Shouldn\u2019t have tried a shortcut. I slap the navigation again, but the screen remains dark. Shoulda charged my phone at home. Shoulda bought a car charger. Shoulda shoulda shoulda. Now I\u2019ll miss the start of the game<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hurry into the Easy Mart and ask the\nlady how to get back to the highway. She tells me to bear right at the drowning\nman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
… I creep along for about five\nminutes till I see him. Fortunately. His head barely turtles above the surface\nof a river running alongside the road. There\u2019s a left curve and both a soft and\nhard right. Which right do I take? I pull over and go to the river. \u201cCan you\nhear me?\u201d I shout, noticing the flow rippling around his ears. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tilting his head back so his mouth is\nclear of the water, he says something I can\u2019t make out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I yell more loudly and punch each\nword. \u201cWhich … way … to … the …\nhigh … way?\u201d No response. I stand tall and stretch my arm left, a little\nright, then far right. The man starts to speak, but, just my luck, goes under.\nI don\u2019t have time for this. I turn to go, but hear him sputtering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drowning man works his mouth, but\nonly a stream of water comes out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSay again?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He gasps one word. I think it\u2019s\n\u201cLeft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLeft? The woman at the Easy Mart said\nbear right.\u201d The man\u2019s eyes look glassy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have to make a choice. I read you\ncan believe a dying declaration, so I opt for left. I give the man a thumbs up\nand white rabbit myself to the car. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I go along, the asphalt smithereens\nto gravel. The road snakes and narrows. Maybe I misheard the drowning man, or\nhe wasn\u2019t thinking clearly. Gravel becomes dirt. Ruts wrench me to a crawl.\nI\u2019ll be lucky to catch half the game. Tree limbs claw the car. There\u2019s no place\nto turn around. My arms throb from squeezing the steering wheel. I gasp for\nbreath. My head spins. I\u2019m about to pass out when I break into a clearing, and\nthe road widens. I tell myself to hold on. After a few minutes I\u2019m back on\nasphalt. Still dizzy though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stop and notice the river alongside\nthe road. I hate to lose any more time, but could use a splash on my face. I\nstumble to the bank, lose my balance and tumble in. The current pulls me out\nand slams me into a rock. Too hurt to swim, I can barely keep my head above\nwater. My life flashes before my eyes. Suddenly a man appears on the bank. I\u2019m\nsaved! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I cry for help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man stands tall and faces left, a\nlittle right, then far right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shouldn\u2019t have tried a shortcut. I slap the navigation again, but the screen remains dark. Shoulda charged my phone at home. Shoulda bought a car charger. Shoulda shoulda shoulda. Now I\u2019ll miss the start of the game I hurry into the Easy Mart and ask the lady how to get back to the highway. She … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa867U-uh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1878,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877\/revisions\/1878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
David Henson and his wife have lived in Brussels, Belgium and Hong Kong over the years and now reside in Peoria, Illinois with their dog Annabelle, who likes to walk them in the woods. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"