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I'm in! I'll take the trifecta.
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Mar 10, 2022 02:17
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 00:31 |
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A Long Bumpy Road 1473 words A bumbling taxi driver and his irritable passengers stall out at an off-road summer camp and must escape a coming flood. Barry checked his phone for the fifth time in as many minutes. The trip timer on the rideshare app was still counting up, despite them having left cell service a few miles back. More disturbing to him was that they were now at minute 40 of what was supposed to be a 20 minute trip to the wedding venue. Glancing right, his girlfriend Mish was silently staring out the window at the dense pine forest. She had wanted to catch a ride with Barry’s family that morning, but Barry had woken up hungover and insisted that sleeping in and catching a cab later would be fine. Leaning forward he tapped the driver's shoulder. “Are you sure we aren’t lost?” The driver looked back and rasped out a laugh. “Not as lost as the time I rushed the Duke of Wellington to his daughter’s piano recital in rush hour!” “Please keep your eyes on the road.” Mish coldly reminded the cabbie. “Right, of course miss.” Geordie blushed and turned his eyes back to the road. He had been the only car for hire in Winter Park. The app said his name was George, but he had introduced himself as Geordie. “Georgie?” “Geordie! A nickname from me ma. I used to drive black cabs in London, you know. Now, where are we headed?” “Devil’s Thumb Ranch. My brother is getting married today.” “Ooh that’s a ritzy destination. Almost as fancy as Buckingham Palace eh?” He had tilted back his head then, and barked a laugh somewhere between a seal and sandpaper. Mish gave Barry a sharp glare. The first, but not the last of the night. As the cab continued to rattle down the mountain road, Geordie kept prattering on to himself about landmarks and old London fares. The presence of his high, nasally voice only underscored the silence between Barry and Mish. Outside the car, the already rough road continued to deteriorate further. Larger and larger potholes appeared in the road. At some point the asphalt just ran out all-together, and suddenly the crew was bumping along on red, washboard dirt. Instead of swerving to avoid potholes, Geordie was having to navigate around larger and larger rocks. The already slow pace dragged to a crawl up the mountain. After what felt like hours, in-spite of the app’s insistence it had only been 10 minutes, the cab finally crested the ascent. A few minutes later they were out of the forest and traveling across a mountain glen. A large reservoir dominated the view, while a rustic lodge and a handful of log cabins filled in the space below it. Dark storm clouds in the western sky provided a dramatic backdrop for the whole scene. With all eyes on the view, no one noticed the large rock sticking out of the road until the sound of shearing metal filled the air. The car continued on but Barry looked back and saw a smear of oil trailing behind them on the road, like blood from a wounded animal. “Uh, Geordie, I think we may be in trouble.” “Nonsense, we can power through this. I’ve been in worse. Cars like this are made to take a beating and keep on chugging.” Half a mile later the car groaned to a stop. Without missing a beat, Mish hopped out of the car. “Imgoingtogethelp” and made a bee-line for the lodge. Her heels sank into the mud every few steps, but she was still halfway across the glen before Geordie or Barry were even out of the car. Geordie popped the hood and began grumbling to himself while banging on things with a small wrench. Barry looked mournfully at the long black streak stretching out behind the car. “Do you think the car might be out of oil?” “No way, I topped off the oil this morning. Must be something with the carburetor.” “I’m going to follow my girlfriend then and see if we can get some help.” Barry followed the Mish’s footsteps across the tall-grass of the glen, cursing the mud and the sky and himself the whole way. As he approached the campground he felt a few drops of water on his head. Looking up he was surprised to find the storm clouds looked darker still. Mish was already talking to someone in front of the lodge. She looked to be about college age and was dressed in the olive green khaki of a ranger. They were laughing about something when the ranger pointed at Barry. Mish turned and the smile immediately dropped off her face. Lightning boomed and the scattered drops of rain instantly turned into a downpour. The trio sidestepped under the awning of the lodge. “Barry, this is Stacy, she’s a counselor here at Crooked Creek. It seems our fearless cabbie has taken us up the opposite side of the valley from the venue.” Stacy put her hand out. She was 3 inches taller than Barry and looked like she’d grown up on a Wisconsin dairy farm. Her grip was certainly strong enough. “Hiya Barry, nice to meet ya. Shame about your situation.” “There’s a landline in the back office we can use. I’m going to call your mom and see if she can’t send someone from the wedding to pick us up. If we’re lucky we might be able to get there before dinner is served.” “But what about Geordie?” “What about me?” The trio turned to look at him as he squished through the mud towards the lodge. He was sopping wet, a rare frown on his face. “Barry and I are canceling our fare and getting a ride from someone else. There’s a phone in the office if you need to call for repairs.” Geordie looked like he was about to cry. He swallowed hard and nodded his head. “Aye, I understand. The car seems to be leaking oil and isn’t going to move until we get that fixed. Sorry to have failed ya. I have a phone call to make, I suppose.” There was more squishing and splashing as a kid ran up to the lodge and pointed behind her. “Miss Stacy, is there supposed to be a river running through the middle of camp? It looks like the dam is making it.” The adults followed where the kid was pointing out west. They could see the stream running through the middle of camp. Then followed it back up to the hillside, where a strong jet of water was squirting out into the air. Stacy’s eyes went wide. “Aww gently caress, the dam’s burst. Everyone needs to get to higher ground.” She pointed at a rocky outcropping on the other side of the campground. “Kelly, help me round up the others.” With that Stacy and the kid ran off towards the other. A few seconds passed before the other three bolted off towards the high rocks. Geordie was surprisingly swift and pulled ahead of the head couple. But Mish kept stopping every few feet as her heels got caught in the mud. “Can’t you take those off?” “I’m not going to abandon my Versace heels to get washed away in the rain.” “Fine, then let me carry you. Barry bent down and his girlfriend hopped up on his back. Within 30 seconds they had caught back up to the cabbie who was directing a flowing herd of children up the rocky outcropping. “Right this way lads and lassies, get as high as you can. No pushing, no horsing around.” A rumbling filled the air, followed by the sound of air and mud rushing to fill a vacuum. Some kids screamed while others cheered. Water rushed down through the campground, towards the rocky outcropping. Climbing higher and higher. Barry and Mish were the last to work their way up. Barry heard a scream and turned around without thinking, grabbing Mish before she slipped off into the rushing water. Finally they got to the top with Geordie, Stacy, and all of the kids. Soaked but safe, everyone watched the dirt and mud and log cabins and even Geordies stalled car wash down the side of the mountain. Eventually the rain stopped, the sun came out, and a rainbow spread out across the submerged glen. Barry laid down in a spot and looked up at the clouds floating by overhead, thinking about how his life had gotten to this moment. He felt someone lay down next to him. He smelled Mish’s perfume. “Thanks for making sure I didn’t end up getting washed away in the flood, Barry.” “Sorry for not listening to you this morning, Mish.” Somewhere behind them, they could hear Geordie bragging to Stacy about how he used to be a black cab driver in London. A long silence sat between them. Mish reached out her hand and grabbed Barry’s, squeezing it gently.
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Mar 14, 2022 04:35
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