Chapter 13

 

Jaime stepped away from the car and looked up the road.   “Well, that town has to be pretty close,” she said.   “I think we’re going to have to walk.”

 

“Hurray,” Taylor said without enthusiasm, wiping raindrops off her face. 

 

“Well, come on.  We don’t want to stand here in the rain all day,” Jaime said, starting down the road. 

 

“Let me try to push it,” Jaime said.  “You steer.”   She climbed out of the car, and Taylor crawled across the seat and sat behind the wheel. 

 

Her feet sinking into the thick mud, Jaime made her way to the rear of the car and started to push.   Her hands kept slipping off the wet bumper of the car though, and it didn’t budge.   After a few minutes of this, she was exhausted, and the situation looked hopeless.

 

Taylor rolled down the window and called out, “Now what?”

 

Jaime sighed and looked up and down the road.   There were no cars in sight.   “That town can’t be too far ahead.   I say we walk.   I’m sure we can find a tow truck there to get the car out, and at least we’ll be able to get something to eat and dry off.”

 

“Okay,” Taylor said with a sigh.   It wasn’t as if they had much of a choice.   She knew she wasn’t about to wait out the worsening storm in Jaime’s beat up little car. 

 

She climbed out, pulling the keys out with her, and handed them to Jaime, who locked up the car and took off jogging up the road. 

 

Taylor sighed, looking at the abandoned car once more, and then followed her friend.

 

***

 

Jaime had been right.   After walking a few more minutes, the town of Redridge, Georgia came into view.   Upon seeing it, the girls picked up their pace, eager to get into someplace dry, for they were soaked and shivering from the cold rain beating down on them. 

 

Welcome to Redridge, a wooden sign said, as they entered the town.   Looking around in dismay, they realized it was a very small town, located distantly from any other towns.   Most of the commercial buildings seemed to be located on the street they were walking down, which was fittingly known as Main Street.  

 

“Well, surely there’s a gas station or something around here,” Taylor said, looking around hopefully.   They passed a shabby looking little restaurant, a skanky tattoo parlor, and a tavern before coming to a fairly decent looking little grocery store. 

 

“Let’s go in here,” Taylor suggested, motioning to the grocery store.   “We’ve got to get out of the rain.”

 

Jaime nodded, and together, they made a dash for the store.   Once they got to the door, they saw that it was not like most grocery stores they had been in, the ones with shiny white floor tiles, aisles upon aisles of food, and rows of busy checking counters.    Instead, this one was tiny, with a floor of dirt-streaked white speckled tiles, a few aisles with wobbly shelves of food, and one counter for checking out. 

 

Behind this counter stood a sickly looking twenty-something year old guy, his elbow resting on the counter, his chin cupped in his palm, a mix of boredom and exhaustion spread across his face.

 

As they opened the door, a little bell jingled, causing the checkout boy to look up.   Jaime and Taylor looked around and realized this store must not get a lot of business.   Besides themselves and the checkout boy, there were only three more people – a big, beer bellied man standing in front of the liquor display, a tired looking, snaggle-toothed, middle-aged woman with long, stringy, blonde hair pulled into a limp pony tail, who was stocking the canned food aisle, and an elderly man slowly mopping the floor. 

 

“Um… excuse me?” Taylor asked hesitantly, stepping up the counter.

 

“Yeah?” the guy at the counter asked, standing up straighter.   Upon getting a closer look at him, Taylor saw that he really wasn’t bad looking.   He had wavy light brown hair and blue eyes, which were tired, but kind looking.   He had high cheekbones, which protruded from his pale sunken cheeks.   He was short, only about 5’7” and was skinny too. 

 

“Do you know where there’s a garage or anyplace with a tow truck?” Taylor asked.   “Our car got a flat tire and is stuck in the mud about a mile out of town.”

 

“Uh… yeah, there’s a place down the road, at the other end of town,” the guy said, his blue eyes narrowing as he studied them.   “You girls ain’t from around here, are ya?”

 

“No, we’re traveling,” Jaime replied. 

 

“Where ya headin’?” the guy asked.

 

“Kentucky.   We’re actually on our way back from our vacation in Florida,” Taylor said.

 

“Ahh, I see.   Florida sounds nice.  I’ve never been there.   Never been hardly anyplace ‘cept right here in good ole Redridge,” he said.

 

They nodded, exchanging glances as to say, What a life that must be.

 

“So, y’all got caught in the storm, huh?” the checker asked.

 

“Yup,” Taylor said.   “It just came on all of a sudden.”

 

He nodded.  “Yeah, that happens.  It looks like a pretty bad one, huh?”

 

“Yeah.   I could barely see driving,” Jaime said. 

 

“Well, you don’t want to go back out in that now.  It could get worse.   Stick around here for awhile, why dontcha?”

 

They exchanged glances again and shrugged.   It wasn’t as if they had much else a place to go, except for the garage he had spoke of.   But neither one of them wanted to brave the storm again. 

 

“I think we will,” Jaime said.   She turned to Taylor.   “Let’s get something to eat.  I’m starved.”

 

Taylor nodded vigorously, feeling her stomach growl.   Together, they headed down one of the aisles that had bags of chips and an assortment of other junk food.   They picked out some stuff and brought it back up to the counter to pay. 

 

***

 

 

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