Royal cranked the pulley and increased the pressure on the cables. She was wearing only an undershirt now, her collared shirt thrown over a nearby shrub, no doubt in an attempt to keep it clean. Royal’s tanned arms had a slight glow from the exertion of cranking increased tension on the pulley. The two men were on the other side of the car pushing in the same direction that the cables were tugging. The sound of rocks scraping metal followed the motion of the large sedan as it rocked slowly back to its rightful orientation. The car thumped heavily onto all four wheels in a cloud of dust. The cables, now slack, dropped into the dirt in front of Royal. Had the car not come to rest at an angle, almost on its side, the tow cable might not have had enough torque to pull the auto over.
One of the young men clearly had a family resemblance to Royal. The second young man, dark-skinned, tall, skinny, and clad in overalls that had been worn so thin they’d lost most of their color, circled around the car to check the damage. He began to gather up the equipment and stowed it in the back of an old Model A truck parked near the dark sedan.
Lovey could no longer see Royal from her hiding spot behind the wild hydrangea. She felt silly, hiding like a teenager. For goodness sake, I’m a twenty-six-year-old woman, hiding like a schoolgirl.
She shifted to her left a little and leaned around the base of a large spruce about to make her presence known. But before she could announce herself by saying hello, she felt a fuzzy tickling inside her skirt. And then a second. And then a third.
And then the first sting! Yellow jackets! She’d stood on a nest in the ground and they were buzzing around inside the draped light cotton fabric of her dress. Oh, no! No! No! No! She practically jumped out of her skin from the second sting.
Lovey yelped and danced around, stomping her feet to dislodge the aggressive insects. Then she took off running, all the while swatting at her lower half, but it was doing no good. The bees were in a frenzy now, traveling with her, under her skirt and stinging whenever they found a piece of skin to light on. A flurry of arms and elbows, she sped off down the hill toward the pond. Not caring who was nearby, Lovey raised her skirt up, exposing her skivvies and legs to anyone who was within earshot of her squeals.
She screamed as she tore past them waving her arms madly. In a full-on frightful fit, she sprinted toward the pond with her skirt practically pulled up over her head, shoes flying off as she took the last bounding leap, like a wild woman, into the pond.
❖
Royal jerked her head up from under the hood of the Ford just in time to see Lovey with flailing arms tear past where they stood. She hadn’t even seen Lovey walk up and had no idea where she’d come from. The two young men standing near her followed Lovey’s trajectory with surprised amusement.
“Who in tarnation was that?” Ned wiped grease from his hands on a rag he kept in his back pocket.
“That was the girl who rescued me last night, Lovey Porter.” Royal leaned around Ned just in time to catch a glimpse of her light blue skirt as she made a running leap into the pond.
“Well, she seems a bit touched in the head, but she’s got nice legs,” said Ned.
Royal punched Ned in the shoulder. “I think I’d best go check on her.”
“I should go with you and make sure she doesn’t need help.”
Ned and Royal left the open hood and trotted to the pond where Lovey was treading water sunk up to her chin. Sam hung back by the car. After a moment, he walked toward the pond, but at a slower pace.
“Did you have the sudden urge for a swim?” Royal crossed her arms in front of her chest as she stood on the bank.
“Say, miss, do you need assistance?” asked Ned.
“Lovey, this is my cousin, Ned, and the other fellow up the hill is Sam. They were just helping me tip the car over. Which you might have noticed as you ran by if your skirt hadn’t been over your head.” She turned and motioned toward the pond. Sam stood a few feet behind them, seeming to give Lovey a bit more respectful distance. “Ned, Sam, this is Lovey Porter.”
“Nice to meet you.” Lovey paddled a little closer to the pond’s edge but stayed hidden under the water’s surface.
“Are you all right?” asked Royal.
“Yellow jackets.”
“What?”
“I said I stepped on a yellow jacket nest.”
“I’m so sorry.” Royal was trying hard not to laugh but failing.
“It’s not funny.” Lovey splashed around as she treaded water.
“Okay, fellas, why don’t you leave me to assist Miss Porter? I don’t think she’s going to get out of the water with you standing here.” Royal motioned with her thumb for them to head back up the hill.
“Why not? I think we pretty much saw the whole show already.” Ned pretended to plant his feet as if he wasn’t going to leave.
“Go on!” Royal shoved him playfully. “Git!”
“C’mon, then, Ned.” Sam tugged at Ned’s arm.
Royal called after them. “I’ll see you later back at the house.”
Ned waved a hand in her direction. Lovey was still submerged, observing the entire exchange from her watery roost. Royal stood watching her until they heard the Ford’s V-8 engine roar to life. Royal turned and waved as the vehicle headed up the slight grade and back onto the road.
“Hang on. I’ll be right back.” Royal trotted back up the hill and pulled the old wood
