DRAUMRS - Dreamweavers Among Us

7 - Going Up

When they finally cleared the gravel road shortcut and turned north on the Highway 11, Will breathed a small sigh of relief. He shifted position to stretch out and relax a little more. It was still early, maybe even a little more sleep was still in order. The ride north would take at least another couple hours just to get to the gas station and he was pretty sure that they were traveling on beyond that directly to the lake.

Rest though, now didn't come easily. Not ten miles up the highway and Water called a pit stop.

"Ep'r, pull over, right here!" Water said suddenly, like there was some urgency in him getting out of the truck right away.

Without signaling, Jack jerked the truck across to the slow lane and just as quickly heaved the wheel right again and made a fishtailing sliding stop in the loose gravel of the shoulder. A chorus of horns dopplered by them. Whether he knew the other cars were there and didn't care or just wasn't aware at all, his driving only confirmed Will's opinion that he should have his license revoked, soon. At least he hadn't taken anyone else with them.

Water bailed out of the truck, hopped over the guard rail and was scrambling down the embankment into the ditch. Except for his grey pony tail, from the back he could have been 50. He moved quickly along the ditch and back under a side road underpass, disappearing entirely from sight.

The other two got out to stretch. "Guess he's got to take a dump?" quipped Jack, now standing alongside Will, looking down toward the ditch. "Kind of a dumb place though," he continued looking down the hill. "The road down there is busier than the highway."

Sure enough, there was a lot of traffic moving along the secondary road below them. Mostly, it was cars coming up to the on-ramps on both sides of the highway. But many others were headed down the road to houses and businesses along a nearby lakefront. There would be lots of moms and kids who would be more than a little surprised by an old man squatting beside the road.

Water didn't return. After ten more minutes, Will and Jack jumped the guard rail, slid their way down the embankment and followed his path to the underpass. He wasn't there. He hadn't walked back out in their direction and the road under the bridge didn't appear to lead to anything nearby going the other way. He had just vanished.

Will looked up and down again while considering their options. Water didn't carry a cellphone. He always seemed to call you from his house or office just before you were planning to try to get hold of him. They could wait here, but that would just add further delay in finding him if he had wandered off in the wrong direction.

Will was also conscious that they were two, fairly grubby, 'bloods' standing at the side of the road in exactly the spot where two guys might stand if they were trying to hitch a ride up the highway. He picked up glances from some of the passing drivers. Just curiosity probably, but it wouldn't take much more than curiosity to have a provincial cop pull over to give them a more thorough look. Nothing about that was necessarily bad. He might even ask the friendly constable if he had seen Water wandering around. Except, of course, he was with Jack.

J.E. Green, to his associates, knew every statute and article of the law a lot better than your average patrol cop and he couldn't resist baiting just about anybody in authority. If they wanted to get anywhere today, it was better not to start that conversation.

"Maybe I should go up and get the truck?" Will suggested, but Jack wasn't paying attention. He was squatted down on his haunches and appeared to be studying tracks on the ground.

"There's a smoking butt here," said Jack, pointing to an un-crushed cigarette butt just burning down to the filter.

Will bent over and looked at the butt. It didn't have a long ash. It had been lying there less than five minutes. Water didn't smoke, so there had been someone else here about the same time as he had passed through.