Chapter Three: Thankful
Staring at the clock display on the radio that read 8:40 am, Laura Urkel sighed andcrossed her arms, bringing her heavy red coat and scarf wrapped snugly around herneck closer to her body. She looked to her right to see Rachel Crawford asleep,resting her head against one of her small bags propped up against the side of thecar. Wanting to ask her something, she thought otherwise as she saw her aunt stir alittle bit before bringing her knees closer to her stomach in an attempt to get somemore heat to her body. Laura quickly reached under the seat and felt her hand brushagainst the small white blanket she was looking for. Draping the blanket overRachel’s chest and shoulders, she went back to her seat in the middle of the Isetta,waiting for her husband Steve Urkel to return. It had been a few hours since he hadleft and went to the back of the Isetta, where the engine equipped with the GPSsystem connections was located, to see what was going on. She had checked withhim a few times, bearing the cold, piercing winds that had grown even fiercer tomake sure that he was all right as well as the status of the car. Wondering what wasgoing on, Laura gently tapped her aunt Rachel to tell her she would be right backand quickly went out of the car. Hearing and seeing the numerous cars on thefreeway next to them roaring and passing her by almost caught her by surprise,almost losing her scarf from a truck that had passed by. Looking down, she noticedthat quite a bit of snow had disappeared, yet the temperature of the city of Indianawhere they were located was as cold as Detroit. “Steve!!” Laura shouted, taking her time to walk over to Steve, who had his headand arms buried in the back of the car, fixing a few items. “Are you okay?” “I sure am, sweetums!” Steve managed to yell over a brief rush of wind that blewpast the both of them. “I figured out what the snafu was! For some reason, one of the commands the GPS was sending manages to make its’ way into the enginecircuitry and make the engine think I’m telling it to stop, and would cause it to turnoff!” “Will we be able to make it in time?” “Absolutely!” Steve exclaimed, confidently closing the hood of the Isetta and wipinghis gloved hands off. “In fact, I just finished putting these last few neededconnections together and this baby should be ready to go!” “Steve?” Laura asked before Steve managed to make his way to the front door. “Uh, yes?” Steve turned back around, facing his wife. “Thanks,” She answered, hugging Steve, who smiled after receiving her lovingembrace. “You’re always welcome, Laura Lee.” **************** “Great to see you, Mother Winslow,” Harriette helped her mother-in-law take off hercoat as she walked in the house through the front door, still a little cold from theweather outside.
“You too, honey,” Mother Winslow replied. “I couldn’t bear to take another minute outthere in that cold.” “Well, here at Hotel Winslow, we have plenty of warm heating and comfortableseats,” Carl made his way out of the kitchen, walking over to his mother with openarms. Hugging and kissing his mother he laughed and smiled, happy to see heragain. “Aw, Carl,” Mother Winslow smiled, looking up at her son. “It’s great to be here inthis house again.” “Don’t worry momma, this is always home for you. It’ll be here whenever you needit.” “Thanks you two,” Mother Winslow said, following her children into the kitchen. “Ican’t wait to get started on my sweet potato pie.” “Me either momma,” Carl happily said. “But it can never beat your gingerbreadcookies. I just can’t get enough of those.” “Have Rachel, Laura, Eddie and Steve made it yet?” Mother Winslow asked, choosingto sit at the end of the dinner table opposite of the seat Carl sat in. “Not yet, but they should be here in a little while. Eddie still had to work today on amandatory shift but it was only for the morning. Rachel, Laura and Steve are on theirway here from Detroit,” Harriette answered her mother-in-law as she began to mashthe bits of mashed potatoes she had placed in a large glass bowl with her silverpotato masher. “That’s good. I hope they make it.” “Me too momma,” Carl stretched his hand across the table to cover hers. “Me too.” **************** “Come on,” Steve turned the key of the ignition, trying to get the engine to start butto no avail as it quickly turned off as soon as it got started. It had been several hourssince Steve had believed that he had fixed the engine and the GPS system, but itappeared he was not quite finished. “Are you sure the GPS was the only problem with it, Steve?” Rachel asked with aconcerned tone in her voice as she wanted to know what was going on. “No doubt about it,” Steve said. “Ever since I bought that puppy, it’s been causingme some trouble…especially during my last school semester.” “Well…the good thing is, it’s only 1 o’clock and we’re only eighty miles away fromhome. If we walk, we’ll make it…and we’ll get plenty of exercise,” Rachel sighed,unknowingly bringing some sarcasm into her voice in her response. “Aww, Aunt Rachel! Steve’s doing the best he can!” Laura placed a hand on heraunt’s shoulder in an attempt to help her feel better. “Eventually it should start backup again, and we’ll be back in time to eat that turkey.”
“I hope so…” Rachel looked out the front window at the numerous cars passing themby over the freeway, lightly covered with snow, oil and ice. “Aw, I need to stop fooling myself!” Steve sighed, falling back into his seat. “This wasmy entire fault…” “Now Steve, it wasn’t your fault at all,” Rachel insisted. “Things happen, and we justhave to be cool about this.” “Aunt Rachel’s right, Steve.” “Well…” Steve began to say, turning the ignition to “on” again. “If it wasn’t for thisdarn piece of junk, we’d be at the Winslow’s already!“Hitting the screen of the GPS located on the dashboard of the Isetta soon afterexpressing his anger, the engine suddenly revved for a few minutes beforecompletely turning on and running smoothly. Hugging each other in surprise, Racheland Laura quickly began to hug Steve as well, who was embarrassed yet happyabout his unexpected achievement. “You did it, Steve!” Laura shouted with joy. “Thanks again, Steve. I couldn’t have made it here without you and your help,” Rachel added. “No problem Rachel! Well, Chicago! Here we come!” Steve took the emergency brakeoff and turned his left turn signal on, waiting for the right time before being able tomerge into the far right lane of the freeway.**************** “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Carl asked Harriette, who was sitting at the dinnertable with her head slightly down. Eddie and Greta, at this point, had arrived andwere helping Mother Winslow out with the sweet potato pie, much to Harriette andCarl’s surprise. “I’m just worried about Rachel and the kids,” Harriette sighed, resting her elbow onthe table and putting her chin in the palm of her hand. “It’s already two o’clock now,and no sign of them outside or even a phone call…” “Don’t worry Harriette, they’ll be here in no time,” Carl said, taking Harriette’s handsinto his own and rubbing them. “You even told momma herself that they would makeit.” “I know, but…that was three hours ago. It’s almost evening and no update aboutwhere they are.” “They’ll show up, sweetheart. They could pop in here right now.” “We’re here, you guys!” Rachel walked in through the back door, making her way intothe kitchen with a big smile on her face.
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