A Change of Wind

O n e

"I can't believe this..."
"Dear it's not too late to go back, I'm sure we can catch a flight back home—-"
"I CANNOT fucking believe this....."
"Edith, Language."

I leaned back against the car next to Ruth who kept using a piece of paper from the cooking book she Carry around as a fan; trying to get us some air. I exhaled deeply and sighed thinking of a way to get to the estate, we have been standing outside the car We rented, in the middle of a deserted road in the killing heat of summer for almost half an hour now.

It turned out that I was wrong and there are no directions that lead to the estate on the GPS, and now I have to come up with something.

"This, this isn't going to work! There are no useful directions here! Ugh.. if only we can—-"
My mouth closed shut at the sight of a car slowing down and stopping next to ours, both Ruth and I glance at each other before looking at the man with the cowboy hat in the driver's seat.

"Ladies, got any trouble there?" The man asked as his window rolled down.

A sigh of relief escaped my mouth and I smiled at the man. "Yes! We are actually—"

"No! No no," Ruth gasped next to me as she jumped and started hushing me.
"What? What do you mean no we— "

She pulled me back and fake-smiled at the man. "Ah haha, no we are good! You can keep going now, thank you." She answered him. My eyes widened at her response as my mouth fell open and before I can say anything else the man gave us a nod and drove off.

"What...what was that! We needed directions! He could've helped us!"
She waited till the man was out of sight and shook her head at me.
"Oh no, dear I've seen enough of those movies and documentaries to know never to trust small town people!" She hissed. "I did not like the look in his eyes." She shook her head.

"He looked like a nice man! You just never like anyone.."I rolled my eyes.

"Can't trust anyone these days! You've heard about the type of people your father went against in court, who would've thought that nice elementary teacher would snap and god, kill her own children! You could never be too careful." She explained.

"Well that is different, and we seriously need help and it's not like we were gonna ride with him or anything..." I announced as I pulled away from the car.
"Come on, we are not gonna get anywhere if we stay here." I opened the passenger seat and got inside with Ruth following and getting into the driver seat.

"And where to? We have no directions." She asked starting the car.
I leaned back into the seat and looked up the directions to the town. "To town, we are gonna ask for directions there...after we find someone trustworthy enough in your eyes."
"Very well." she nodded and started driving.

"You know, you might think I'm exaggerating, however dear,  I assure you that—-"
And so on, as we drove to town I had the pleasure of listening to a whole lecture by Ruth about stranger danger. Although it is true, you can never be too careful and aware, however, you can't keep living in fear as well.

It didn't take us long to reach the small town, which wasn't too small at all. We drove around taking in the different scenery, stores, and shops. As we drove by what looked like a small coffee shop I mentioned to Ruth to pull over. "Look It's a coffee shop! We ask for directions there."

"Oh Let us get some coffee as well." She nodded and pulled over to the side of the road.

The bell above the door ranged as we walked into the small cute coffee shop, with a smile on my face I took a quick look around before walking toward the counter, with Ruth behind.
"Hi! What can I get for you today?~" the smiling young girl behind the register asked me.