Saturday October 7th, 2006 8:20 AM, EST Pittsburgh.
“Hey Wen, I checked the weather channel…word is that we’ve got a stationary front parked right over us. All the airports in the Midwest are socked in hard. Nothing is going anywhere.”.
“Oh great…How about AMTRAK?”.
“No dice…well, it is a possibility, but you won’t get to Evansville before early tomorrow morning. We COULD drive there, y’know?”.
Wendy smiled; she knew that Marco would enjoy the road trip. “C’mon Skippy, it’s nearly five hundred miles, eight hours even if the roads aren’t soaking wet.”.
“Yeah, what time to you have to be there? You’re supposed to be on leave, what’s the hurry?”.
“Oh, well, it’s just that I’d like to get with my friends before seven tonight.” “Okay, so that’s more than ten hours. It’s five hundred miles to Evansville, it’s cloudy we’ve got a full tank of gas, and…” “And we are not wearing sunglasses. Let’s hit it” “Yesssssss!!” Marco tossed her the keys. “Lemmy write a note for the benefit of the parents. You drive, Wendy”.
She did so, driving carefully through the murky wetness. Wendy and Marco switched seats at the outskirts of Columbus. It looked like they were making good time, so they decided to have a pleasant sit-down lunch at a restaurant. Wendy checked her watch as they were greeted and seated. “Hmmm, hope Dita and Heather are all right.”.
“Who?”.
“Oh…yeah. They are the daughters of three of my friends. Dita, Heather, and Rachel is the third one, they’re over in Ireland right now.”.
“Really? College or something?”.
“Or something. They’re just about your age, you’d like them.” Marco scoffed. I thought Mom and Dad were supposed to arrange our marriages, if anyone.”.
Wendy looked around the restaurant grinning mischievously and declared in heavily-accented English. “Oh you very bad boy, you must get married to good girl and run a convenience store!!” She wagged her finger Babu Bhattishly.
Marco snorted in Hindi, “Way to go sister, you’re really eradicating those Desi stereotypes.” He grinned indulgently. “Excellent steak, this.”
“Yeah, we’re going to be reincarnated as wolves for sure,” she giggled.
After eating, Marco left the tip and Wendy paid the cashier. The steady rainfall intensified into a torrent as they made their way onto the interstate. Marco cursed as the lost visibility forced him to slow the car’s speed to a crawl. By the time they left the outskirts of Cincinnati and entered Kentucky, it was already four o’clock.
“Wendy, I’m sorry, but this rain is ridiculous!” Wendy shrugged, but she was obviously agitated. “You’re doing all you can, Marco, hey you went out of your way for me. Uhm, wanna get off at the next exit, I need to make a phone call. We’ll switch when we get back.”
The phone rang, Sharon picked it up. “This is Dr. Taylor…” “Sharon, hi. It’s Wendy.” “Well hi there Wendy. You ready for an incredible night?” “Sharon, are you familiar with the weather conditions? All the planes were grounded, and right now I’m creeping along the interstate with my little brother Marco, we’re off an exit between Cincinnati and Louisville.” Sharon was silent. “Could you hold on a minute?” Sharon rushed over to her desk to check the schedule. “Wendy, I checked the charts. Moonrise is at 7:32, and at that time you’re gonna change.” “Okay, just in case, is there any way I can stop it?” “No way, hon, not with a full moon, not with your first transformation!” Wendy’s stomach churned. They had to cover two hundred miles in just over three hours. “Fine…fine. I’ll get there as soon as I can.” Sharon spoke distinctly; “Wendy…listen to me…remember…you cannot let Marco see anything!”
Marco tossed her the keys as Wendy ran to the car. She fumbled with the keys, but got it in the ignition. Marco’s eyes widened as his sister left a track of melted rubber behind her and went soaring back onto the interstate at speed into the steady rain.
“Holy shit, Wendy, slow down!!” “Sorry Marc, we really gotta move it!” “Um, not to be clichéd, but better to be fifteen minutes late in this life than fifteen years early into the next one, right?”
Driving much too fast for conditions at seventy miles per hour, they sped past Louisville into Indiana. Scanning the road ahead to ensure that she would see any traffic ahead in time to stop or at least drive around, Wendy failed to notice the sharp iron L-bracket that blended into the rain-soaked road. At more than a mile a minute, the two right side tires didn’t have a chance. A bystander would have heard two rapid explosions and the shrill tones of two girls screaming.
“WHOAAAAAAAAAAAIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!” they both shrieked in terror. Wendy struggled to keep the car parallel to the ground, and then let the car coast to the side of the road.
“HO-ho-holy shit!!” Marco laughed in shock and relief. Wendy, are you all right? She nodded silently. “C’mon, I’ll get the spare.” He was out less than two seconds. “Okay, Wen, we need two spare tires and we’re down by one.”
“…what?”
“We are stuck Wendy, and it’s about twenty miles to the nearest town in either direction.”
At least twenty miles to a gas station, thought Wendy. They were in the Hoosier National Forest, sixty miles to home and it was already a quarter past six.
“Oh my God…” Wendy felt a lump arise in her throat. Work the problem, Patel, work the problem.
“Very well,” she snapped. “Marco, I want you to double time up the road to the nearest emergency phone…if there is one, don’t waste more than twenty minutes going that way for nothing. I’ll stay here and hopefully flag someone down.”
“Do you think anyone will stop?”
“I sure hope so, but I’m small and cute…and I have one of these…” She flipped out her badge. “Get going!”
Saturday October 7th, 2006 7:03 PM EST I–64 BFE
“Wendy, I found a phone…but the receiver was ripped off, no luck.” She nodded silently, “And no cars because we’re the only ones idiotic enough to be on the roads in this weather.” She sniffled. Marco looked at his sister curiously and was shocked to see tears in her eyes. “Hey, hey, hey, Wendy, I’m sure your friends will understand, with these circumstances…”
Wendy shook her head. “It’s not that, Marco…”