by Tom Molnar

As the Christmas season draws near, the usual battle for time off during the holidays begins in earnest. B.S. Trucking tries to have all its drivers home during the holidays, but there always seems to be a few 'hot loads' that absolutely must be moving. The drivers near or at the bottom of the seniority list usually end up getting stuck.

Sometimes, drivers who have no immediate family and therefore no real plans for the holidays, volunteer to do the 'dirty work', giving those who do have families the opportunity to be home with them. This year is no exception. Unbelievably, Duke has volunteered a couple times in the past, mostly out of the need for money more than compassion for younger drivers. However, this year is not going to be one of them.

Several drivers are sitting around the break room waiting for their dispatches, as usual. The dull murmur of multiple conversations going on at once floats in the air. Duke is, also as usual, sitting by himself at the rear of the room, smoking a cigarette and nursing a cup of not-so-hot coffee.

"So Duke", begins Buddy, the current holder of the bottom slot on the seniority list. He's sitting with another new driver who is not married and knows he is working over the holidays.

"I know this is my first year here, and I shouldn't expect any favors as the new guy, but do you think there's any way you would be willing to take my place if there's another hot load? My wife and I just had our first baby six months ago and we'd really like to be home, together, with the baby, for our first Christmas as a threesome." Buddy waits for some reaction from Duke, hopefully a favorable one.

"You're breaking my heart, Bud", replies Duke.

"No, really Duke. It would mean a lot to me and my wife. I hear you've done this before, cuz you don't have a family or a girlfriend."

Buddy, deep down, is saying to himself "C'mon Duke, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon. Pretty pleeeeeeez."

"Oohhh", Duke moans as he grabs for his heart with both hands, rocking back and forth in his chair, Black Russian hanging from his lips, smoke curling upwards in the still air of the room. "I can feel it coming", Duke continues. "My heart is breaking in two. It's such a sad story. Probably the saddest I've ever heard."

"C'mon Duke", Buddy pleads. "I know you're just joking. Will you do this for me just this once?"

"Right", says Duke as he settles back into his seat and takes a sip of his rapidly cooling coffee . "And next year it'll be do this for me just once more."

Duke lights another cigarette from his still burning butt, snuffs out the old one, and takes a deep drag on his freshly lit Black Russian. He 'French inhales', blows out a stream of thick smoke in Buddy's direction, and chuckles.

"You kids are all the same. Ya don't want to pay your dues. You just want to get the job and act like you've been here for years. Well forget it. You're at the bottom. You're treated like you're at the bottom, and until the bottom is way below you, just grin and bear it. Or at least bear it. Never mind the grinning part." Duke, head not moving the entire time he's been talking, takes another drag on his smoke, and adds:

"Besides, I do have plans this year, and my plans come before your plans - with me anyway." Duke turns away from Buddy, takes the last swig from his now cold coffee, crumples the cup and tosses it at the garbage can, which he misses. He sits motionless in his chair with his cigarette in his mouth, back to everyone. A straight column of smoke rises from Duke. He has spoken. It's now quiet as a tomb in the room.

"Yep, it's tough being at the bottom..."

* * * *

Dec. 24th.

It's about 2 o'clock in the afternoon and snowing hard. Duke is planning to make it back home in time to take Sharon out to dinner. Sharon works at the mini-mart down the street from the B.S. terminal. After months and months of trying, Duke finally talked her into a Christmas Eve dinner. Neither of them have families so Duke played on this and got her to agree in a weak moment. He planned ahead enough so he's got all the money he needs for the evening right with him. That way there's no possibility of all the ATM's being broke down or anything.

The snow has been coming down steady for hours and the road is slick. The plows must be home for the holiday, because there's no sign that even one pass has been made on the snow covered highway.

"These guys can't all have seniority", Duke mumbles. "Somebody must be on duty. Who's collecting my tax dollars and doing nothing for them?"

Up ahead he sees a car off the road in the snow, well away from the pavement. There's a pickup truck parked on the shoulder. A woman and three kids are standing by the car and a man is walking towards them from the pickup.

Idiot. You'd think they'd slow down in this stuff. Or stay home.

Duke is about 150 miles from home when he decides to stop in at "Barny's Gear Jammer Truck Stop" for a break. His coffee is cold and he's run out of cigarettes. He'll have to buy some of those inferior American made cigarettes, and some of that rot gut truck stop coffee. In fact, he decides to have some of that horribly sweet apple pie they sell in the restaurant as well. His shoulders are tight from the stress of snow driving and he just wants to sit still, stress free, for a few minutes.

Barny's buffet is setting up for their Christmas Eve and Christmas Day turkey dinner feed. While the food at Barny's is normally typical truck stop food, they outdo themselves at Christmas. Barny hires caterers to come in and cook, and the feast is magnificent. They've been written up in trucking industry magazines year after year. Truckers who aren't going to make it home try almost as hard to make it to Barny's. It's not cheap, but it's not exorbitant either. No one minds paying a little extra for this one day a year. This is as close to real home cooking as any driver is going to get - without going home.

