Let’s start up story #1 from where Beth is in the ditch. This is where I wanted to start yesterday, but I needed to tell some backstory first.
Beth laid in a crumpled ball in the ditch. Slightly wet with the night dew. A little smelly–there were cattle nearby and she guessed this was somewhat of a runoff–cow poo. Doing a mental body scan, she felt sharp needle pain in her right ankle up through the side of her calf. Wincing, she tried to sit up. Her head hurt a little and she felt dizzy. And fuzzy.
She saw the bright brake lights from the car that was passing her. The one she had haphazardly tried to avoid. A screech of the brakes and the car came to a stop. Or was it a truck? She tried to remember which of the many trucks in town were red with a white stripe down the side.
Beth thought it looked like a Ford–Alec had often said, “we’re a Chevy family,” as if Beth cared at all about car manufacturers. She had grown up without the finances to care. She just knew that Hondas lasted a long time, so the first car she bought was a Honda Civic, white.
Yes, she could see now, the big F O R D letters on the back of the truck. This red and cream Ford truck came to a stop. Two men got out.
“You alright there?” one called to her.
“Um, my ankle is kinda hurt.” she yelled.
“Who is that? Is that that bitch teacher?” the other one whispered to the first one. Beth startled. Suddenly all the hairs stood up on the back of her neck and a shiver went down her spine. Her heart started beating.
As they got closer, Beth recognized the first one as Noah Gunderson which gave her slight relief, but wasn’t sure about the other one. The one who called her the bitch teacher.
Beth tried to sit up. Pulled herself to her knees, but winced and collapsed again. This was embarrassing and also made Beth more uneasy. A townie who clearly wasn’t a fan of hers, and Noah, who surely had resentment for her in-laws. And they were here in the dark. Not another car in sight.
Noah came down the hill as the other man, in boots and a flannel shirt, stood by the truck, arms crossed. “You need some help?” Noah asked.
“Uh, yes, apparently.” Beth answered, still trying to prop herself up. She relaxed a little with Noah’s warm smile.
She took Noah’s hand and he pulled her to her feet. Beth let out a little, “aaaaee,” as she adjusted herself. Yeah that ankle hurt pretty bad now. He helped her hobble back up the hill as the other man stared at her. Beth didn’t like the way he was looking at her, but the pain in her ankle took over her brain at the moment.
Flannel shirt man got a phone call and walked back to the truck as Beth hopped alongside Noah.
“Good thing you’re so close to home, huh?” It really was just up the hill.
“Yes,” Beth responded. She felt a mixture of relief and exhaustion. She just wanted to sit on the couch with Alec and watch one of their game shows.
The pair made it to the truck and Noah opened the back door.
“This way you can prop that ankle up in the back.” Noah said.
Mr. Plaid Shirt was in the truck now, grunting into the phone, one hand on the steering wheel. His jaw was clenched–he was clearly agitated about something. When Beth got in the car, he gave an audible sigh. “Yep. See you soon.”
Clearly picking up a bitch teacher from the side of the road wasn’t in his plans for the night.
“Everything okay, Tim?” Noah asked the plaid man.
Tim grunted at Noah and then shot a look at Beth in the rear-view mirror.
“Hear there was a big meeting tonight.” he shot at Beth.
Confused, Beth looked at him and cautiously said, “Yeah… I guess.”
“And that you screamed at my dad.”
Noah looked over at him, confused. Beth froze. Who was his dad? This guy looked much too old to be associated with the elementary parents. Maybe in his twenties. She didn’t know of any parents having a son that old…
This writing felt a lot better. I actually started writing it immediately after the last post because this was the part I really wanted to write.
So Beth is in a car, basically stuck with two dudes from the town. Things could go a couple of ways, so let’s see what happens next.
NanoWriMo July writing goal update: 4.8k out of 10k words
