It was the night (actually it was broad daylight) before Christmas and not a mouse was stirring, but the whole town was teeming with activity. A mouse wouldn't have even wanted to venture into the cattle rush that was last-minute shopping. The snow had reached epic levels over the last couple of weeks and had only abated in the last few hours and was now spread 2 foot deep throughout the Welsh valleys. There wasn't a moving car on the high street, but locals were trudging through the snow to get the last few items for Christmas or to stock up.
It was this weather that kept Dai in business. As the only reliable vehicle recovery service in the area, the national recovery service was constantly calling to have him recover stranded drivers of all manner of vehicles from all around the valleys and sometimes further afield should the need arise. As a 48 year old, well-built, 6ft 4, ex-SAS captain, there wasn't much that the world of vehicle recovery could throw at him that he couldn't deal with. He had set up his business 8 years ago, after retiring from 18 years of service in the SAS and 5 years of private security in the Middle East. After all the death and destruction of his early life, all he wanted was to do something constructive away from the madness of cities. Being a born Welshman, it was obvious that a quiet town was the only place for him.
Despite the abundance of attractive single women in the area, Dai could not bring himself to making too much effort with them. He had spent far too much time living in his own way to have any desire to have the disruption of someone else cluttering up his life. He also knew that his apparent lack of emotion would not go down well. So, much of his time was spent either maintaining his small fleet of recovery trucks or carving or building something from wood. He often sold what he had created at a market through one of the local bric-a-brac stores. He wanted nothing to do with the selling process itself. From time to time he could be found sitting at the panoramic window in his lounge that overlooked the leisure lake that stretched out across his view. And this is where he found himself on this beautifully white day; Staring at the partially frozen lake surrounded by a blanket of snow in the early afternoon light.
Dai startled from his distant thoughts when the phone rang. "That'll be another one stuck", he murmured to himself as he reached over for his business phone. "Dai,... ya. No. Yes ...where? 4401 near Barcud. What's the vehicle? Name? Miss Berwyn. Alone. I'll be there in 25 minutes. Ta. Bye.
Moving with intent, Dai pulled on a pair of snow boots and a thick winter coat, dropped the phone into the inner coat pocket and grabbed the keys to the MOG. The MOG was a medium size military type truck that he had custom built to suit this environment. As he started driving, Dai thought to himself that whoever this was, they were far too irresponsible to go driving a sports car in this kind of weather, especially since there had been weather warnings all over the TV, radio and internet, advising drivers to avoid the area.
Precisely 23 minutes later Dai came across the deep orange, BMW M3; Its nose sticking up out of ditch on the side of the road. It appeared that the driver had lost control of the car at the bend some 30 meters earlier and pirouetted a couple of times till the rear came to rest in the snow filled ditch. Standing next to the car was a tall slim woman, dressed in the thickest of winter clothes, including monotone hat, scarf and gloves. As Dai approached he greeted, " Miss Berwyn? Dai Clifford. Are you OK?" She removed the scarf from in front of her mouth, "Yes, Thank you. It's pronounced BERRIN. How long till I can get going again?" He looked at the car and the slope of the ditch while thinking to himself, "Posh and impatient! Great, like I need this like a hole in the head."
"Sorry, Miss Berwyn", pronouncing is purposefully correctly, as he started back to the MOG to put is in a more accessible position, "I'll be able to get you out of the ditch in about 20 minutes, but there is no guarantee that you'll be able to go anywhere as I cannot see what damage may have been caused by the slide."
"Thank you Mr Clifford, but I must urgently get to Llwybr today."
Dai moved the MOG into the best possible position and got out and walked to the back to start lowering the flatbed. He looked over to the driver, standing a short way off to keep out of the way. "Miss Berwyn, would you feel better sitting in the cab. It's warm and much safer." Her eyes lit up as she walked to the front of the MOG. He opened the passenger door for her and stood back to allow her to climb up into the cab. He was impressed by just how easily she climbed up and settled in; "She must be quite strong to move that quickly", he thought as he watched her wrapped up body pass him. For the next 15 minutes he worked the controls of the winch and flatbed in unison to extricate the BMW. Once the car was on the flatbed, he was able to see what damage there was. The rear bumper had been crushed, all the rear lights were smashed and the boot lid was caved in and from what he could see under the car, one of the rear wheels was bent out of shape, but without further investigation in a garage, he could not be completely sure. He secured the car to the flatbed and got back into the warm cab.
She had removed her hat and her scarf and was warming her hands in front of the blower. Only now could he see her intense beauty. It was nothing he had seen before. Although pale, she had a healthy hue about her, her fiery red hair framing her face and her emerald green eyes piercing through. For a moment he was speechless as he looked at her.
"Well, Miss Berwyn, unfortunately you will not be going anywhere in that car. The rear is too badly damaged and one of the wheels is badly damaged to the extent that it is not driveable."
She dropped her face into her hands and sighed deeply, "Mr Clifford, What do I do now? I'd like to get to Llwybr today to see friends and then I need to get back to Anglesey tomorrow?"
"Miss, I can take you to Llwybr now, no problem, but as for Anglesey tomorrow, you will need to make arrangements. Your car is going nowhere, least not till next week" With that he engaged first gear and started off, "Where in Llwybr? Up at the farm or in the village?
"The farm, please"
"OK, but it's going to be hard going so we'd better drop your car off first. Is there anywhere in particular you want me to drop your car or should I take it back to my yard?"
"Mr Clifford, I know only my friends in this area, so If you would, please could you store my car till I can get it collected and repaired?"
As he drove back to his place, the two of them talked about how she got herself into the ditch. She'd driven from Anglesey where she lived and until she got to the local valley the roads were passable. As they spoke, Dai couldn't help himself but look at her as often as he dared. What felt like moments later, Dai pulled into the truck yard, hopped out the cab and spent the next few minutes unloading the BMW. No sooner was he done and they were back on the road. As he drove they spoke. As usual, Dai said little about himself, but found out a great deal about the beauty beside him. It didn't take long to find out that she was a 30 something RAF pilot, which explained her swiftness in getting into the cab earlier, and had a lust for all things fast and loud.
