A quote: “It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.” ~~ Mark Twain
I’ll start with a story …
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Waiting at dusk was the worst.
He glanced toward the couple, then back to his binoculars.
They were young, in love and so very stupid. She was pregnant without a license.
In the distance was a lone tourist stop. Ostensibly surviving on the novelty of having gas pumps, handmade tchotchkes and the best coffeecake across three counties.
It was also a waystation. He’d deliver the couple and others would do the next steps to Liberty.
His kids wanted him to quit, but … no. Years ago, he and his bride were that stupid couple. Time to pay it forward.
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Now, it’s your turn.
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. featured image, cropped Adobe Stock standard license
GWB says: As the ugly yellow light for “Almost to Empty” continued to glare from the dash, she saw the little gas station approaching. It looked deserted. It was the only building for miles and miles and it looked dark inside. She was going to run out of gas, stranded here. And if the four-legged coyotes didn’t get her in the night, she just knew the two-legged wolves would get her in the morning. Please, please, PLEASE have automated pumps!
She coasted to a stop in front of the modern-looking pumps, her car coughing as it ran out of fuel.
They read “Out of Service”. She was going to die out here. She’d roast during the day. She’d…
The tap on her window scared her witless. If she hadn’t still been wearing the seatbelt she might have gone through the roof. A old man looked into her passenger window. She could barely hear his voice through the window, “Can I help you, ma’am?”
She rolled down the window the least she thought polite, and in a trembling voice said “I’m out of gas. Is the station open?”
He simply replied, “I’ll get you filled up. Don’t get out, just pop the cover.”
She did, and he stood there as the pump put gas in her car. After what seemed too short of a time, he put the hose away and stepped back up to her window. “You’re all good. Be on your way now.”
Still frightened and baffled, she rolled the window up and started the car. The tank read Full. She waved and began to pull away.
It caught her eye as she pulled away that the pumps still read “Out of Service” in that weird yellowish digital glow. And, as she looked back, the man was nowhere to be seen. As she crested the next slight rise, she looked back once again. The service station had disappeared from sight. Not too far away or over the hill. Gone. As if it had never existed.
(probably over 100, but /shrug/ )
GWB says: Forgotten sentence:
“…nowhere to be seen. And she realized she had not even paid for the gas. As she crested…”
Cameron says: “(probably over 100, but /shrug/ )”
Bah! It’s still a good story.
Cameron says: “You had it all.”
My shrug indicated my indifference. “I know.”
“And you gave it up for this?” His hands took in the gas station and the landscape.
I smiled. “Back in the city, I was just another worker. Out here, I’m someone who fills up gas tanks and feeds hungry people. I keep my own hours, and have a nice view.”
“Honestly wish I could understand how you could walk away.”
I offered him a Coke from my cooler and we watched the sun set.
“When you miss your child’s birthday because someone needed a spreadsheet done, you will.”
GWB says: Excellent
This is crazy. Connor Westin scanned the horizon for any sign of their quarry, or of pursuit.
He’d never signed on to be part of a cross-country chase, like something straight out of the caper movies he’d loved to watch as a kid. The plan was for him to keep an eye on Marshal Gruzinsky and his irreconcileables while they retrieved the Blake kid and his quantum processor chip. A quick mission, in and out and back home, and he could stop playing zampolit and go back to his regular life.
But he’d been out of the Navy long enough to forget one of the cardinal rules of warfare: the first casualty of contact with the enemy is the battle plan. And it was happening, in spades. A scuffle with some local bullies had convinced Blake and the local girl he’d befriended that their rescuers were in fact the enemy — just in time to alert the actual Feds who’d been sent to retrieve that chip.
Now he was riding shotgun as the team tried to catch up with Blake and somehow win his confidence. But Special Agents Horn and Madison were still on their trail, in spite of every effort to throw those two off — which meant any connection with Blake had to e quick and certain. The last thing they needed was a lengthy argument that let Horn and Madison walk right up and bag them.
Ahead he could see the canopy of a gas station. Should they stop long enough to get some gas, or press on and hope that they’d find another station before they got too low?
As they drew closer, he could see the decision had already been made for them. In the gathering twilight, the lights should be coming on — but the place was still dark. It might just be a power failure, or the store could’ve gone out of business.
Or it could be a trap. They’d come far too close twice already.
Next open gas station they found, they filled up. With luck, it’d give them enough range to find Blake and convince him they were on the side of the angels, and not the henchmen of a Russian mafiya boss.
GWB says: Also nice!
Lewis says: “He was tellin’ the truth, Ma! It’s there!”
I waited til we got inside as the old guy at the outside table told us to help ourselves to anything we needed. Pa stuffed a sack and I looked around. Prowling all the way into the recesses I finally found the old
display shoved into a corner, I pulled it out into the aisle spinning it around.
I stuffed my pockets with various strengths, not just my own, and headed back to the front. I agreed we needed to leave something, so we got the box of veggies from the cart!
Pa grinned at me as I wrote out the thank you note! The specs were just right and my handwriting finally looked like I knew what I was doing! Not exactly my style but dang, it was so good to see again and anyway, we don’t own a mirror anymore so who cares if they’re covered with rhinestones and look like clown wear! Thanks, friend, enjoy the veggies!
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