The highway seemed to stretch forever into the dark of this rainy night. I wrestled my motor home around countless curves, up and over seeming endless hills. I should have stopped for the night at the KOA in the last big town. But I thought at the time that it was too early to stop for the night. I didn't realize at the time how the weather would turn so nasty so quickly.
The windshield wipers kept a steady rhythm in the night, fighting valiantly to keep the torrential rain from blinding me to the hazards of the road ahead. I squinted into the gloom and I decided to drop my speed another five miles per hour, this would reduce my forward momentum to forty-five mph but it would probably keep me on the road and pointed in the right direction.
The headlights of a small car loomed up behind me. I could tell that the driver of the vehicle was in a hurry not only by the rapidity of the cars approach, but by the way it weaved in and out behind me, searching the road ahead for an opportunity to pass.
The driver flashed the lights of his vehicle several times, I guess expecting me to pull over and let him or her by. In normal circumstances I probably would have pulled aside and let the smaller vehicle whiz on by, but these were not normal times.
I could barely make out the road ahead of me, and there was no way that I could see the shoulder of the road. I wasn't about to pull off the road and end up on my top in the ditch or worse. So, I kept my speed steady and did my best to take my old house on wheels down the road.
The driver of the little car seemed to settle in behind me and I completely forgot about him until the extended blaring of a horn roused me from my reverie. I looked into the mirror just in time to see the frantic flashing of headlights as the diminutive car streaked by me.
As the car drew abreast of my window I saw that it was a GM Geo or a Suzuki something or other. I couldn't make out the driver through the rain but I was sure that I saw him or her waving a single finger in my direction and I was pretty sure that he wasn't telling me that he thought that I was number one in his book.
"Well fuck you too." I said under my breath as I watched the Geo fishtail on the wet pavement ahead of me. Quickly the red taillights of the vehicle moved away from me and disappeared into the gloom of the late night downpour.
I forgot about the miniature SUV and returned my attention to the road and my desire to keep my very unruly home on the highway. My concentration continued fixed completely on the task at hand, driving my oversized mount down the tunnel of light that my headlights drilled through the almost impenetrable downpour.
I drove on for what seemed like hours but was probably more like twenty or thirty minutes. My entire being was focused on the road directly in front of me. The occasional gust of wind coupled with the river of water left on the highway by the torrential rain caused my vehicle to occasionally swing from one lane to the other and it was only my white knuckled concentration that kept us upright.
So intense was my concentration that I almost missed seeing a small figure emerging from the dark of the shoulder and wave its arms frantically. Startled, I almost lost control of the vehicle as I attempted to miss making contact with the deranged figure dancing madly at the roadways edge.
Muttering an epithet under my breath I cautiously applied the brakes and brought the motor home to a stop in what I considered to be a reasonable length. I put it in reverse and began to slowly back up until I was once again abreast of the now very wet figure in the rain.
I put on the emergency flashers, set the brake, and rose from my seat to open the door. The almost solid torrent of rain was like a waterfall in my face as I looked out the door and into the drenched face of a small girl.
"My car ran off the road." She yelled through the torrent. "I had a blowout I think, and it just ran off the road." She continued breathlessly. "Can you pull me out? I have to get home." She went on frantically.
"Get in here and out of the rain." I yelled into the torrent. "Come on. I'm getting as wet as you are standing here in the door." I continued. I motioned at her to come inside and said again, "Come on inside before you drown."
She stared at me impatiently for another minute before she muttered, "Well ok, for a minute." She stepped through the door and climbed the steps into the warmth of the motor home. As she stepped past me she said, "I need to get home tonight."
I hit the switch to the interior lights before turning to her and saying, "Well, we'll see what we can do, but first we need to get you out of that damn rain and warmed up. I turned to the control panel and turned the heater up to its maximum setting. Then I reached into the overhead bin to get a blanket.
I tossed it to her and said, "Here, wrap this around your self and sit down for a while. We're going to sit here for a while and see if this damn rain lets up."
I looked into her disapproving eyes and I thought that I saw anger flash. "I don't know about you but I don't want to drown out there like some turkey in a rain storm. If it doesn't let up in a few minutes I'll go down and see what can be done."
This seemed to mollify her and she wrapped the blanket tightly around herself and plopped theatrically onto the couch. I went to the stove and turned on a burner. I filled the coffee pot from a carafe that was filled with the remains of this afternoon's coffee and set the coffee to heating. I then walked to the closet and pulled out my rain gear and rubber boots.
"So you had a blowout, huh?" I inquired.
"Yeah. I think so." She replied sullenly.
"Where did the car end up?" I continued conversationally.
"Off the road, duh." She replied caustically.
"I figured that," I continued. "What I need to know is how far off the road it is and which side is up." I looked into her eyes and chuckled before concluding, "I know you're upset, but you don't need to snap at me sweetie."
I turned away from her and shut off the burner under the coffee. I opened the cupboard, pulled out two cups and began to fill them with steaming hot Joe. "You take anything in your java?" I asked over my shoulder.
"No, black will be fine." I heard her reply. "Unless you have some Baileys up there." She added hopefully.
"Just so happens I do." I responded and I reached for the bottle of Irish cream that I kept on the top shelf. "My name is Joe. What's yours?" I inquired as I poured a large portion of the cream colored liqueur into each cup and stirred it with a spoon.