Page 209 - Reason To Sing by Kelita Haverland

Chapter Thirty-Five

We check each other for injuries. Neither of us can believe
it. Not one broken blood vessel. Not one cut. No broken bones.
It is truly a miracle! The van is a mangled mess but we are okay!
Reality kicks in. My life literally just hit the ditch! It blew
up but good. And damn, it’s cold out here. Now what? We are
in the middle of nowhere. It’s 4 in the morning and we’re in a
dark ditch with a totaled van.
“Maybe we can flag somebody down,” I suggest meekly,
hugging myself tightly to stop the shivering that has enveloped
me.
Hudson is shaking too but I sense he is also really annoyed
at me, the driver who got us into this mess. “No one’s going to
be out here at 4 o’clock in the morning,” he snaps.
“Well, we can’t just stay out here.” I am trying really hard
not to cry.
“I’m sure someone will eventually drive by. We’ll have to try
and stay warm.” There he is again – the manager. Taking over
and taking control.
We climb out of the ditch and stand together on the
shoulder of the deserted highway, shivering in the cold night
air. Time is not our friend. My fingers and toes are already
numb.
Thankfully we see headlights in the distance, drawing
closer. I start bopping like a go-go dancer, waving my arms
wildly and screaming. It works. “He’s spotted us! He’s shifting
down.”
The huge semi applies his brakes but slides right past us,
quickly aborting his attempted stop. He knows instinctively
what lies below. We sure found out pretty darned quick. The
entire highway is like a skating rink. Nothing but black ice!
What we hoped would be our salvation just slides right
on by. Literally. Our hearts sink as we watch the red taillights

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