Passing Light.



He begins to curse to himself just under his breath as he feels the Mercedes begin to involuntarily slow down, and then the steering wheel almost jerks itself from out of his hands as the right front tire blows out sending the vehicle into a slight veer, just as the engine stalls. Jacob Tinsel has never been one to put a lot of stock into coincidence, What are the odds that he would run out of gas and have a blow out at the same exact time here on highway 10 in the land of crows. The Mercedes slowly rolls to a stop as the rain begins to pour down, surely now he wouldn’t make to Uniontown for the business meeting that had brought him this way in the first place. He finds many things have cursed him this night, and when the pair of headlights suddenly appear as if from thin air behind him, he almost jumps out of his skin.

Empty Reflections.



He cautiously eyes the dark figure as it approaches the drivers side of the Mercedes, Illuminated by the headlights behind him, the figure taps lightly on the window, and when Jacob Rolls it down he is almost relieved to see the elderly gentleman standing by the door in the pouring rain.
“Howdy Young feller, got yourself some car trouble do ya?”
He looks the older man up and down carefully.
“Yessir, I had a blowout and I ran out of gas at the same time.”
The old man explains to him that his name is Chet Hardaway and he runs the filling station about four miles up the road, and although his tow truck was broke down he did have his service truck and he could remove the flat tire for Jacob and they could both go to the gas station where his wife also operated a diner. And Jacob could get himself something to eat while Chet fixed the tire and filled up a five gallon gas can to take back to the car. Jacob reluctantly agrees, and soon they are riding in Chet’s 54 Studebaker truck to the gas station diner, the whole place seems out of sorts to him but cozy, and he enters the diner where Chet instructs the pretty young waitress to get the young man some dinner, the older woman behind the counter he figures to be Chet’s wife. He watches the old man disappear into the rain as the sexy young waitress brings him his dinner, He takes it all in as she flirts with him almost openly until what seems like mere seconds later, Chet Hardaway reappears in the doorway. He tells Jacob that the tire is fixed and he has filled up a five gallon can of gas for the Mercedes. He finishes his dinner and smiles at the waitress as he leaves the diner to return to the Mercedes, where Chet fixes the tire and fills the gas tank.
“Start er up and your all ready to go son.”
He watches as Chet returns to the Studebaker and pulls back out onto Crows Crossing Road. It is then that Jacob Realizes that he hadn’t paid for any of it, so he follows behind Chet to the gas station/ diner until the tail lights of the truck disappear into the dark rainy night.. Jacob is certain that he remembers where the Gas station is so he presses on until he see the lights and pulls in.. the Studebaker sits by the open garage door and when Jacob enters, he makes a chilling discovery, as Chet Hardaway’s body lay dead on the floor with two gunshot wounds, one to the head and one to the chest. He returns to the diner to the same scene, the wife and the young waitress both gunned down the phone ripped off of the wall. Now panic stricken, Jacob returns to the Mercedes and drives off into the rainy night to find help.

Revelation for one.



He finds a highway Patrolman at Junction 22 at a all night Truckstop, and now on the verge of an all out panic attack he blurts out what happened to the stunned highway patrolman. He tells him about the flat tire, he tells him about the gas station, he tells them about Chet Hardaway.
The officer tries to calm the obviously shaken Jacob Tinsel..
“Son, you need to calm down.. Every cop, every Highway patrolman on Crows Crossing knows what happened to Chet Hardaway and them two gals.. But son I think that you’re a little confused.. You couldn’t have possibly just met Chet and his wife let alone that sweet little waitress.”
“But I did! And They’ve all been-”
“Son.” the officer interrupts. “Chet and those two gals were murdered over forty years ago.”
Unable to accept the officers explanation he drives back to the Hardaway Station. Only this time he finds a decaying old and abandoned building. With no lights, no truck and no nothing. He stands alone in the rain, confused unable to understand what has just happened to him. Unable to grasp that such is life… and death… here on Crows Crossing Road.

Scratch. © 2007.