Where the Road Bends by David Rawlings

Where the Road Bends by David Rawlings

Author:David Rawlings
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2020-06-02T00:00:00+00:00


Sixteen

The crunch of the stones beneath Andy’s boots beat a hypnotic tattoo that slowed his legs and time. Sweat basted him as he tripped over more of the same—ankle-high rocks and thick spinifex whipping his shins. His phone proclaimed he’d been walking through the low scrub for two hours and the dirt road was no closer.

The dust cloud had disappeared, along with his righteous anger—and his hope.

Andy swallowed hard, his throat like sandpaper, as desperation set in. In every direction was an endless sea of dry, red dirt pockmarked with stones and scattered boulders holding down the skin of this ancient country—the surface of Mars brought to Earth. He swooned in the glare of the blazing, burning sun and tried to get his bearings. Was the sun in front of him or behind?

Scuffed footprints in the red dirt led away. His own. The heated air snatched his breath as he faced away from them and kept walking. The lure of his phone drew his hand to his pocket, before he jerked it away. He needed to conserve the all-but-dead battery for when he came back into range. Without it, he would be disconnected from everyone, and he needed a lifeline to the outside world. If he lost that, his desire to disappear for a while would become permanent.

Blotches of light exploded behind his eyes, fired by heat exhaustion and white-hot anger. Eliza and Lincoln had cooked this up with the tour guides. Some kind of macho Survivor thing he wasn’t prepared for and didn’t need. They were forcing him to discover himself, but he should have seen it coming—Eddie had said there were some surprises in store.

Andy’s every nerve sizzled as his mind threw up fresh targets for his self-righteousness to take potshots. Bree for taking his money and lying to him about it. The net widened beyond those responsible for more than his current predicament—the horse that was a sure thing but ran last, almost to spite him. The Rams, who gave up an insurmountable lead and lost to the winless Giants. At home, in overtime. The bookies who ignored his impassioned appeals for a little more time or one final chance.

His pace quickened, the touchpaper of his adrenaline now lit. The rhythmic scratching of his boots marked time for the parade of the guilty, which now stretched to losses that were more than money. The jobs he’d run from due to the unshakeable suspicion that the missing money was down to him. The girlfriends who’d left after they’d discovered he’d borrowed more after not fulfilling his many promises of repayment. The apartment he’d loved in Cincinnati that he’d had to abandon in a midnight run from outstanding rent.

Andy approached a stand of gum trees, sprays of leaves studded with large white flowers. He leaned a cheek against a large gum, his soul singing in gratitude for the respite from the sun and the trunk’s cool smoothness. He tipped his water bottle into a grateful mouth. One last dribble.



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