Disclaimer: All characters are completely fictional and those engaging in sexual activity are of legal age to engage in the adult activities herein described.
This story is a collaboration between myself and a brilliant writer from Yorkshire, England. Atomica24.
I encourage you to check out her other works.
Therefore, you will find both American and British spellings and words throughout the telling of this tale.
Thank you for reading our story.
Cahokia State Park
One Mile
The milk chocolate brown sign read as Anna and Franny motored down the somewhat quiet country road.
Anna hated working in the horseradish factory. If it weren't for the company provided showers, she would have been going home stinking to high heaven of that pungent herb. It was decent money, but she never seemed to have enough after the bills were paid to save for anything beyond a very small treat like a candy bar.
Her car was a gift from her uncle Lucius. "It's a classic, gets great fuel milage and best of all you won't have a car note to pay when you get out of college along with your student loans." He had said smiling like the used car salesman that he was. In truth he had taken it in as a trade years before Anna could even drive. Uncle Lucius really just needed to pawn it off on someone so he wouldn't have to pay to dispose of it.
The 1960 AMC Rambler sported both Democrat and Republican party bumper stickers, one on each side of the rear fender. Right under the taillights, along with a plethora of others that festooned the rear end. Most were really so badly faded that one would have to be less than a foot away to read them. The bright canary yellow with chocolate brown trim now pocked with spots of rust that hinted the viewer might need a tetanus shot from looking at it. Originally adorned with sparkling chrome from front to back, the effect of the local acid rain had dulled it before Anna was even conceived in her mother's womb.
Anna as an act of hopeful preservation for her only conveyance had gratefully accepted every free bumper sticker she could. There were even ones inside of the musty smelling and grease speckled rear compartment where the spare tire was kept. That and nine rolls of Duct tape were what was holding the rearend of the vehicle together.
Driving this beast in the summer was hell on earth! The air conditioning unit had deserted its post sometime in the 1990's and there were no replacement units that could be had with her wages. The heater worked very well. So, in the winter she couldn't complain really. The radio would only pick up one AM station...sometimes... If the weather was good and she held her mouth just right.
It was a gas guzzler though at 9 miles to the gallon. When she fired it up it would belch choking blue black smoke, her neighbor Mr. Cotswold would have brief flashbacks of his time in the Persian Gulf War as a member of the Royal Engineers. To him, it sounded just like the Centurion Tank he drove over there. Mr. Cotswold was far from being the only one that described it as sounding like a tank. She tried not to take it on to the interstate as it would overheat at anything above forty-five miles an hour. Additionally, It had an electrical problem that made the operation of it an experience in the word "fickle" on top of everything else.
As a result, Anna had nicknamed the vehicle, Franny as in "Fickle Franny". Anna was on the Collinsville road when Franny began to act up and sputter. The radio coming on one minute and then fading out the next before reengaging. Anna turned it off to try and save the battery so that she had headlights. That worked just long enough for her to pull off of the road right outside of Cahokia State Park. Anna was half way home.
The smell of burning copper and engine coolant battled against the aroma of fresh cut grass as Anna exited the vehicle with a heavy sigh. The billowing clouds of steam rolling out of the underside of the engine compartment indicated to her that Frannie had overheated, yet again.
Anna retrieved her cellphone from the pocket of her linen skirt, to see if she could get her roadside assistance program to give her some help. However, the screen on the device indicated that there was absolutely no signal. "Well, that's just perfect!" she stated in a loud sarcastic tone. Taking a deep breath in, she now exhaled to the sound of crunching gravel from the rear of her vehicle. Anna hoped that the black and white Ford Crown Victoria sedan that had formerly belonged to a local law enforcement agency, could either give her a ride for help, or might have someone more knowledgeable about cars than herself.
"Yo! Tommy lookie what we got here! A genuine damsel in distress!" said the good looking, fair-haired young man in the royal blue tee-shirt with the white encircled R of the local street gang.
Anna wasn't stupid she knew who they were and what they might try to do to her. She was going to play dumb for as long as she could. Maybe, just maybe they would be decent and not mess with her. Though she seriously doubted it as they had a reputation for drugs, rape, robbery and murder. Bribing the police wasn't even beyond the realms of possibility for these guys. In not so many words for an attractive young woman, they were.... Bad News!