After eating his pie, Duke wanders through the truck stop soaking up his last few minutes of relaxation.

"Attention westbound drivers." The truck stop's PA system squawks an announcement. "The highway patrol has just informed us that the highway is closed westbound at the 225 mile marker due to blinding snow and numerous accidents. They are advising us to tell you westbounders to remain here until further notice. They don't want the highway filling up with more vehicles that ultimately can't go anywhere anyway. We will announce when the road is reopened."

Damn!! Double Damn! I KNEW I shouldn't have stopped. I could have been past there. Or in there, I guess. Hope they get this cleaned up quick. Sharon is waiting.

* * * *

A pickup truck pulls into the truck stop and drops off a woman and three children. The passenger door is barely closed and the driver pulls out leaving the foursome standing in the parking lot in the blowing snow. They stomp through the foot deep snow towards the building. It was their car that Duke passed just before stopping at Barny's. The woman and her kids park themselves at the counter where they indulge in four hot cocoas, welcomed after their ordeal in the cold and snow.

* * * *

Duke, upset by the announcement that the highway is closed, heads back for the restaurant to kill time. Now what? Could Duke's first official date in months be going down the tube as the minutes tick by?

Duke sits down at the end of the counter and orders coffee. He glances down at the other end and sees an attractive young lady and three children.

Boy, some dish, he thinks.

* * * *

Duke sips his coffee and thumbs through a copy of Trucker's News that he picked up on his way back to the restaurant. His favorite stuff is the ads for jobs toward the rear.

Look at this stuff. Promise them anything but give them the shaft.....

"Oh my God....."

The young mother has just discovered her wallet is not in her purse

Duke looks over toward the cash register where the exclamation came from.

"Why, it was here. I know it was here." She keeps fumbling through her purse, hoping on hope that she'll find it, but knowing deep down that it's gone. "Oh my God. What am I going to do now? My husband is a driver and we're supposed to meet him in Red River for Christmas. Now our money is gone, and our car is in the ditch and Triple A says they can't even estimate when they'll be out to tow it and the road is closed and my husband is who knows where, and.........

"Attention all drivers and travelers. The Highway Patrol has called to announce the highway will remain closed throughout the night, with no estimate of when or if it will reopen tomorrow morning. We'll announce any new information as soon as we get it. Thank you."

Duke keeps looking in the direction of the speaker, as if unable to completely grasp what has been said.

Damn! There goes my date with Sharon. Damn those plow drivers. Those lazy damned plow drivers! Damn. Damn. Damn.

Duke is fuming. After chasing Sharon for months, he finally gets her to agree to a date and now this! All his planing down the tubes. Now he's stuck in this dumpy truck stop - for Christmas. Hell, he could have been home doing nothing and that would beat this. The Gear Jammer for Christmas - what could be worse?

The young mother finally sets her purse down on the counter.

"You know what? That nice young man who gave us a ride here was in our car for a couple minutes when he first stopped. He said he wanted to try to get my car out. He MUST have taken my wallet. Why that dirty bastard! No wonder he wanted to leave so quickly when he dropped us off. He said he was in a hurry. No kidding! I'm afraid I have no money to pay for our cocoas. What can I do to make it up?"

The waitress smiled, sympathizing with the mother. "Listen", she said. "The cocoas are on me. This is the least of your problems."

"Thank you so much," she said. "You're very kind. I'm so sorry...."

Mom, with kids in tow, begins to wander through the truck stop. She has no idea what to do next. No car, no money, no food, no place to stay. She's never been faced with a situation like this. The truck stop is filling up fast as trucks and cars alike pull in off the closed highway. Most people are angry about not being able to move on, missing out on their plans.

She passes a room with a large screen TV and a bunch of couches. It's full of men, truck drivers, sitting around smoking and watching TV.

"Mommy, can we sit down? I'm tired." The little girl pleads with her mother with that special look kids get when they are about to become a problem.

"Oh, I guess for a little while", Mom says. They head for a couch with space at the far end of the room.

"Uh, ma'am," a burly drivers says. "This room is for drivers only. I hate to tell you but....."

"That's all right," a voice announces from the door. "They're with me."

Several drivers look up to see where the voice is coming from. There stands Duke. Cowboy hat pulled low and cool on his head, he shuffles in and sits down next to the family.

"You guys just keep watching your TV. We're just taking a quick break here. Nothing for you to be concerned about."

The woman's mouth is open as if to speak, but she says nothing. She just looks at Duke, unable to figure out what's going on.

