Now Wouldn't You Like to Know (7 page)

Right away I instructed Diana to call 911 as I slowed down and pulled over to the shoulder of the road and leaped out of the Navigator to see if I could assist. Running to the back of my SUV, I frantically opened the rear door and grabbed my fire extinguisher, then joined a number of drivers bolting over to where the damaged car rested on its side. Not the least surprised, it was the black Pontiac Firebird that had been speeding and driving recklessly.

A fire suddenly broke out at the rear bottom of the car as I made my approach. Black smoke billowed skyward. While others struggled to free the driver and a passenger, I activated my extinguisher and aimed it at the fire in hopes of putting it out or at least containing it long enough for the occupants inside to be pulled to safety. Thankfully a trucker came charging towards the car with a fire extinguisher in hand as well. Together we were able to douse the fire before it could reach the gas tank and blow. But we were taking no chances. We both backed away once the occupants had been freed.

Within ten minutes state troopers and EMS personnel and fire trucks converged on the scene. Broken glass was everywhere. The smell of gasoline fuel was prominent and sickening. Going over to the area where the car’s occupants were being treated, I caught a glimpse of the two and both looked to be in bad shape. Whether or not they’d survive this senseless tragedy, I had no way of knowing. That was for a higher being to decide.

After the professionals had taken full charge, I turned and headed back towards the Navigator. Diana sat waiting for me in the front seat this time. I walked to the back of the SUV and placed the fire extinguisher on the floor. Walking back up to the front, I opened the door and climbed in beside her.

“Are you alright?” she asked with caring eyes.

“I’m fine,” I replied.

“Do you think the people that were inside of the care are going to be all right?” she asked before I could strap on my seat belt, her voice anxious.

“I don’t know Diana,” I said, exhaling. “They got banged up pretty bad.”

“Could you see how many people were injured?”

“I only saw two, the two that were pulled from the car,” I answered, still in a state of disbelief myself. “But it’s possible there may have been others who got banged up a little in other cars that got rammed by the Pontiac.”

“Any children involved?”

“Naah, I didn’t see any children, thank God. Just a young couple.”

“Are you sure you’re all right?” she asked, touching my arm with her hand and gazing up at me.

“Yeah, I’m all right,” I assured her. “What about you?”

“I’m nervous as hell,” she answered. “That collision shook me up pretty badly. When I called 911 I was talking so fast they couldn’t understand what the hell I was saying. They kept telling me to slow down. I managed to slow down somehow, though.”

“Don’t fret. Everything’s going to be all right,” I assured her as I leaned over and gave her a gentle hug. It was a hug I needed just as much as she needed it.

“Thanks, I really needed that,” she said softly.

Leveling my eyes on hers, I said, “Look, traffic is beginning to pick up. We better get back on the road, okay?”

“Absolutely,” she mumbled as if she was still half-dazed, her eyes fixed on the overturned Firebird a few car lengths ahead of us.

Slowly and carefully, we pulled off the shoulder of the road and merged into traffic passing slowly by, then heading away from the scene of the wreck. I didn’t want to refer to it as an accident because this was preventable.

Once we were underway I waited until I had reached a cruising speed of 60mph before activating the cruise control. Diana’s hand touch my hand after I leaned back to get a little more comfortable. The tenderness of her gesture was just as comforting.

“That was a very courageous thing you did back there Sheldon,” she said, after clearing her throat.

“I just did what I’d want someone else to do if I were in a similar situation.”

“It still took some nerves to go and put out that fire once it started,” she continued. “I mean, that gas tank could have exploded. And I was so afraid that it would.”

“I tried not to think about that, honestly,” I said, looking over at her.

“Just the same, I’m proud of you,” she continued with her thought.

I turned and gazed into her smiling face and said, “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”

“You’re welcomed,” she replied. “I think I am going to try to get some sleep now. Wake me up please when we get around five miles from the border, okay?”

“Sure thing,” I said, reaching back with my free hand and grabbing a pillow for her to rest her head on.

