The service drive was barely wider than her car, and in the darkness, Makayla missed it the first time she drove by. When she realized that she must have gone too far, she turned and backtracked until she saw it in her headlights, just a single lane of gravel leading back through the trees. The only indications of its purpose were a small metal sign on a post reading Turnpike Authority Employees Only, and a smaller one beneath it that said No Turnpike Access.
She turned and slowly crept along the access road. It made a turn to the right, then another to the left before emerging into a brightly lit cleared area. As she entered the lot, she heard a loud rumbling and a whoosh of air as a large semi truck roared past less than fifty feet in front of her.
She had been told when she was hired that the exit 99 toll plaza was the smallest in the state and that it saw the least traffic, but she was still surprised at just how small it actually was. She had driven the turnpike many times, but always further south, where there were four or more lanes in each direction, and the toll plazas were even wider, with as many as a dozen booths. In front of her, across the dirt parking area, was a small building which she assumed was the office, and beyond that, four traffic lanes, separated by concrete dividers, with a single toll booth in the center.
She parked by the office and went inside. It was comprised of a single room and a small bathroom. There was a row of lockers, a desk, a refrigerator and not much else. No one was there.
She stepped out the door on the highway side and saw a burly woman in a Patriots cap and the brown uniform of the Turnpike Authority sitting in the booth. The woman saw her approach and waved, then climbed out of the booth and walked toward her. Makayla noticed that the woman did not even glance to see if there was oncoming traffic.
"You must be the new girl. MaKayla, right?"
"Yeah, that's me."
"I'm Joanne," the woman said, shaking Makayla's hand. "Welcome to the last outpost. I'm going to work with you for a couple hours tonight, get you all set up and make sure you know what's what..."
Joanne spoke fast, barely pausing to breathe. Probably because she has no one to talk to all night, Makayla thought.
"...after that, you'll be on your own," Joanne continued, "Did you bring a lunch? Used to be a vending machine in the office, but the last idiot governor cut the budget and they took it out."
"Yeah, I've got a sandwich and some chips. Is there a cooler or something out here? I brought a couple of drinks. I put them in the fridge inside."
"There's a mini fridge in the booth. Best to put everything in there, then the only time you need to go back to the office is when you need to use the toilet."
Joanne led Makayla into the office.
"Time clock is right here," she told her, "Just write your name on a card and punch in. Don't know why we don't do it on a computer like the rest of the world. I guess the Turnpike Authority is still pretty old fashioned some ways."
Makayla found an empty locker and hung up her jacket, and they went back out to the toll booth.
There was barely enough room for the two of them to squeeze inside together.
"I got to tell you, honey," Joanne said, "This is one boring ass job. But overnight shift is where everybody starts. Weekends you get some good traffic, especially in the summer, but most nights... honey, you can go hours and not have anybody drive through here, so bring yourself a book or some magazines."
She tapped on a portable radio on a small shelf above the counter. "You can listen to the radio but you won't get much on it. And don't even think about getting the Internet on your phone to watch movies or anything like that, you ain't going to get a damn bit of reception out here."
"I like to read," Makayla said.
Joanne nodded. "I read a lot of the romance type novels. One thing I would say is don't be bringing out your Stephen King, your horror stories, vampires and ghosts and such. Reading things like that sitting out here alone in the dark all night, well, that ain't gonna be a good idea."
Makayla liked Stephen King but gazing into the darkness surrounding the little plaza, Joanne's advice seemed wise.
"I'm a little concerned about being a woman out here alone at night," she said.
"Of course you are," Joanne said. She opened a drawer underneath the counter. "You got pepper spray in here. Usually anyone giving you any grief will drive off once they see you got it. I only had to use it once. Drunk driver. Think I got more of it in my face than he did."
Makayla did not find that very reassuring.
"The phone there is a landline, so it will always go through, unless maybe in an ice storm or something. The red button goes straight to the state police post over in Houlton. Can't say as to how fast they'd get here, but at least you would know they are on the way, and so would anyone giving you trouble. You like animals?"
"Sure. I mean, who doesn't like animals?"
"Well you'll see a good few of them here on a slow night. Deer. Moose sometimes. All sorts of critters. Once in a while a bobcat or a fox will run by."
"That would be cool."
"Yep, it breaks up the monotony. Of course, there's plenty of bugs as well. Not so bad this late in the year, but in spring and early summer, they can be miserable. You'll want to use plenty of bug spray. You could get eaten alive out here."
Makayla saw a pair of headlights approaching from the north.
"One good thing on this shift," Joanne told her, "They can't really sneak up on you, you see him coming a long way off." The lights drew closer and a pick up truck slowly rolled to the booth. The driver held out a dollar bill.
"Have a good evening, sir," Joanne said as she took it and deposited it in the cash drawer.
"Pretty much all the big trucks, and about half the cars use the EZ Pass lanes," Joanne explained as the pick up drove off. "All you have to do is watch them fly by."
"What if someone uses the EZ Pass who shouldn't?"
"No problem. They get caught on the camera."
"So, what do you do? Do you rewind the tape and get their number or something?"
"No, that's all automatic. I guess you could rewind, but I don't know why you would bother."
"Okay, I was just wondering."
A big logging truck came down the road and zoomed through the plaza, causing the booth to shake as it blew past.
"Jesus, that felt close," Makayla said.
"You'll get used to it."
Joanne turned up the radio. It was set to a country station out of Presque Isle. They made idle chitchat for another hour or so. Only two more cars and a lone semi passed through. Finally Joanne looked at her watch.
"That'll do it for me, dear. I think you'll be all right. I wrote down my personal number. That's my cell phone right there. You give me a call if you have any problems. It will usually go through. I'm not sure I'll get out of bed for you, but if there is anything you need to know you can call me up."
