“Open my heart, dear Lord, and guide me. Help me to know how to proceed,” Celeste whispered as she stared out at the dark road. It was midnight, her tire was flat, and she was twenty miles from the nearest town.
She looked at the thermometer on her dashboard – 27 degrees – and the sky was clear, white stars sparkling on midnight blue. Snow lay in patches on the ground, remnants of a storm earlier in the week.
Celeste tried her cell phone again, but again there were no bars showing and the roaming feature wouldn’t activate. “These damn mountains,” she said aloud. “No reception ever.”
She checked her gas gauge. An eighth of a tank. “Damn it!” Even if she drove on her flat tire, she’d never get all the way to Idyllwild. It was just too far. Plus, the road was windy and icy. It was insanity to think she could safely navigate around those curves with her flat.
She drummed her fingers, weighing her option. She could get out and try to change the tire. But it was cold, she was in heels, and she didn’t have a flashlight. Plus, she’d never changed a flat on this car before. The probability that she would be successful was pretty close to zero. “Okay,” she said, feeling slightly calmer hearing her own voice, “that option is out. What else can I do?”
She looked up and down the desolate road. Not one car in sight; not one house off in any direction. She pulled her coat tight around her, feeling the chill of the night seeping in. “I guess I have to wait until morning and wave someone down then.”
Celeste thought of her mom and dad, who she’d just left in LA. They had warned her about starting out late. “It’s bad enough that you’re going up to a town where you’ve never been before by yourself for a week, but to leave late is just asking for trouble.” She’d headed out mid-afternoon, but the traffic was terrible and then she was hungry – thank God she’d stopped in Banning at that Del Taco – and then she had the bright idea to go to Target for an hour and so. Now here she was out on this road with no option but to hang tight.
She twisted around to the back seat and opened her suitcase, glad she’d put it there instead of in the trunk. “I don’t want to get out,” she said, then a minute later realized she needed to pee. “Oh, damn it!” she said as she slipped heavy soaks on her feet and traded her skirt for two pairs of sweat pants. She slipped a heavy sweatshirt over her head and then reached for her tennis shoes. She was just tying them when she saw a pair of headlights coming up the hill. “Oh, yes!” she shouted and then scrambled out of the car. Maybe whoever it was would stop and help her.
She was just about to wave the car down, when she considered her situation clearly. She was a woman alone on a dark road in the middle of the night and the person or persons in that car might be fine or they might not. Was she willing to take that chance?
She pulled the car door open and slid back into the driver’s seat, slamming the door and locking it just as the car came upon her. She was sliding down the seat when the car slowed down, then pulled up in front of her car and stopped. Celeste’s heart went into overtime, pounding like a bass drum, as she replayed a dozen scenes from horror movies based exactly on this premise. She jumped when a flashlight clicked on and all she saw was a bright white beam illuminating the car.
Then came a knock and a male voice saying, “Hello! Are you all right in there?” She took a deep breath, knowing she had to do something, so she raised her head and said, “Please turn off your light.”
The light switched off and Celeste could see the form of a male standing outside her car window. “Oh, dear Lord,” she said under her breath. “Please help me.”
The man knocked again. “Hello. I see you have a flat. Can I help you with that?”
Celeste ran through all the scenarios that those words conjured. She would have to get out of the car. He would grab her and drag her off to his car where he would take her somewhere and torture her before raping and then killing her. She began to shake, not from the cold, but from complete fear. “No, I’m fine. Thanks anyway. You can go on. My boyfriend is on his way now.”
The man stood up. “Ma’am, let me change your tire. I could do that for you and then it’ll be fixed when your boyfriend gets here.”
Another ploy, Celeste thought. “No, I’m fine, really.”
The man sighed. “I realize you’re feeling vulnerable. I can change your tire with you staying in the car. All you have to do is open the trunk.”
That sounded reasonable. Maybe he wasn’t some sort of ax murderer. “That is very kind,” she said. “I’ll push the button in here.”
She pushed the button. She heard the click. She sat back while the man rummaged in her trunk. Never again will I put myself in this kind of situation. Never again, she was thinking when she felt the car hike up on one side and then the jerk as one tire when off and the other went on. The car slowly went back down to normal and she thought, “Okay, now he’s done. I can go.”
The man slammed the trunk and came back to the window. “I have bad news,” he said. “Your other tire is flat, too.”
Celeste leaned her head back. Of course, her ex-boyfriend had borrowed her car just a few weeks ago. He mentioned a flat, but said he’s had it repaired. Obviously, he hadn’t. Just one more reason he was now her ex-boyfriend. “Okay,” she said, “I’m so sorry. I’ll just sit here, thanks. Sorry for your trouble.”
The man shrugged then headed for his car. He started up his engine and Celeste watched as he headed on up the hill, his lights finally disappearing around a bend.
Thirty minutes passed. It was getting colder by the second. Celeste sat huddled in her seat, shivering. Then she saw lights coming back down the hill, followed by another car. “Oh, no,” she said aloud. “He’s come back and this time, he’s brought friends.
The car pulled up in front of her car, its lights shining in through the front glass. The other car whipped around and pulled in behind her car, its lights shining in through her back glass. Celeste found herself shaking uncontrollable. This was it. This was worse than she’d imagined.
Just then, red and blue lights began to swirl from the car behind her. The man who had initially helped her was standing at her window accompanied by a police officer. “It’s all right, ma’am,” her rescuer said. “I’ve brought help.”
The uniformed man smiled through the window. “Joe here called us as soon as he had service and brought us back. Nothing to fear, young lady.”
Celeste sighed. She unlocked her car and stepped out. Twenty minutes later, she was standing in the lobby of a local motel with the police officer and “Joe.”
While she checked in for the night, the two men stood back chatting with one another. “I hope your wife gets better soon,” the policeman was saying to Joe. “It’s a shame she’s suffered so much.”
Celeste turned to thank them both. The officer smiled and left. Joe stood for just a moment before digging into his pocket for his keys. “Thank you so much,” Celeste said, reaching out her hand.
Joe, a beefy man of fifty, covered his hand with hers. “I have a daughter your age, and I lie in bed at night worried what might happen if she ever found herself in the situation you were in. Helping is the least I could do.”
“You are a good man, Joe. I’m lucky it was you who came along.” “I was coming back from the hospital. My wife has been very sick.” His blue eyes blurred with tears. “I’m not sure she’s going to make it.”
Celeste saw the pain in his face. His vulnerability was palpable. She reached out and gave him a hug. “I am so sorry. Is there anything I could do to help?”
He pulled on his wool cap and headed for the door. “Get that spare fixed, young lady. Don’t make me worry about you, too.”
Celeste watched him as he climbed in his truck and drove away. She knew how lucky she had been. She offered a prayer as his headlights disappeared into the night. “Thank you, Lord, for the good people in this world. And please, help Joe’s wife to get well.”
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