coordinated.
He was walking beside the camper with one hand on the steering wheel. He swung his right leg inside but in an awkward fashion, and he didn’t seem to be able to get his left leg in. The camper was picking up speed. His left leg bounced along the ground. It looked as if he were trying to run on one leg.
He gave a big yank on the steering wheel and jerked his left leg inside, but the camper veered toward the ditch at the edge of the road. Then it swerved toward the trees on the other side as he turned the wheel in that direction. Then it straightened out. Alfred should stop it now and gain full control before he tried to start the engine. He could easily get it rolling again.
Instead, he was apparently trying to start it immediately. Penny heard the sound of the engine coughing at the same time the camper bucked violently. He had put it in first gear, and it was going too fast for first gear. Penny had forgotten to tell him to use second gear. Or perhaps she hadn’t forgotten.
The camper swerved again, and this time the right front hit a tree before Alfred could control it. The tree stopped it with a jolt. Penny found her heart racing; she was glad she wasn’t inside.
She ran forward to the open front door to see if Alfred was okay. His forehead was bleeding, but somehow the engine was still running. He had instinctively depressed the clutch. She pulled on the hand brake and reached across his body to shift the camper into neutral. Now the engine would keep running even if he couldn’t hold the clutch down.
“Are you all right?”
He looked at her for a moment without comprehension. Then he said, “Yeah, I’m all right.”
He didn’t sound all right. He sounded groggy.
“Did you hit your head on the windshield?”
“Yeah.”
“Take it easy for a minute.”
Penny walked around the front of the camper to survey the damage. The spare tire, which was fastened to the front, had hit the tree. The tired looked flat, but there was little damage to the camper, itself. It was probably drivable. Penny wasn’t sure this was a good outcome, but she remembered what she wanted to do.
She went back to Alfred’s door and said, “I think it’s okay. Rest for another minute. I’ll check the back.”
She ran around to the back, making sure that Alfred stayed in his seat. She removed the paper with their names printed on it from her pocket and unfolded it. Then she took out the duct tape from underneath her sweater. She quickly tore off four pieces of tape and secured the four corners of the sheet to the back of the camper. She hoped that Gary or the police would see it and be able to read it.
She went back to Alfred’s door. “Let me look at your forehead.”
“My head’s all right.”
He sounded angry.
“Let me at least wash it off.”
“Leave it alone.”
Did he blame her for his injury? Alfred wiped his forehead, smearing the blood on his hand. He pulled his handkerchief, already dark with Penny’s clotted blood, out of his pocket and wiped his hand with it. That wasn’t sanitary.
“Let me drive. You need to rest for awhile.”
Driving would give her more control. She wasn’t sure Alfred was competent to drive right now. Especially downhill on a winding, potholed dirt road with trees, cliffs, and ditches.
“I’m driving.”
Alfred shifted the camper into reverse to back away from the tree. Penny got out of the way. He gunned the engine and released the hand brake. The wheels spun, sending a spray of loose dirt into the bottom of the camper. It inched away from the tree. The tires found traction and the camper surged backward. Penny thought it would go into the ditch on the other side of the road. Alfred jammed on the brakes and managed to stop it just in time.
He sat for a few seconds, breathing heavily. He wiped some more blood from his forehead. Then he seemed to remember Penny. He looked at her and said, “Get in.”
Penny didn’t want to get in. She didn’t want to die in a car accident any more than she wanted to die by a knife or a gun. If she ran into the woods right now, was Alfred in good enough shape to chase her? She was afraid he was. She really didn’t have any choice in the matter.
She went to the right side of the camper. She couldn’t open the passenger door because the door lock was still taped down. The damage from the tree had bent the frame slightly. It might not be possible to open it even if the tape were removed. She tried the sliding door, but that was also locked. She went back to the driver’s side and told Alfred.
“Climb over me.”
Why should she have to climb over him? “Get up and unlock the sliding door. Or get out and let me get in this door.”
He again told her to climb over him. He wasn’t about to move from his seat. Was he that badly hurt, or did he think that she would drive off, either with him or without him? She had been considering doing just that. Could he read her mind?
Exasperated, Penny climbed over him. It wasn’t easy. She considered accidentally elbowing his wound but decided that would only make him angrier. Instead, she brushed her breasts across his face to see how he would react. He didn’t react at all. With grim satisfaction she planted herself in her seat.
She hoped he wouldn’t kill them both. She said, “I suggest you use first or second gear to let the engine help hold the speed down.”
Alfred started off slowly, but soon he was going faster and had to brake almost continuously. Penny saw that he was in third gear. She told him to downshift into second. He ignored her. She held on for dear life as they bounced down the hill, on the razor’s edge of control. This was a lot scarier than the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland. She hoped the brakes wouldn’t fail.
By the time they reached a level section close to Route 1, Penny was mentally promising sacrifices to the gods in exchange for her life. Alfred stopped the camper, and she had a chance to compose herself. He shut off the engine and took the key. The battery had regenerated enough to start the camper now. His forehead was still bleeding a little, giving him the look of an injured combatant, but he seemed to be in possession of his faculties.
He got up and looked in the storage cabinet. What was he doing?
“What are you looking for?”
“Duct tape.”
The roll of duct tape was under her sweater. What did he want it for? Was he going to tape her legs? Should she play dumb? She didn’t want her legs taped. He looked at her, accusingly. If he searched her, he would want to know why she had the tape. And if he got suspicious and went outside the camper, he might find the sign.
She figured it was better to have her legs taped than to have him find the sign. When he looked in the storage cabinet again, she quickly pulled the roll of tape out from under her sweater and placed it on the floor just behind her seat.
She let Alfred search for a few more seconds. Then she got up, saying, “I’ll help you look.”
She scanned the inside of the camper with her eyes, as if she were looking for the tape. Then she picked the roll of tape up from the floor. “Here it is. It must have fallen to the floor and rolled behind the seat.”
Alfred looked dubious, but he took the tape from her.
“Get on the bed.”
“What? I’m the navigator.” She hadn’t figured on this. Hadn’t she won his trust?
“We have to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and pay a toll. I’ll release you after we go through San Francisco.”
“After all I’ve done for you? Do you remember last night…?”
“I’m sorry. I have to do it.”
He sounded contrite. She was prepared to argue, to go into detail about what they had done last night, talk until he gave in. But the first thing he taped was her mouth. He obviously didn’t want to hear about his shortcomings in bed. And this wasn’t the time to let him know that she could talk with her mouth taped.
Penny was raging. If she had known he would make her lie on the bed, she wouldn’t have produced the roll of