Duke tips his hat and in a low voice he says:

"Howdy ma'am. My name is Duke. Duke Slade. I don't mean to seem nosy but I was at the counter in the restaurant and heard about your situation. I saw you out on the highway and I saw that guy in the pickup stopped with you. I thought he was helping you but I guess he was just, uh, helping himself, so to speak."

"Thanks for sticking up for us here, Mr. Slade," she says. "I still don't know what we're going to do though. Just like the old story, not only is our money gone but so are my credit cards. I've got no way to do anything. I can't even make a phone call unless it's collect. I don't know what to do. I don't care if I don't eat, but the kids...."

"Please call me Duke. Now, if you'll follow me out to the hallway, I'd like to propose something to you."

As they walk out of the room, Duke tips his hat to a couple drivers.

"Excuse us," he says. With a grin on his face he adds, "Sorry to have inconvenienced you gentlemen."

Once outside the room, Duke directs the group over toward a bank of phones, all occupied by angry travelers. Just beyond the phones is a door leading to the motel, where there is also lines of people at the desk. Duke opens the door and directs the group in. Mom isn't sure about this....

"Look," he says. "I'm stuck here too. My plans are shot. I can't go nowhere either. I've got a truck outside that's warm and toasty, and that's where I'm spending Christmas. You, on the other hand, have got a big problem here. But I'll tell you what."

"Wait Mr. Slade. Excuse me, but I'm not sure I like where this seems to be going."

"No no, don't take this wrong. I may have done a thing or two in my life that I'm not particularly proud of, but tonight I'm going to make amends, at least in my mind."

Duke and the group find themselves third in one of two lines amid the complaining travelers, waiting to get rooms.

"With your permission, I'm going to get you guys a room here, and I'm paying. I'm also going to give enough money to buy Christmas dinner for you and your family. It's really good here, you know. Only your own might be better. It's my way of saying Merry Christmas."

"Oh no, we can't do that, Mr. Slade." She looks incredulously at Duke. "Why, we don't even know you. It's just not right."

"You do know me. I'm Duke Slade. Remember? I introduced myself back there in the TV room. Now don't argue with me. I ain't asking for nothing in return. Just let me do this for you for my own good, if not for yours. Just do it and forget about it. Who knows, maybe some day you can do something for a trucker."

They were at the counter now and Duke gets one of the last rooms available for the group.

"Five?", the clerk asks.

"No, four," Duke says. "Four for two nights."

"Gee Mr. Slade", Mom says. "I don't think we're going to stay two nights, do you?"

"Well, that's just it." Duke says. "Ya never know about this weather. And besides, you said Triple A couldn't promise anything. If ya get out tomorrow, get a refund and buy something for the kids for Christmas - from me. If not, you're all set for another night." Duke paid with a hundred dollar bill.

Walking away from the counter, Duke pointed to a couch in the waiting room. They all sat down. Duke reaches into the inside pocket of his B.S. Trucking jacket and brings out a slim billfold. He pulls out two more one hundred dollar bills, places the change from the motel receipt on top, and folds it all together, placing it in Mom's hand.

"Oh no, Mr. Slade!" I can't take this. This is too generous. We'll be happy with the room. I can't take all this money. Why, it's just, well it's too, I mean.... Well, you know what I mean. I mean, well, you know.........."

Duke laughed out loud.

"Yeah, I do know what you mean, and that makes it even more special. I know this sounds corny but I'm feeling really good about this. You can't believe...."

"You've got to be one of the nicest people in the world", Mom says. "I'll bet everyone just loves you, right?"

"Well, let's just say you wouldn't want to bet money on that," Duke says with a chuckle. "Anyway, it's getting late and I know you want to get some sleep. I gave the clerk a little more than the cost of the room so you can make some phone calls if you need to. Otherwise, you get change back when you check out.

Duke stands up. Mom gets up, grabs Duke's right hand with her left and covers it with her right. Looking right into Duke's eyes she says:

"Mr. Slade, I don't know who you are or where you came from, but tonight you're our guardian angel, Santa Claus, and the Good Fairy all wrapped into one. Without you I don't know what we would have done. Please give me your phone number so my husband can pay you back."

"No way!," says Duke. "I like the Santa Claus part. If you pay me back, then I've done no more than lend you the money. I'm not lending money here. I'm helping you because I want to. For once in my life I think I'm doing the right thing. Nope, no phone number. Just wave if you see me on the road."

"In that case, Merry Christmas to you, and God bless you. Now you kids say thank you to Mr. Slade. He's saved Christmas for us.

As Duke made his way to the exit, the kids all yelled in unison.

"Good-bye Mr. Slade. Thank you!"

Duke waved, tipped his had and headed for the door. Mom spoke up one last time.

"Thank you ever so much again. Duke."

* * * *

Duke headed quickly out toward his truck. There was no way any driver was going see the Duke wiping the tear streaming down his cheek.