Road Trip
Part Three
By Céindreadh
ceindreadh@eircom.net

DISCLAMER: "ER," the characters and situations depicted within are the property of Warner Brothers Television, Amblin Entertainment, Constant c Productions, NBC, etc. They are borrowed without permission, but without the intent of infringement. The story presented here is written solely for entertainment purposes, and the author is making no profit.

Previously on ER

A grateful (and rich) patient invited some of the ER doctors on an all-expenses paid trip to Ireland to attend a conference in Galway. Arriving in Dublin they discovered that they had to drive themselves to Galway. Several wrong turnings, a bout of travel sickness and a flat tire later, they arrived in Birr. Kerry and Luka went looking for accommodation; Carter went for a walk leaving Dave asleep in the car. Waking up alone, Dave was disturbed to notice that their car was surrounded by cars, all at least fifty years old, the people seemed to be all dressed in very old-fashioned costumes.



"This is not happening, this is not happening," he repeated to himself. Hearing the sound of an airplane overhead, he glanced up and let out a strangled yelp as he realized that it was a biplane, at least sixty years old.

Then someone put a hand on his shoulder and he screamed.

Dave spun around with his hands raised defensively. To his relief it was only Carter standing there with an amused expression on his face. "Don't sneak up on me like that Carter," said Dave.

"What's up Malucci?" asked Carter with a grin. "You look as if you've seen a ghost."

"Don't you notice anything weird about this place?" asked Dave, indicating the car park.

"Not really."

"Carter, look at the cars, the people, even the planes. They're all so old," said Dave frantically.

Carter was going to spin it out a bit longer but seeing the worried expression on Dave's face he relented. "Don't worry Dave, you're not going crazy. We've just got here in the middle of the 'Vintage Week' festival."

"Huh?"

"They hold it every year in August," explained Carter. "They have a big parade, a couple of concerts, a lot of fun things. They decorate all the shop windows and a lot of people dress up in costume." Carter's tone was a bit patronizing. He carefully ignored the fact that he too had been a bit unnerved by all the vintage costumes and décor around the place until he had seen a poster explaining it all in one of the shop windows.

"Man, that's a relief," said Dave. "I thought we'd been sucked through a time warp or something."

"You've been reading too many comic books Dave."



Meanwhile Kerry and Luka had made their way to Dooley's hotel in the middle of Birr, to see if they could book some rooms.

"Please let them be short of rooms, please let them be short of rooms," said Kerry to herself as the receptionist checked her computer.

"I'm afraid all we have are two double rooms," said the woman apologetically. "And everywhere else is probably booked out for Vintage Week."

"Oh dear," said Kerry, while stifling a smile, and shouting inwardly 'yes, yes, yes'.

"I am not sure if that will be suitable," said Luka.

"Well, I'll tell you what we can do," said the receptionist helpfully. "We can put up a folding bed in the bigger double room, and split you up three in that room and one in the other. Would that suit you?"

"That would be most acceptable," said Luka with a smile, which nearly made the receptionist swoon and fall off her chair.

"Yes, that will be fine," said Kerry, with a false smile, while inwardly cursing the helpfulness and efficiency of the Irish. Oh well she shrugged. The day wasn't over yet, and the night didn't have to be lonely if she played her cards right. All she had to do was persuade Dave and Carter to disappear for the evening, leaving Luka and herself to while away the hours together.

"Kerry?" said Luka, wondering why she had such a faraway expression on her face. "I said shall we get our bags now?"

"What? Oh yes, let's go." Almost as an afterthought she asked the receptionist, "Would you happen to have a local guide book? It's just that since we're here for the rest of the day, it would be a shame not to see the sights." Inwardly she wondered if such a small place as Birr (situated in the heart of Ireland, pop 4000) could possibly hold anything of interest. Still she was sure Carter and Dave could be 'persuaded' to find a pub to go to for the evening leaving her and Luka to sit and talk and......

Luka watched the faraway expression reappear on Kerry's face, with a trace of bemusement on his own. "What was it with this woman?" he wondered. "She never behaved like this in Chicago."



Kerry sprawled on her double bed and thumbed her way through the guidebook. She was pleasantly surprised to find that as well as the events for the Vintage Week festival which was currently running, there was also an exhibition in the Birr Heritage and Scientific center in the grounds of Birr Castle. That and the telescope should keep both Carter and Dave happy for a few hours thought Kerry, while Luka and I wander round the 'Millennium Gardens' and take in the worlds tallest box hedges. Kerry rolled onto her back and started thinking on how exactly she could persuade the group to split up.



Meanwhile in the 'boys' room;

"Well I cannot possibly sleep on that bed," said Luka, indicating the folding bed disdainfully. "It is so short that my feet would be sticking out at the end. One of you two will have to sleep in it. The other will have to share with me." And hopefully no one will hear about this back in Chicago he thought to himself.

"You're shorter than me Dave," said Carter. "I'll have to sleep with Dr Kovac."

"I am not shorter than you Carter," said Dave indignantly. "Am I Dr Kovac?"

"I think if we are going to be sleeping together we may as well all be on a first name basis," said Luka resignedly. He regarded the two younger men, trying to decide which of them was more likely to take up less of the room in the double bed. It was hard to choose between them. Carter was slightly taller, but Dave was broader in the shoulder. "Carter you are slightly taller. You can sleep in the double bed. But no kicking or stealing the blankets."

"Yes!" said Carter triumphantly, throwing himself onto the bed and stretching out.

Dave threw his bag onto the folding bed and started rummaging through it for his toothbrush, muttering unsavory comments under his breath that cast doubts on both Luka's and Carter's parentage. Finding his camera, he brightened somewhat. "So Luka and Carter want to share a bed with each other," he thought to himself. "Well, I'm sure Randi and the others will be interested in that." Now all he had to do was make sure that neither Carter nor Luka slept lightly tonight. An evil grin swept across his face.



To be continued...

Author's notes
Vintage Week is a ten day long festival held in Birr every August for the last thirty-odd years (shameless plug alert) Not everyone dresses in costume, but there are a lot of old cars and planes around. All places in this installment do exist (honest)

--
céindreadh
"sometimes you just feel there isn't enough vomit in the world"
Stephen Fry
--
http://homepage.eircom.net/~ceindreadh/index.htm