A real life mystery this morning…will we actually have a severe thunderstorm or will we not? The weatherman is saying the atmosphere is going to be so unstable that it could produce tornadoes! And, he mentioned hail as big as…well, I can’t even fathom. I was out in one hailstorm in my car and I don’t want to be caught out in another!
The very real danger of an approaching storm reminds me of the fictional danger in which Darcy and Flora found themselves in the first Darcy/Flora Cozy Mystery: The Cemetery Club. As these two amateur sleuths drove out of Levi, Oklahoma, during a rainstorm, they noticed a car approaching behind them. At first, they thought it was just someone else heading to Fayetteville, but soon, they found out differently.
Mom twisted around again to look behind us. “They’re coming awfully fast,” she said. “I hope they know about that hill up ahead.”
The big car nudged my bumper. Mom cried, “Oh, my Lord, help us!”
My Passport fish-tailed across the highway. I wrestled with the steering wheel until we were back in the right lane. My face felt stretched over my bones and I tasted blood where I had bit my lip. Gritting my teeth, I muttered, “I can’t let him pass me.” Newspaper stories about criminals forcing people off the road flitted through my mind.
The other car’s headlights grew larger in the rearview mirror. He was going to bump us again. “Hang on!” I hissed and hit the accelerator. The Passport surged forward. A highway sign cautioning that the speed limit was twenty-five miles per hour, flashed by in a blur. Behind us, our tormentor came again so quickly that we seemed not to be moving at all. In spite of my best efforts, the big car was going to pass. He pulled into the left lane and came up beside us. Nose to nose, the sedan was pacing me. Even more horrifying, that heavy car was edging over the yellow center line. His passenger door was much too close to my Passport.
Scooting even further toward the ditch, I glanced at my mother who was clutching the dashboard and praying.
A brilliant bolt of lightning sliced the sky, hovering long enough to make trees beside the highway stand out for a split second like some eerie black and white painting. In that instant, I saw inside the metal bulk beside us. The car contained, not one man, but two.
Tires screamed as I struggled to stay on the pavement. We careened around the first curve down Deertrack Hill,the guard rail only inches away and below that, the Ventris River.
Terror settled into a cold, hard knot of fury in the pit of my stomach. This evil being who was trying to force me off the road would not win! We had only one chance, a slim one. Hoping that we would be among the lucky ranks of people who survived a plunge down Deertrack Hill, I determined that yes, we would go over, but not sideways. We were going over the hill nose first.
“Hang on!” I yelled and stomped the accelerator, wrenching the steering wheel to the right. The Passport lurched up and over the new guardrail. The last thing I heard was the sound of that rail snapping like a popsickle stick.
What happened next? The only way I know to find out is to read the next chapter.
But, getting back to the real life danger that may come our way today, we can watch the sky, be prepared and pray. As in all things, the Lord is our only real protection.
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