It was another twenty miles before I completely got rid of the jitters and could finally relax. With Diana resting peacefully, I took the liberty of gazing at her from time to time. She actually looked the part of
Sleeping Beauty
. Convinced that she was in a deep sleep, I decided to increase my speed now and start passing cars again. I held back on doing so while she was awake so that she would not have flashbacks of that speeding Firebird just before it crashed. I knew that her nerves were fragile right after that, as well as my own.

A while later I woke her up with a gentle nudging of her shoulder, just as she had requested me to do. Stretching her arms, she yawned and looked up at me.

“Where are we?” she asked, looking about.

“About three miles south of the North Carolina Border,” I answered.

“Wow, we’re really making progress.”

“Yes, we are,” I assured her.

“Hey, did you just see that? We just passed a billboard that read
South of the Border
3 miles. What’s that?” she asked. “South of the Border.”

“It’s a carnival-like stopover for curious and road weary travelers,” I answered. “They have shops and restaurants and amusement rides and even hotels. Why, you want to stop there?”

“Sure, why not, I need to use the ladies room.”

“Okay, we’ll do that,” I said. “Besides, we can sit somewhere under the shade and eat those sandwiches my aunt made for us and the salad we have in the cooler as well.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” she beamed.

“Well, let’s do it,” I said, giving her a high five.

Chapter 6

W
ith less than a mile to go before we arrived at the North Carolina State line a large tower topped by a humongous Mexican sombrero came into view. I told Diana that the towering sombrero signaled the location of the tourist trap called
South of the Border
. She appeared excited. Minutes later we took the exit that guided us into the attraction. The buildings were of a Mexican-styled architecture and were painted in warm earth colored tones, shades of brown and yellow.

Once parked, I stepped out of the SUV and went into the back to retrieve the ice cooler, Diana scrambled to put on her shoes and gather her things. Pulling the visor downward, she checked her hair in the pearl lit visor mirror. Facing me, she said that she was ready.

After a short walk we found a place to sit down in the shade. While I removed the sandwiches and salad from the cooler, Diana went to use the ladies room. When she returned, I went off to use the men’s room. Before exiting the restaurant, I purchased two drinks and a large bag of chips. I rejoined Diana at her side minutes later. She had already begun to eat her sandwich. My aunt had made us deli-cut ham and turkey sandwiches.

“Man, this is so good,” Diana said savoring every bite of her sandwich.

“Yes, it is,” I agreed wholeheartedly. “I have to give it to my aunt, she can throw down when it comes to cooking.”

“Yes she can,” Diana added, taking a sip of her drink. I had bought her a bottle of Peach Snapple.

“Look, I have something I want to ask you Diana,” I said, still chewing my sandwich. “I don’t want to dwell on Jack, but I was curious as to how he knew where to find you yesterday morning?”

“You mean at the bus terminal?”

“Yes. I mean, does he have some sort of GPS system that tracks your comings and goings?” I chuckled.

“The only way he could have tracked me there was through his phone.”

“His phone?”

“Yes. Not long after he fell asleep that night, I attempted to call the bus station to see what their schedule was like for the following day. I had attempted to use my cellphone but discovered that it needed to be charged. So while he was sleeping his drunk off, I took his phone and made the call. I just could not stay another day in that place with him there.”

“I see,” I murmured, weighing her words. “So you think that he found out that you had used his phone by calling the last number listed. No doubt when he called, someone at the bus terminal answered.”

“That’s pretty much what I believed happened,” she said gazing across at me. “I mean, I told no one else where I was going.”

“What about your family up in Brooklyn? They know you are coming up?”

“I called them just before I left home this morning. My phone was charged by then.”

Minutes later we wrapped up dinner and returned the cooler to the Navigator. To counter some of the calories we had digested we decided to walk around. With Diana at my side, we took off on a promenade. From time to time, I’d stop to take pictures of her. A few of them were of Diana as she posed unabashedly, with and without her stylist sunglasses. Like a godsend, an elderly man passing near where we stood taking pictures paused long enough to ask if we wanted him to take a picture of the two of us together. He said he had nothing better to do while he waited for his wife to reemerge from the ladies room.

