Tinseltown Tango by Phil Swann

Author:Phil Swann [Swann, Phil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cygnus Road
Published: 2020-06-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

The sun woke me up. Or maybe whatever I’d been shot up with had worn off. Whichever the case, I opened my eyes. I was hot, and my body felt like it had been twisted into knots. As my world became clearer, I discovered why. My six-foot frame was stuffed into the backseat of a car—and it wasn’t my Falcon. All the windows were up, and I was fully clothed in slacks, shirt, even shoes, with my sport jacket draped over me like a blanket. As much by reflex as anything, I threw off the jacket and sprung up.

The inside of the car was stifling, and my mouth felt like I’d eaten bark. I crawled over the seat into the front of the car and flung open the driver’s side door. When the fresh air hit my face, it was like being resuscitated. I crawled out and rolled onto the ground. The sun was bright, but not scorching, and it felt good. It felt like the stuff of life.

I lay on the hard earth with my eyes closed for several minutes, savoring the fresh oxygen, while my brain continued to reset itself. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what had happened, I did. I remembered everything about the assault—at least, up until the time I blacked out. It was that I needed time to breathe and process what I was feeling, an overwhelming sense of vulnerability.

Once I was somewhat together, I struggled to my feet and took stock of my surroundings. I was in the desert, that much was obvious. But where in the desert? And which desert? In one direction, all I could see was nothingness. In the another, more nothingness, with some snowcapped mountains as the backdrop. When I turned and looked behind me, however, I could just make out what looked to be the tops of buildings sneaking over the horizon.

I looked away and then looked back again, to make sure it wasn’t a mirage. It wasn’t. It was there. Far away, but it was there. A town, with honest to goodness buildings, and honest to goodness people, who lived, and loved, and laughed, and breathed, and did other honest to goodness cool things.

An immense feeling of relief washed over me. I’d been stranded in the desert before, and it was an experience I had no interest in revisiting. Furthermore, as I’ve made clear in previous recounting of my adventures, I have a passionate dislike for wide open spaces. I don’t call it a phobia, as that would make me sound bananas. I prefer to think of it as a completely rational loathing that all sane people should possess.

The car I had been stuffed into was a white Rambler. I didn’t know what year, but it looked new. I got back into it, and to my relief, found the keys were in the ignition. I turned the key, and it started up without protest. Thank God!

I glanced down at the dashboard and saw the clock. It was a little after ten-thirty.

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.