Stardust Miracle by Edie Ramer

Author:Edie Ramer
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781476328386
Publisher: Blue Walrus Books
Published: 2012-06-02T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-two

They reached the city limits when a loud boom sounded. Becky sucked in her breath and Trey, who was talking about buying cars for a movie set in the 1950s, stopped in the middle of a word.

“I don’t like that,” he said.

“Could be fireworks,” she said. “Kids goofing off.” But her voice wobbled and she clutched her hands on her lap. As if all night she’d been expecting something bad to happen and now it was beginning.

“Nope. I know that sound. More like a bad accident. Not too far up the road.”

Becky looked ahead. Traffic was still moving down the two-lane highway, so there wasn’t a traffic jam. Tomahawk’s population was under four thousand and their rush hour wasn’t like a big city’s.

A song came on the radio about a fun time tonight, a woman and a man sang. Kind of bluesy. It was perfect for their mood a moment ago.

But that mood had changed in a second. Becky felt tense now, her breaths shallow, though she told herself she was being silly. And Trey felt it, too. He turned down the radio and turned to the local station.

Even if there were an accident, it didn’t have anything to do with her.

The speed limit changed, but instead of going faster as the sign indicated, the traffic ahead slowed. The brake lights of the cars in front of them glowed red in the dusky light.

To counter the heavy feeling inside Becky’s gut, she told herself to calm down, that it was just fireworks, no matter what Trey had said. After all, the simplest explanations were usually the right ones.

The slowdown could be from a deputy giving someone a ticket. That always made drivers step on the brakes, so they could see if they knew the person being ticketed. Or at least slow down because they were scared they’d be next.

The loud whine of a siren came from town and Becky’s breath stuck in her throat. Okay, not a speeding ticket. Someone could have hit a deer, but there had to be damage for an emergency vehicle to be on the way.

“Hope it’s not serious,” she said. Traffic still rolled forward slowly, though Becky knew whatever happened must be close.

She leaned forward as much as the seatbelt allowed. Trey’s truck cab wasn’t as high as a semi’s, but high enough to see over the roofs of the cars in front of them. Ahead of them, less than a city block, Becky could see a gas station and a highway crossing.

“Looks like someone missed the stop sign,” Trey said.

Becky nodded. A van’s rear end was partially in the road, its front end was in a ditch. An SUV was stopped crookedly in the middle of the lane, as if it had plowed into the van.

A couple of cars had pulled over to the side. Becky spotted a man and a woman running toward the ditch.

Trey’s truck inched along, moving closer. The sirens were louder, catching up to them. Becky knew a little CPR, but she thought the paramedics would make it there before they did.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.