Have you ever needed a moment of rest and the only place available had a strange name but take it or leave it was the choice. Grub Hotel is not the best name for a traveler’s choice. However, it is appropriate for a hotel with an extra special room that only exists when a miracle is needed. Some start there and some end there. Relax and enjoy the adventures of a down on his luck insurance agent, an actress on her way to star in a Broadway play, a woman crushed by her fiancé’s greed, a teenager in trouble on the run, and an Air Force Pilot who is violently rejected by his life-long love.
Excerpt:
George Jones’ car began to worry him. First, the Check Engine light did not bother him since a hundred things could turn it on. However, fifty miles later, the transmission started malfunctioning, and it got progressively worse. Then George grew concerned because he drove an unfamiliar stretch of road in eastern Pennsylvania after dark, with no other traffic and no cities or houses around. The next city listed on road signs was Lancaster, thirty-five miles away, and there was not even a hint at a rest area or a housing area, nothing that would or could be of use to him.
“Damn my luck!” he swore, and the transmission added intermittently downshifting to the lowest gear to its repertoire of annoyance.
He pounded the steering wheel and cursed his reluctance to part with the vehicle and purchase a new one. It was still worthwhile to him, and a new car would only add a financial strain on his tight budget. The vehicle was new when Danny was born, and he bought it for all the up-to-date safety features. Now, both Danny and the car showed their age. Danny was a barrel of energy, exploration, and discovery. The vehicle had any problem a car could experience. However, he kept nursing it along, hoping each repair would last until his big opportunity happened.
“That’s a flipping joke and a half! By the time my big break gets around, I’ll be under six feet of dirt and unable to enjoy it! Thanks a lot, life! You’re so great to me and mine! Dammit!”
He eased off the road and opened his cell phone, yielding to his distress and willing to call for roadside assistance. The screen illuminated, checked the signal strength, and went into shock at zero network bars.
“You’ve got to be shitting me?” He turned the phone off and on several times while pointing it in different directions and getting the same results.
“Double dammit! This is not cool! Fate! Karma! Whichever one is messing with me right now, please stop! This is not funny, and I’m not laughing!”
He tried again, laying it on the seat beside him with a heavy sigh.
He prayed, took some deep breaths, neared the point of crying, and relaxed enough to learn where he had stopped. Around thirty feet before him, illuminated by the headlights, was a small sign off the road's edge announcing “Grub Motel, four miles ahead.”
A few hundred feet apart, signs read:
“Reasonable rates.”
“Microwave Oven.”
“TV w/150 channels.”
“Free Pen and Paper for last notes, last wills, etc.”
“Always a vacancy for people with little life problems. Come on down.”
“Sun-of-a-gun! I don’t remember that hotel, but it works for me tonight.”
He pulled the gear shift from park to drive and requested, “Come on. Work with me, tranny, and we’ll both get rest for tonight.”
He let off the brake, and with plenty of grinding gears and whining, the car moved onto the empty road with what George called a final death throe. Fifteen minutes later, he parked in front of the Grub Hotel with a sign above the door with three lawn-destroying bugs in one corner.
“Just great. Wonder how many negative sign comments they receive? I guarantee they’ll receive some from me. Those noxious stunted worms made me nauseous, and I couldn’t eat dinner.”
He stopped the engine and went inside. He waved a hand in front of his face at the smell of stale cigarette smoke that filled the room and still drifted up from behind the counter.
The man stood, and George gave a mental head shake. He wore a once white but now a dingy yellow tee-shirt and black cotton shorts with no pockets. He had yellow-stained teeth, visible when he talked.
“Howdy, stranger. I'm glad you chose us for your place to rest tonight. What can I do for you?”
“I need a room for the night.”
