THREE
I HEARD A rumble and a roar and sat up fast. Had I been sleeping?
"What in the world..." Mama said.
The sun beamed through the windows of the Chevy.
A wide-faced woman smiled and waved at us.
"You are two lucky ladies. another inch and you'da been, well..." She shook her head and pointed down. I looked out my side of the car. The Chevy had stopped as close to the side of a cliff as a car could without tumbling off.
Mama grabbed my hand. "We're not going to panic!"
I am!
The wide-faced woman said, "Don't worry. You're in the hands of Gotcha Towing." She was standing by a tow truck, wearing a red shirt with white lettering that I couldn't make out. "We're going to nudge up to your car a little bit and yank you out of there. Put her in neutral nice and easy." She slapped the side of tow truck.
"All right, Lester, do your magic."
I held my breath.
The tow truck backed up slowly. the woman attached a big chain to the front of the Chevy.
"Gotcha!" she shouted at us. "Hold on tight now."
Mama held my hand so tight I though it might break.
And the strength of that truck moved us out of danger.
"Okay, girls, you're clear!"
Mama's hands were shaking as she pulled me across the drivers seat and out of the car.
"Somebody was watching over you," the woman said.
"These mountain roads get nasty."
"Thank you kindly for what you did." Mama touched her swollen eye.
"That's what we're here for. I'm Kitty. That handsome thing in the truck is my Lester." Kitty was looking at Mama's bad eye. "That's a decent bruise you've got there."
"I'm all right."
"Where you folks headed?"
"Obviously a little too close to the edge."
Kitty laughed. "We all do that from time to time."
"Where's the closest town?" Mama asked.
"That's Culpepper. Twenty minutes due north. Lester and I live there."
I asked the big question. "You got any Elvis impersonators?"
She laughed. "Not a one."
I elbowed Mama.
"We'll head up to Culpepper," Mama said. "But first, I need to pay you."
Kitty shook her head. "No charge."
"Oh no, you saved us."
"If you need towing or you know someone who does, you call us." She gave her a card.
Mama asked her if she knew of a cheap place to stay.
"There's a motel down from the prison."
Prison? I elbowed Mama again.
"Not too cheap, though," Lester said from the truck.
Maybe we should talk more about this prison.
"The motels on Route One just pass the Arby's and Pizza Hut. We never had those places till that spanking new prison came to town."
"Pizza Hut's got Wednesday specials," Lester said.
