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Excerpt From

“Because You Asked”

Unplanned Drama -

Page 129

… Why did I persist in these solo adventures? Here I was an hour’s drive from home and that would be on a good day. There was no way of knowing how long it would take me today. I glanced at the grey sky. Dusk was less than an hour away and I was not a good nighttime driver.

Quickly I swept off the accumulation of snow. In spite of the cold, the car started at the first turn of the key. I tugged on my stiff, cold boots as I waited for the motor to warm. Periodic gusts of wind coaxed changes in the contours of the drifts in front of me. The development of those devious plots that had started brewing in my mind at the workshop would have to wait. I needed to concentrate on my driving for this trip home.

Tires spinning, I veered out of the parking lot. “ Too much gas, Leadfoot,” I said to myself. I eased up on the gas pedal.

For the past week I had been convinced that winter was making its exit. Now I was an unwilling participant in its encore. I did not even have a shovel.

I knew about ten miles of easy driving was ahead before I would have to venture onto the major highway and its challenges. Snowplows had recently been out and I focused on keeping inside the bank on my right. The windshield wipers battled with the snowflakes that were increasing both in size and intensity.

I turned on the radio. The newscast blared, followed by the weather report.

“A major winter storm is threatening our area. Motorists are warned to stay off the road unless the trip is urgent. Four inches of snow fell last night and that much is expected again tonight but it will be an accumulation of wet snow that will make driving hazardous.”

I gripped the steering wheel. My stomach tightened. My throat ached. The on-ramp to the dreaded highway was just up ahead. I had no choice. I had nowhere to stay and no telephone to use.

Signalling my intent, I waited for the highway traffic to break, letting me merge with the challengers. Were all these cars making urgent trips?

The car slewed as I pulled into the right lane. Wet snow splattered relentlessly against the windshield. The drivers that I had joined continued driving at top speed, pulling out and passing me. I knew I was driving irritatingly slowly. People were anxious to get home to an evening meal and the security of their living rooms. Checking my rearview mirror, I acknowledged with some misgivings that I was alone in this lane. Everyone else had zoomed past. On this isolated stretch of highway, there wasn’t a building for miles.

The visibility was poor. I could only guess where the yellow line was, but the vehicles I was meeting were still driving recklessly. My little car shook from the rush of the wind as each speeding vehicle met me and vanished. I shook too, wishing that each motorist would be the last.

Suddenly I was looking at a huge passenger bus approaching. Without warning my wheels caught in ...