Today's Reading
It didn't care. It had almost caused a serious accident, and it didn't give a damn. A creature whose only concern was its own survival. All else was background noise. Like most animals.
Rebecca cursed then made her way along the passenger side of the van, the snow deepening as she went. When she reached the front, she shoveled snow away with her bare cupped hands, ignoring the stinging cold. No damage that she could see, thank God. Could've been far worse. Plenty of stretches of this road had sheer drops on one side or the other, thirty, forty feet down onto the rocks below.
Rebecca thanked the universe for small blessings. Maybe she could just back out of the drift and move on. As she turned to head back around the van, a sound stopped her. A hard and artificial noise washing through the wind and the rustling pines. An engine. A vehicle approaching.
She slapped the passenger window with her palm. Moonflower looked back at her, shaking her head, mouthing, What?
"Get in the back," Rebecca shouted.
Moonflower shook her head again, confused. "Why?"
"Someone's coming. Get in the back."
Moonflower peered through the windshield, then in the side mirror, trying to see who approached. Rebecca slapped the window again.
"Just go, now!"
Moonflower made a show of sighing and rolling her eyes, but she did as she was told, climbing around the passenger seat and beneath the heavy blanket that separated the cabin and the load bay. Rebecca strained to hear which direction the swelling growl came from. Before she could figure it out, lights glared against the front of the van. There, coming up the incline, a pickup, glowing lamps fixed to its roof, headlights filling the world with violent white. She couldn't help but raise her forearm to shield her eyes.
The truck slowed as it neared, brakes whining, until it halted alongside the van. The passenger window rolled down, and a dog of medium size and indeterminate breed barked as it placed its paws on the edge. A man peered out at her from the driver's seat. Middle-aged, bright and watchful eyes, lined and rugged country skin. He scratched the dog behind its ears, and it dropped back down onto the passenger seat.
"You all right, ma'am?" the man called. "Need any help?"
Rebecca swallowed before she answered, dragging the fear down into her stomach.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She pointed back up the slope. "There was an elk or a moose or something in the road. I had to swerve around it, and I wound up here. But it's okay, there's no damage."
He leaned toward the window, examining the van and the bank of snow it had lodged in.
"I can tow you out of there."
"No need, thank you. It's not that bad, honestly. I can just reverse out."
"I've got a chain in back," he said. "Won't take two minutes, no trouble at all."
"Really, there's no need, thank you."
He considered for a moment, studying the van and the snow. Studying her.
"Ma'am, I won't sleep tonight if I don't know you got out of there. Now, if you're concerned for your safety, being out here on your own and all, I'll move on up the way a little. I'll just keep a watch for a minute, make sure you get yourself back on the road. How would that be for you?"
Not good, Rebecca thought. She wanted him gone, but there was no sense in arguing. It was bad enough he'd seen her out here. Arguing with a decent man because he'd offered assistance to a stranded woman could only make things worse. For everyone.
"Okay," she said. "Thank you."
He dipped his head in agreement, put the truck in gear, and moved off, his wheels spinning before catching grip. Rebecca watched as he made his slow way up the slope. He stopped at the same spot where the elk had stood a few minutes before. Through the cabin's rear window, she saw his silhouette as he turned to watch her.
...
