Sand, Saguaro cactus, and more sand.
A long thin ribbon of asphalt.
I'd been driving for a good ten hours and was somewhere in the Arizona desert, but goddamned if I knew exactly where. All I really cared about was getting back to California. I had driven to El Paso to deliver one of my champion cutting horses and now had another ten hours drive back to Los Angeles and then four more up the coast to my ranch. It was seven p.m. now and the sun looked like a red fiery ball setting on the horizon. I had to keep my speed below sixty with the added weight of the horse trailer, and that only served to increase the boredom. I searched for through the radio dial for something decent to listen to, but it seemed like all the radio stations out here broadcast nothing but evangelism, or mariachi music. There was even one station that seemed to be doing both at the same time.
I hadn't seen anything but jackrabbits and roadrunners for about two hours when I thought I heard a low hum coming from the front right tire of my truck. I turned down the radio to listen.
!BOOM!
The tire exploded, causing the truck to swerve wildly back and forth across the blacktop. I struggled to keep the truck on the pavement as I slowed it down. I was nearing a sharp curve needed to get it under control quickly or I was going to be in big trouble. The guardrail was coming at me fast, and I tried to steer clear, but it wasn't to be. I had slowed to about thirty-five when the truck collided and the extra weight of the trailer helped to fold over the guardrail like a soft taco. Suddenly I was airborne and instinctively tightened my body against the massive impact I knew was coming. The truck bounced hard on the dry desert sand and then slammed into the far bank of the dry creekbed. Everything went dark...
...The desert landscape was lit brightly by a full moon as I became conscious again, but it took a good ten minutes to for my eyes to focus and realize it. There was no sound except crickets and frogs, save for the occasional coyote howling. I leaned back and felt my head pounding, and smelled the sickly aromatic mixture of gasoline, smoke, and blood. I carefully tested all my extremities and everything seemed to work. Thank God I had been wearing my seat belt for once. I felt my head and it seemed ok except for a gash across the bridge of my nose and a knot on the side of my head. I looked in the rear view mirror. The gash wasn't too bad, but the bump on the head felt big. I looked to my left and noticed that the driver's side window was shattered. The hood of the truck was crumpled up, and steam was hissing from the radiator. It was painfully obvious that I wasn't going to be driving this mess anywhere. I sat back and made sure that I had no more injuries and then undid my seatbelt. I took a moment to mentally prepared myself for what might turn out to be a long journey.
I gathered up a jacket and made sure I had my wallet and pocketknife on me. There really wasn't anything else worth carrying, except for a container of bottled water. I was glad that at least it was nighttime and fairly cool. My head was pounding and I remembered the bottle of aspirin in the glove box. I opened the compartment and grabbed the aspirin, along with a pack of matches I spied. I swallowed four or five aspirin and washed them down with the water. I left a note on the truck and started walking west.
The two-lane asphalt road reflected the luminous moonlight. I walked along the shoulder and tried to think about something besides my aching head. The crickets and frogs seemed to keep a tempo with one another, and hummed endlessly. Occasionally a jackrabbit would burst from the brush, startling me and causing the chirping to cease, but the noises would always resume after only a few more steps. I had been walking for thirty or forty minutes and wondering when I would see another car, when I spotted headlights coming toward me from the west. I stopped and waited for the car to draw near. As it did, I stuck out my thumb and waived as non-threateningly as I could. The minivan blasted past me at about eighty and I turned around, expecting to see taillights. There were none. I watched it disappear into the night.
"Assholes."
I walked another half-mile and another car approached, blew past, and vanished.
"Fucking assholes."
As I had expected, it was turning into a long night.
I walked on for another hour or so, and four more cars passed me in the night, all of them either too inconsiderate or possibly too frightened of being attacked or robbed to bother to stop and see if I needed help. I was getting sleepy and starting to think about lying down in the desert when another set of headlights appeared. I stuck out my thumb again but kept walking, expecting them to keep on going like the others. As they passed, I heard the motor home slow, and then turn around on the shoulder. I turned and started walking toward it, relieved that someone had finally shown enough humanity to stop and see if I needed some help.
The Pickup
Headlights blinded me as I approached the motor home. It was a large one- about twenty-five feet long, the kind wealthy retired senior citizens tour the country in during two-month-long retirement vacations. I walked up to the passenger side window as it rolled to a stop.
"Howdy stranger. You're sure a long way from nowhere. What happened to you?" said the stunning blonde from the passenger's seat. I looked at her for a second, and glanced at the driver- a second, less-striking woman with short black hair.
"Thanks for stopping. I wrecked my truck about seven or eight miles back there. Can you give me a ride to wherever the next town is?"
The blonde turned to the driver and asked "What do you think Pam, is he a keeper?"
"Let's take him. We can always toss him back if we aren't satisfied with him," Pam said. It sounded like a joke, but Pam didn't smile when she said it. I sensed she was on edge for some reason. I didn't like the way she said it, but I was getting a little desperate, and decided to accept the ride.
"Besides, what harm could these two women be," I thought to myself.
"Hop in stranger. Is you're nose allright? It looks painful," said blondie.
"Thanks. Oh...uh, no, it's ok. It stopped bleeding before I woke up from the wreck. The knot on the side of my head still smarts though."
I settled into the captain's seat behind blondie as Pam pulled back onto the road. I was already a bit suspicious of Pam, and wanted to keep my I eye on her as she drove. Besides, I had decided that I'd rather talk to blondie. Her chair swiveled around to face me.
"Thanks again for stopping. I'm Mark."