Diana and I looked at each other, then nodded yes. Walking over to the man I handed him my Vivitar digital camera. After I showed him where to push the aperture button to snap the picture, Diana and I posed together for three photos.

“Thank you sir,” I said as I retrieved my camera from the kind man.

“You have a lovely wife there, young man,” he said with a benevolent smile, adding a warning. “Good women are hard to come by so hold onto yours and don’t ever stop loving her, okay?”

Glancing at the old man and then at Diana, I just nodded my head. I wasn’t sure how he came to believe that we were married but I took it in stride. Together we watched the kind man rejoin his wife then we returned our gaze to each other.

“Now what made him think that we were married?” Diana pondered aloud.

“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging. Hell, I was wondering the same thing myself.”

“From the looks of it, quite a few honeymooners pass through this attraction,” she announced as she surveyed the area.

“That’s right, I forgot about that,” I said, looking about. “A cousin of mine renewed her wedding vows here some years back. Perhaps that’s why he thought we were married. He thought we were possibly on our honeymoon.”

“I don’t know why the old man thought what he thought but what your cousin did sound so romantic.”

“I’m sure it was for her and her husband. I remembered after their vows they headed over to Myrtle Beach for their second honeymoon.”

“A second honeymoon,” Diana murmured.

“Yep.”

“Some couples barely make it pass the first honeymoon,” Diana chuckled.

“That’s so true,” I added.

“Hey, how ‘bout we finish our little walk before we get too sentimental.”

“Sure thing,” I replied.

We soon came upon the
Gulf of Mexico, an 18-hole indoor mini-golf course. We decided to shoot a few holes. When Diana won the first round, I insisted on playing another round. She won that one too. An hour later we resumed our walk.

“Oh, by the way, I wanted to let you know something Sheldon.”

“What’s that?” I asked, looking over at her.

“Now that you know that I can play mini-golf, ands beat you at it, I just wanted to remind you that I
can
drive as well and if you want me to, I’ll drive the next hour or so. You are probably in need of a break.”

“Do you really feel like driving or are you just being kind and nice to me,” I asked.

“Why not all of those reasons,” she said curtly.

“Okaay,” I said defensively. “I’m feeling you and besides, you’re right. I could use a break.”

Pulling the car key from my deep pocket I handed it to her.

“Thank you,” she replied, taking the key in hand.

I watched in amazement as she turned and strolled off in the direction of the Navigator. The woman was sensational. But the marrying type, I just didn’t know. My final thoughts were, perhaps. And with someone else. Though I respected the institution of marriage, it just wasn’t for me anymore.

Coming out of my daze, I sprung to life and followed in her wake.

D
iana handled the Navigator surprisingly well. She told me that this was the first time she had gotten behind the wheel of a big luxury SUV. Before this she hadn’t handled anything larger than a Jeep Cherokee.

Thirty miles into the drive we stopped to gas up and to get drinks. Taking off, she guided the Navigator back onto the northbound ramp of I-95 and merged with ongoing traffic. Accelerating, she activated the SUV’s cruise control once she had reached a cruising speed of 72mph. Forty miles into our drive I grew quite comfortable and to the point that I drifted off to sleep while she listened to music from the radio. I didn’t know it but I slept during our drive through Fayetteville, North Carolina. The next time we spoke was two hours later after I stirred and woke up feeling groggy. Diana appeared more alert as ever, even more so than before I drifted off.

“Where are we?” I asked, gazing over at her.

“We’re approaching the small town of Lumberton,” she said, peering over at me with a warm smile.

“So, we’re still in North Carolina. How long have I been knocked out?”

“A long time, probably close to two hours.”

“Man, I guess I needed the rest.”

“I would say so,” she said smiling at me. “You sleep well?”

“Pretty much,” I answered.

“I guess about now you’re ready to make a pit stop, huh.”

“Yeah, let’s pull over at the next rest stop or exit?”