She picked up her phone to call Anna, but at the last moment decided to surprise her instead.
The first hour of her drive back was nice. The radio station stayed clear, and the snow had held off, but then the bright sky suddenly became milky gray.
Heavy clouds now hung like a cloak over the landscape, and sleet spattered against her windshield. She leaned forward, focusing on the road, letting the taillights ahead of her lead the way.
The sleet turned to slushy snowflakes the size of Ping-Pong balls that smashed against the windshield as if she were under attack by a thousand angry elves with slingshots. The windshield wipers slung them from the glass in clumps to the hood of the car.
She slowed as the cars on the highway became fewer and fewer. The radio station had fizzled out, not that she’d be able to hear it over the messy weather anyway.
Her GPS showed that the next turn was twenty miles away. Her stomach clenched at the thought of driving those back twisty roads that were beginning to cover with snow. She moved to the left lane to pass a slow-moving salt truck.
Her hands clutched the steering wheel. When she finally reached the turn toward Fraser Hills, it didn’t look as bad. This road had already been scraped. Tall piles of snow had been pushed to the sides of the road.
“Almost there.” She patted the dash. “We’ve got this, old girl.”
The sprawling acres of green grass were now blanketed in snow. Like in a picture postcard, smoke puffed from the chimney of a farmhouse. A single white candle shone from each window. She could picture a family inside gathered around the warm fire.
Finally, she passed theWELCOME TO FRASER HILLSsign in the median.
She let out a breath, rolling her tight shoulders from the death grip she’d had on the steering wheel. She slowed to a consistent forty miles an hour.Keep moving. Slow and steady.
It was only about three o’clock, ahead a bright yellow snow scraper rumbled along pushing the snow from the roads into town. The sound of the heavy metal blade scratching against the pavement below made an unpleasant screech. She turned right, taking the side road to avoid getting stuck behind it.
Ping.Her eyes only left the road for a split second to check her phone, but when she looked up there was something in the road.
Panic pushed her foot to the brake; the car slid to the right and twisted on the icy asphalt. A deer with big antlers bounded across the windshield as if flying, never touching the car as it continued to swerve.Turn in to the skid.The car made a slooshing sound and everything from there was as if she were in slow motion. She caught a glimpse of the bright white tail of the deer disappearing into the woods in front of her, and then,thud!
No.
She was more out of breath than had she jogged through the deep snow herself. She clutched her chest, trying to collect herself. The windshield was white. Covered in snow.
The airbag hadn’t deployed.
Probably a good thing. She’d heard of people getting pretty banged up from those things.
The car was catawampus, making it hard to sit up straight. She tugged on the door handle and pushed against the door, but it didn’t budge, and neither would the seat belt when she pressed the button.
Her purse and phone had slid from the center console into the back. She reached for her phone.
“Seriously?”
It was just out of reach. She pulled her feet up closer to the seat to try to gain a few inches, but the seat belt tightened as she moved.
“Now what?”
She was only a block or two away from Main Street. There had to be houses not too far from here.
She honked the horn.What’s “SOS”?One long. Two short? She used to know, but right now she couldn’t think straight. “If I could reach my phone, I might be able to Google that. Or call for help and not need to honk an SOS.”
She blasted the horn then waited a couple of minutes, to try honking again. She looked up at the rearview mirror. In her own car she had emergency assist at the touch of a finger.
Buy Anna a car with emergency assist.
I’ll probably owe her a new one after this anyway. At least the deer got away unharmed.
She pictured Bill Campbell with an Elmer Fudd outfit on hunting down the deer that made her wreck.
Okay, I’m getting giddy.
