Part two: Chapter Two

A Chapter by Tabitha t

Chapter Two

“Damn it.” Linda swore as she kicked the tire of the old rusted through red pickup truck. She cursed herself for ever trading with that hillbilly at the gas station. Her second stop along her way to Abbott County was to fuel up at a gas station and to let Justin and Emmy use the restroom.

After filling up the SUV she had been perched on the hood of the vehicle studying a map to figure out her next move. She figured if she stayed on I-119 for a few more hours that she could then take exit 145. It would be smooth sailing from there.

“Nice vehicle.” A voice came from the other side of the gas pump. A tall thin man wearing loose fitting overalls stuck his head around the side closest to her. He pronounced vehicle as if it was vee-hickle. Thick southern accent and a wad of minty smelling dipping tobacco probably had something to do with it.

“Excuse me?” Linda asked as she looked up from the map to her new acquaintance.

“Pardon me miss.” He nodded and turned his Budweiser ball cap on backwards to show clear intelligent looking eyes.

“I didn’t mean to meddle.” He apologized. “I was just admiring that beauty of a vehicle you have there. My coons would be sure look mighty fine in the back of a vehicle like that.” He drawled out lazily as he plucked his thumbs into the hook of his overalls and leaned back on his heels in a satisfactory kind of way.

“Coons?” She asked as she straightened her back and stepped away from the car. The hillbilly just nodded towards the back of his truck bed and spit a line of dark saliva onto the asphalt. Linda craned her neck to get a better look. In the bed of his truck was a crate full of raccoon carcasses. On top of the pile of bloody dead animals were two sleeping hound dogs. One of them lazily opened his eyes and looked at Linda before yawning and closing his eyes again.

“I reckon that back seat of yours could hold a good size load of coons.” He said nodding to himself.

“You see,” He continued merrily. “In the back of my truck the sun beats down on the coons. Can spoil em in just a matter of a few hours. I bet that beauty of yours even has air conditioning. That could keep em from spoiling for a lot longer.” He thought out loud.

“Heck,” He chuckled. “Bet I could even stop in to Dipper’s and grab a cold one on my way home and they would be just fine.” He shook his head and laughed again before looking up to Linda. His eyes bright with interest.

“Anyway, mam’. Sorry to have bothered you. I best be on my way and I bet you have places to be as well.” With a nod he turned and replaced the fuel pump back into its cradle and opened the door to his truck. The door let out a loud protest as he did so.

Even to this exact moment Linda couldn’t even begin to try to tell you what had possessed her to do what she did next. Maybe she knew that she would have to ditch her own car anyway. Maybe it was just the gentle southern way rubbing off on her. Either way as Linda stood in the middle of that dirt road with the sun beating down on the back of her neck as she looked down at the flattened tire of the truck she wished to hell she had kept her mouth shut.

“I’ll trade ya.” She had said as she stepped closer to the man who was now fully in the truck.

“ ’scuse me miss?” He had asked looking back up at her. She stepped closer and came right up to the door of the truck. She noticed that the silver handle was blotched with rust and there was a fist size hole in the side of the truck where the metal had worn through. She had thought about how it had added character. Now she wanted to kick the side of the truck until the rest of the metal fell off the frame of the truck in strips.

“I said ill trade you cars. You can have it. Ill sign the pink slip.” She had answered happily.

“I aint got no title miss.” The hillbilly had looked up at her with a stunned expression written on his face.

“Why would you trade that vehicle for my burnt out pickem up?” He questioned. Suspicion crept into his voice.

“You kilt someone?” He asked seriously as he looked her in the eyes. Linda felt her heart begin to jump its way into her throat. She opened her mouth to speak. No words found their way out.

The man slapped his hand against the side of his truck. Small specks of red dust flew into the air before settling into a pile on the ground. Laughter hit her ears before she figured out that the man was joking. Tears leaked their way out of his eyes and Linda giggled nervously.

“No, I just figure it is time for a change and I like the looks of your truck. I think it’s exactly what I need.” She had laughed along with the man.

Now as she looked both ways down the dirt road that ran for miles each way she cussed. A big cuss that she usually never used.

“Oh, mommy.” Emmy chirped from her seat in the passenger seat of the hot truck.

“You owe a quarter in the curse jar.” She laughed as she stuck her head over the edge of the open window. Her glossy black hair danced in the slight breeze.

She had decided to take a quick ride out to town to gather some supplies ad maybe see if the town had a pizza joint. She, Emmy and even Justin, had been running off of slim jims and sodas for the majority of their trek and Trisha’s stomach had began to loudly protest.

“Well I guess Ill have to buy a jar once we get into town then now wont I?” Trisha asked while only half paying attention as she scanned the far horizon of the road for any sign of an approaching vehicle.

She had already halfheartedly searched the back of the truck for a spare. Not that it would have done any good. Even if she had miraculously found a spare she still had no tools to replaced the deflated tire.

“Mommy! Look!” Emmy squealed as she hung further out the window. Trisha’s hand instinctively strayed to her daughter to make sure she didn’t come out any further. She looked over her shoulder to the road she had come from. Followed by a comet’s tail of dust was, as far as Trisha could see, another pickup truck.

Thank God, Trisha thought at the sight of the approaching vehicle. For a few minutes there I thought I would be carrying child and dog five miles back t the house.

Trisha held her hand up above her brows to shield her eyes as the sun danced on the metal of the speeding vehicle, making it look even more like a shooting star. As the car grew in size and detail as it sped closer Trisha noticed that indeed it was a pickup truck albeit a lot newer and shinier then her own.

It’s not going to stop. She thought as she raised her hand above her head in an attempt to get the man driving the truck to take notice of her. The truck was now almost on top of them and showed no intentions of slowing down.

“Hey!” Trisha yelled as the truck and herself were momentarily parallel with one another as it passed. Dust flew into her eyes and mouth, making her throat feel gritty and dry.

The truck kept going past her as the driver nodded his head to the sound of country music that blasted from the open driver window.

“Damnit.” Trisha coughed as she blew her bangs out of her eyes. She glared at the pickup truck as the dust settled back down to the ground around her.

“Ohhh! That’s another one Mommy!” Emmy laughed from the window. Trisha rolled her eyes at the sky. She had a feeling that the jar would be notably heavier by the end of this day.

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© 2012 Tabitha t

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Reviews

Craig2591

Not bad. The hillbilly was a bit of a cartoon, but you may have meant him to be that way. Nothing wrong with that.

I like, "The door let out a loud protest as he did so." Reminds me of an old pick-up that my father had.