At least the drive is pretty. The prettiest scenery we’ve been through so far. There are tall swampy trees on either side of us, so green they’re almost glowing, sticking out of a muddy ravine. The perfect chance for about a thousand more pictures. Soon we’re driving across an overpass as tall as some of the trees, concrete keeping us out of the swamp and marsh beneath. The sky is gray-blue.

A flock of egrets billows from underneath and flies deeper into the swamp. I take a dozen photos, but it’s hard to get a great one when both you and the subject are moving so fast.

A couple hours later we pass over a bridge with a sign that says TEXAS STATE BORDER. It’s got a picture of the Texas flag on it. I instinctively close my eyes and hold my breath as we pass the sign, making my same wish.

Ruth is listening to John Williams again.

Maybe the dinosaur skeletons at the Houston Museum of Natural Science will lift her up, like the jazz concert did. On our original drive across the country, our Something Old day was at a museum in Fort Worth. We looked at fossils and dug up very old dinosaur bones. I took that picture of Ruth making a face like the giant T. rex. We listened to “Quest for Fire” by Iron Maiden and laughed at that picture for a long time.

“Whatever old things we don’t like,” Ruth had said that day, after we’d listened to all her songs, “they can just stay behind. Even things about ourselves.”

I didn’t know exactly what she meant then, and I’m still not exactly sure, but I have figured out where they have dinosaur bones in Houston. I’ve even asked Ellie about maybe going to the museum, and she said it sounds fun. Getting Ruth to do the same face is probably pushing it, but I could at least get a great shot of her looking up at a big old T. rex head or something like that.

My phone buzzes and Mom’s picture pops up on the screen. I answer.

“Hey.”

“Hey, sweetie.” I like the way she says sweetie, like she’s giving me a blanket and Malt-O-Meal when I’m home sick. Not condescending. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry about what happened earlier. I know it’s hard on you.”