliffhanger, for sure.
 
Also next week, "The Life of Oddley" changes time slots.  Instead of Thursdays at 2:30 pm, episodes will be posted on Saturdays at 3:30 pm, beginning on October 29.
 
Until then, this is John Maxwell, telling you that a bird in the hand is a great way to lose an arm...