The Rejected Writers' Book Club (Southlea Bay) by Suzanne Kelman

Author:Suzanne Kelman
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781503934146
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2016-03-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

A ROCKSLIDE & A HAUNTED HOUSE

We drove for another twenty nail-biting minutes, and the silence in the car was eerie, only punctuated from time to time with a sob or a sniff. Out of nowhere, we suddenly hit traffic. As we started to inch along, I noticed cars and trucks appeared to be turning back toward us.

“Looks like trouble,” said Ethel as she blew her nose again.

This new turn of events seemed to break the deadlock in the car.

Doris turned to Annie, squeezed her hand, and apologized.

“What do you mean about your momma?” croaked Annie, her voice hoarse from crying.

“I can’t talk about it right now. It’s just too hard.”

Flora nodded, took Doris’s hand, and squeezed it too.

After a one-hour crawl, we hadn’t even gone ten miles. As we crept forward, we could see a state trooper ahead waving a flashlight and turning drivers back. By the time we inched to the front of the line, it was almost 5:30 p.m., way past dusk, and a damp, heavy fog was starting to swirl ominously around the car.

Rolling down my window, I asked, “What’s going on, officer?”

“Landslide. We have heavy equipment down there right now moving it as best we can, but it was a doozy. There’s no way we’re going to be able to secure the road tonight. Your best bet is to make it back to Ashland or Medford for the evening.”

“Medford,” I repeated, a note of hysteria creeping into my tone.

“Sorry. There’s no way I can let you through here this evening. It’s just not safe.”

Before I could say anything else, he was waving us on with his light and walking toward an RV behind us.

Wheeling the car around, I started to double back. I looked at the gas gauge. We were nearly on empty. I’d meant to remind Doris to fill up when we’d left the coffee shop, but with the upset with Flora and Ethel being sick, I had quite forgotten. It would be touch and go whether we would make it back anywhere close to civilization. We would be coasting on fumes before we hit the bottom of the mountains.

“What’s it going to be, then?” asked Annie, as if we were making a decision about dessert.

“The first thing we need to do is find a gas station.”

Trucks along the route had pulled over onto the hard shoulder, settling down for the night.

“You know, there was a little convenience store about five miles back,” mentioned Annie optimistically.

“Yes, they may know where we could get gas.” I recalled the place; my spirits lifted.

“And maybe they have a phone I can use too,” Doris added.

We drove back and pulled over. The store appeared to be closed, so Doris and I peered in a window and saw a hodgepodge of camping and fishing paraphernalia. Way in the back, there was a light shining from what seemed to be a back office. The faint strains of a TV floated from it. I rapped on the door. Nothing. I rapped again harder.

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.