By Tayler Franklin (age 13)
With background overview and intro by Dean Sprague (very old)
It all began with a beautiful young girl in her twenties meeting a handsome young boy. They dated, courted, fell in love, and then there was a marriage. Just under two years later she gave birth to a set of twin girls and roughly two years after that another baby girl completing their family. All three girls grew into young women as beautiful as their mom. However, this story is about one of the twins, Tayler and her best friend Rinnah. Tayler is studious, directed, and loves learning. She is tall, over 5’ 7” and looks like a model just like her mother. In fact, they look so much alike when pictures were taken they had to be dated to prevent confusion.
Tayler is full of hopes, dreams, and desires. She loves animals, particularly horses. She developed a passion for writing that began in elementary school and carried through out high school. Writing has become such a desire that her career ambitions must include prose in some form. She is an “A” student and tends to master everything she tries.
Rinnah is a spirited girl, willing to try something new whether it is food or an activity. She is the perfect daughter; intelligent, athletic, beautiful, and very witty. She dabbled in multiple sports in school, but her real passion was soccer. She played it throughout high school, where she served as Captain. Rinnah, like Tayler was ambitious, she graduated high school on the honor roll, and is on her way to college to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor. Rinnah’s fervor is mathematics and science, although she excelled in all her subjects. The girls have been best friends since the 3rd grade. Each family considers the other girl part of their own.
When they make plans they tend to stay with them. When high school was over one such plan included taking a road trip up the eastern coast all the way to New England. One of Tayler’s papas collects and restores old British cars. She always loved his little cream and green MGTD. Her dream included using his 70-year-old MG as their conveyance for this quest. It was simple and slow enough to require the use of back roads and byways. The idea of traveling totally immersed in the environment with your best friend held great appeal.
This presented two challenges; first she had to get her Papa to loan them the MG for a month or more and they had to acquire the necessary skills to drive and maintain an old English MG. Small things never get in their way so they convinced a friend who had an old Honda Civic with a 5 speed to teach them how to drive a manual. Like most things they attempted, was it mastered in no time, now it was time for the discussion with Papa. Like most grandparents, he would do anything for his grandchildren and this was no exception. However, since this trip would cover at least 3000 miles the MG would need major maintenance and some repair. They immediately saw this as an opportunity to learn by working- with him. They had already saved money for over 6 months, found a relative they could stay with and spent weeks mapping the trip, they were ready! Stay tuned as Tayler and Rinnah, take you on a journey like no other.
“The Quest Begins”
By Tayler Franklin
(PART I OF A TRILOGY)
Click! “That’s the last of the luggage, did you grab the snacks that I laid on the counter?” I asked my best friend who was busy taking photos on her phone, documenting what she described as the “golden hour”. With a sheepish grin, she pivoted on her heels, marching up the driveway mumbling that she was about to do that. I was startled as a bag of Doritos narrowly missed my face and glared at my attempted attacker. Rinnah stood there holding a range of snacks giving me a cheeky smile. I rolled my eyes before grabbing the Dorito bag that fell at my feet.
Rinnah dove into the driver’s seat as she volunteered to take the first shift rocking the little car forcing the bag of chips too fall out of my hand.
“Oops, my bad,” she mumbled before struggling to turn the ignition switch and trying to find the right knob to pull, finally with my instructions the MG sprang to life. She released the clutch and the car lurched forward stalling it. I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea for the most tired person to drive first but at least it gave me time to read and navigate. I grabbed her phone, typing in her passcode, and opened our shared playlist on Spotify, turning the volume all the way so it was audible over the roaring engine.
I reached into my purse and I pulled out an Equine Now magazine and curled up in a ball against the door. Rinnah wrinkled her nose at the thick paperback laying in my lap, “I don’t remember the last time I read something for fun.” She said. I smirked at her comment before zoning out as I skimmed over the words in front of me. Rinnah was singing along to a song as she drove. Time seemed to fly by as the sun gradually slipped below the horizon being replaced by the reflection of lunar light. I lifted the magazine off my lap, grabbing my phone underneath it, and checked the time; it had almost been 3 hours since we left. We were beyond the Blue Ridge Parkway and North Carolina and well into Virginia already.
It was magnificent to see the lush vegetation and emerald green tree canopy covering the road and filling the mountains as they seemed to touch the clouds almost like looking at a masterpiece painting. This was nothing like riding in a modern car where you so insulated. Smiling I clicked the camera icon on my phone screen and rotated it to face me. There was an image of myself, an 18-year old brunette. She has straight hair, hazel eyes that looked browner than green, and slightly sun-kissed skin created by endless hours in the sun. I angled the phone so that both Rinnah and me were in the frame. Next to me was a curly-haired blonde girl with sun-tanned skin and bright blue eyes. Snap! And a photo appeared on the screen. We both smiled and nodded in acceptance.
I turned off my phone, using it as a bookmark. I uncrossed my tingling legs and began rubbing them to revive the feeling. I told Rinnah, “I think there should be a rest stop, maybe we can stop and I will give you a break at the wheel. I know that you didn’t get enough sleep last night, probably up too late playing on your phone right?” Rinnah was beginning to deny it but then relented nodding in acceptance. “I really tried to get to bed early,” she said, “ but I got distracted. I just rolled my eyes, I was used to her antics. I saw Rinnah wince from the corner of my eye; she said, “I think my ears are popping”. I looked at her in confusion. “Are you sure it’s your ears? I- wait did you hear that?” The engine began sputtering and losing power. We started slowing down...
My heart leaped into my throat as we pulled over onto the side of the road. She shifted the car into neutral and set the emergency brake. “We are somewhere on the Skyline Parkway...do you have any service, I lost mine a while back.” We hopped out of the car. “My service keeps flicking in and out, but can you try your phone? I will check out the engine.” I opened the left side of the hood. The car was smoking hot and the temperature gauge was reading over 95 degrees Celsius- not good.
To be continued…
