We had come to a stop on a God forsaken stretch of mountain trail in the middle of nowhere miles from anywhere. Our honeymoon was meant to be our big adventure. We had got married last week and had set off to explore those parts of America you only ever see in documentaries.
Our ambitions were stronger than our car, sadly and it had finally packed in. Luckily, just as I was thinking of setting off on the 15 mile walk back to the interstate, a van stopped.
"Need a hand?" the guy driving asked.
"I need a mechanic," I replied
"Cousin Elmer will fix her up."
"That would be great," I answered.
They towed us to a small collection of shacks and cabins and when we stopped, people seemed to come out of nowhere to see what the fuss was. Two or three younger guys took an interest in my wife Sally's side of the car. The women here were all dressed poorly in denim and flannel. Sally had a very tight pair of shorts and a figure hugging top that didn't leave much to the imagination. I could see she was getting uncomfortable with the open leering of the guys near her.
Just then, Elmer introduced himself.
"I can fix your motor, but not till I get some parts tomorrow. You'll have to bed down here the night. My sister, MaryLou, will look after you."
MaryLou beckoned for us to follow her and she led us into a large cabin nearby. The inside was as squalid as you would imagine, and the sheets on the bed she showed us were grey, but what could we do.
"I wouldn't dress like that round here girl," she told Sally, "this is my family, but I have to tell you, these guys ain't fussy and are always horny. We don't have much to do with others and sort of do things a bit different round here. You two best stay in here until your motor's fixed and then be gone."
We put it down to not seeing strangers very often and dismissed her warnings. After freshening up as best we could, we went to see Elmer to arrange how we could pay him. He told us not to worry and that we could sort it out in the morning. He told us there was a big family gathering that night and we were invited. We thought it would be rude not to go so around 7.00pm, we went to the biggest cabin there and knocked on the door.
We were welcomed in, and as we entered several pairs of eyes stared at us unashamedly. We were introduced to the family.
"This is MaryLou, my daughter, Annie, my sister, Beth, my wife, Jake our boy, you know Elmer, this is Wayne, his brother and Liza their sister, our cousin. We're all related one way or another. I'm Jacob and I'm the elder, like the head man."
The old guy looked at us expectantly.
"We're pleased to meet you. My name is Joe, and this is my new wife Sally. We just got married. Thanks for your help and hospitality."
"That's fine," replied Jacob, "you just come and sit here and join us. We're going to have a party tonight. We don't see strangers very often"
