Destiny's Road by Tracie Peterson

Author:Tracie Peterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2012-05-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

August faced each new day with bitterness and trepidation. The highway project kept his hands busy, but his mind continued to be haunted by images of the woman he’d left behind.

He was angry with Beth and with God, but mostly with himself. He knew he’d disappointed Gerald and Phillip by leaving without a word, especially after promising them such a grand day of fishing and storytelling. It grieved him that he was causing them pain. Why did life have to be so difficult?

From time to time, as news trickled in about the progress of the war, August felt his anger rekindled. He should have been one of the troops. If only God would have worked things out for him and heard his prayers. If only God cared.

Every day, August operated machinery, issued orders, and helped to assess progress. While he knew the job demanded his undivided attention, his mind incessantly wandered.

Log bridges were built to cross the multiple rivers and creeks, but the problem of boggy, wet ground made progress slow and uncertain. Riverbanks had to be reinforced to hold the bridges, and while gravel was readily available, the waterlogged land seemed to have an insatiable appetite. Load after load of rock was brought in to stabilize that which refused to be stable.

Danger lurked behind every tree, and each new and unexplored position placed the highway crew in jeopardy. Despite difficulty and hardship, the highway was steadily becoming reality. August wondered what he would do when the road work was completed.

Ralph Greening expected him to stay on and work for the Public Roads Administration. There were plans to make continued road improvements and to see to it that eventually the Alaskan/Cana-dian Military Highway would be more than a mud trail through the wilderness. But even for the promise of a secure job, August didn’t know if he could live close to Beth and the boys and not be part of their lives.

August tried to put such thoughts from his mind as he joined hiscrew. Rains had slowed progress, and after a two-day dry spell, every man available was out on the road making up time. Testing the ground, August grimaced. It remained spongy from the deluge, and such conditions only added to the danger of the situation.

August climbed aboard a Caterpillar tractor and started his shift with great reluctance. His duties seemed meaningless, and his life once again held no purpose. But there were tree stumps to be removed and the road to be graded.

Paying little attention to the twenty-ton machine he maneuvered, August wasn’t aware of how precariously close he had come to the edge of a sheer drop. His mind was too preoccupied to notice the ledge giving way, and by the time he recognized the danger, it was too late. In a mass of rubble and a cloud of diesel smoke, the machine slid down the embankment. All August could do was hold on.

It seemed an eternity of bouncing, pitching, and turning. Then the tractor came to rest on its side, pinning August beneath.

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