In spite of their intention to drive through the night, the wind picked up, blowing the snow around so thickly that they could barely see. Mike slowly, carefully, drove onwards.
“Wait, is that a motel?” Tom had glimpsed a neon sign briefly through the snow. Mike drove closer and a lull in the wind displayed a cheap motel in front of them.
“Should we stop for the night?”
“Yeah, I don’t think we’ll get very far in this, do you?”
Mike shook his head.
Tom pulled his scarf up, gloves on and made sure his coat was done up tightly before opening the truck door. They hurried over to the lobby and tumbled through the door. It was sweltering inside, and Tom quickly took his outer layers off before he started to overheat.
The reception was empty. Tom rang the bell and waited. Mike looked around.
“Hello?” he called out after a few minutes of no response.
A slight, young, Asian woman peeked around the door.
“Hello,” Tom said again. “Can we get a room?”
“Hi,” she said and came out properly. Her name badge said Eiko. Tom thought she looked nervous.
“We’d like a room, please, or two if you have them.”
“Certainly.” She sat down at the desk and turned on the computer. Mike sidled up to the counter as well and smiled down at her. Eiko glanced up and then quickly looked away again. Tom noticed that she was jiggling her leg.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
“Yes, yes. Of course. I just… the computer is just being a bit slow.”
“Oh okay. I’m kind of surprised you’re even open,” Tom said in what he hoped was a friendly manner.
“But we’re sure glad you are!” Mike interjected. “Saved us from a very cold night in our truck by the side of the road.”
Eiko nodded and seemed to give up on the computer. She fished two pairs of keys out from under the desk and handed them over.
“How long are you planning on staying for?”
“Just the night. As long as the wind lets up by morning. You can barely see a thing out there at the moment,” Mike said. “Then we’ll hit the road again. We’re headed to Toronto.”
“Is your kitchen open?” Tom asked. The chips and candy hadn’t exactly satisfied him and his stomach had been gurgling for the past two hours.
Eiko hesitated, then nodded. “The menu is in your room, just call through your order once you’ve decided. You’ll be in rooms 109 and 111, they’re just up the hallway there to your left.”
“Thank you.”
Mike followed Tom into the first room. It was a classic cheap motel room, with a generic painting of a sailboat on one wall and a red daisy on the other. Tom wondered where they even got those bedspreads. Was there a special motel-only shop that sold the hideous things?
“We’re not sharing,” Tom said. “I want the bed to myself.” He sat down on the edge of the bed. It creaked.
“Trust me buddy, so do I. It’s a bit eerie here isn’t it?”
“A little bit, I guess. Kind of reminds me of the motel in Psycho.”
Mike laughed at that. “Well, I don’t think we have to worry about Eiko stabbing us in the shower.”
“No, but she seemed nervous about something.”
“The asteroid? Her impending doom?” There, he’d done it again. Forgotten why he was in a motel in Manitoba in the first place.
“Oh. Right. Yeah, of course.” What was wrong with him?
He picked up the menu from the bedside table. He thought he’d give the fish a skip.
“The burger should be safe, shouldn’t it?” he mused out loud.
Mike shrugged. “Probably.” He grabbed the menu out of Tom’s hands and glanced over it.
“Not exactly much choice is there? I think you picked right.”
Mike strode over to the phone and dialled the room service number.
“Hello, can we please get two of the classic burgers to room 109? Thanks. Oh, and do you have any beer? No? That’s a pity, oh well… okay, thank you.”
Tom found the remote a flicked on the television. Most of the channels were showing old movies or re-runs of sitcoms. There was one panel show, with three self-proclaimed experts, discussing the asteroid. Tom watched for a few minutes. They all seemed to have vastly different attitudes, much like the people Tom had met over the past few days. One of the panellists firmly believed that the governments or space agencies would figure “something” out in time, and all would be saved and everything would go back to normal. The middle panellist mentioned God and retribution and total annihilation a lot. The third panellist spoke about survival… as long as you won some lottery that the American government was going to hold. Or if you happened to live in a bunker.
Tom’s stomach rumbled again. He glanced down at his watch.
“What time did we order?”
“A while ago,” was Mike’s reply. He gave up on the panellists and started flicking channels. They’d delved into arguing over who was right, when none of them could actually know.
Eventually there was a knock at the door. A female voice called out “room service”. Mike leaped off the bed and threw the door open. The same girl from reception, Eiko, was standing there with a tray. Mike stood back and let her in. Tom watched greedily as she placed the tray carefully down on the little table. Eiko stood back and hesitated, glancing nervously between the two men.
“Was there anything else?” Tom asked.
“I… um… no. Enjoy your meal,” she said hurriedly and rushed out of the room. Tom raised his eyebrows at Mike who lifted his arms up in a shrug.
Before Tom could take a bite of the slightly sad looking burger, there was another knock at the door. This time Tom got up to answer it.
It was Eiko again. She took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but did you say that you’re driving back to Toronto? I mean earlier, when you checked in?”
Tom nodded. “Yeah. We’re trying to get back there. My wife and kids are waiting for me.” The mention of wife and kids seemed to settle her somewhat.
“Would it be possible… I mean, my family is near Toronto, and I want to get back to them, but my friend — I guess he wasn’t much of a friend, really — he took my car and I don’t think he’s coming back. I don’t really know anyone in Winnipeg, I’ve only been here for a month and… and I don’t know what else to do…” she trailed off.
Tom and Mike looked at each other. Mike nodded.
“Sure, there’s room in the truck. You can drive?”
Eiko nodded.
“Great, well then we can take turns driving. We could be there in two days.”
Eiko visibly slumped with relief. Tom gestured to a seat.
“Sit down if you’d like. Tell us your story while we eat.”
“It’s not much of a story, really. Like I said, I’ve only been here a month. I just started at the University of Manitoba.”
“What do you study?”
“Finance and entomology.”
“What’s entomology?” Mike asked with a puzzled frown.
“The study of insects.”
“That’s an interesting mix,” Tom commented.
Eiko gave a shy smile. “The finance is for my dad, the insects are for me.”
“Ah, I see.”
“I just started working here, part-time, a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, when the news about the asteroid broke, most of the guests left. And then most of the staff left. My friend — he worked in the kitchen — he asked if he could borrow my car to go and visit his family and make sure they were okay. After he left, the cook told me his family all live in the Yukon. I don’t think he’s coming back… the manager didn’t turn up for her shift this afternoon, and now I’m the only one here. I didn’t know what to do. Then you guys showed up.”