“Yeah, sure,” was all that Hugh could think of to say. He desperately wanted out of this conversation as quickly as possible.
“But, you are truly a nice guy, someone that a woman could appreciate. And, Hugh, you do happen to be a very nice-looking guy, too,” she said.
He saw the opening he had hoped for to turn the conversation away from himself, and toward her. So, he took a brave turn and admitted to Jenny that she was, indeed, very attractive too.
Then he said, “And, I’m sure that you’ve got your own history—boyfriends, maybe even a husband or two.” That last part was meant to sound like a joke.
Jenny remained silent for a long time, alternating between looking out the window and turning her gaze on Hugh.
Hugh gave her all the time she needed.
And, finally, she spoke. “No.”
“No husband?”
“No.”
“No boyfriend.”
“No.”
“Never?”
“No.”
“You mean, you never …?”
“No!” she virtually shouted, clearly embarrassed, interrupting what she was afraid he was going to ask.
Hugh needed time to process that information. This conversation was getting way too personal for him. That threshold thing again.
Then, an act of nature, or God, just shortly before Winnemucca, saved him from going further down that road, figuratively speaking—but literally, too, it turned out.
They found themselves suddenly engulfed in a blinding cloud of dust, one of the huge dust storms that spring up almost instantly in this part of the country.
Hugh was blind, literally blind, to anything beyond his windshield. He prayed silently that he would be able to stop in time before slamming into the rear of the vehicle in front of him—and, just as importantly, that any vehicles behind him would stop before slamming into the rear of his trailer.
He reflexively hit his four-ways, the emergency flashers, and hoped they would be bright enough in this blinding dust cloud to indicate his truck’s position.
He applied “stab” braking—pumping the brakes just enough to bring the truck to a quick stop, but just short of locking up all the wheels, which would cause the trailer to jackknife. Modern trailers have an ABS system built-in, so that helps a lot in situations like this.
All this happened in a couple of seconds. But, Hugh knew from experience that a couple of seconds is all it takes to make the difference between a safe stop, and one that results in a grinding collision.
They got lucky this time, and came to a stop inches from the rear of a tractor-trailer rig that had stopped right in front of them.
But Hugh knew it wasn’t over yet. “Brace for it!” he warned Jenny, as he pressed himself into his seat, anticipating getting slammed from the rear.
But, nothing happened, and Hugh was relieved to find themselves safely in line with the other vehicles waiting for the dust storm to pass.
“I’ve read about these dust storms,” he told Jenny once he knew the danger of getting rammed from behind had passed. “Right here in this location, in fact, not too long ago, there was a forty-car pileup. And it took all day to clear up. We got lucky this time.”
Then, somewhere far behind them, he heard the sound of squealing tires, the screech of metal violently impacting other metal, and the tinkling of breaking glass.
“Well, I guess somebody else wasn’t so lucky,” he said soberly.
Almost as quickly as the dust cloud had come upon them, it began to clear. He glanced back in his rear views, and saw that the occupants of the collided vehicles were out of their cars, and all were OK.
“Remind me to tell you of a real bad accident I saw one time,” he said. “It really shook me up. I had to pull over to the side of the road to compose myself and pray.”
Traffic started moving again, so they continued on west.
Chapter Eleven
The dust storm was behind them and, he hoped, the rest of that conversation as well. Hugh was just happy to be making tracks again.
He’d have to think about Jenny later, when he had a clearer head to process everything that they had talked about today. He couldn’t imagine that the complicated, complex creature whom he had picked up on the side of the road down near Tonopah, seemingly such a long time ago, could get even more complex. But, she continued to surprise him.
“Hugh?” he heard from the passenger seat.
“Yes, dear?” he resurrected their old joke, hoping to keep it light.
“Can we stop somewhere, where I can buy a few things. I’d like to take another shower, and …”
“Didn’t you get what you needed the last time?” Hugh demanded, somewhat insensitively.
“Uh, no. I mean … I didn’t know … I forgot. Girl things.” she stammered with embarrassment, close to tears, her face turning red.
Instantly contrite, Hugh softened, and said, “Just so happens that Fernley has a Walmart that is very trucker friendly, with a large, graveled lot just for trucks. We’ll be there in a little over an hour. We can stop there if you like.”
“Thanks, Hugh, I appreciate it.”
“No problem. We’ll be close to our delivery, and then the truck stop. You can shower when we park for the night.”
Then Hugh had another thought. “By the way, do you have any money?”
Jenny looked at him, and shook her head. “I started out with some, but I got robbed by another hitchhiker. He took every bit of cash I had. I guess I’m just lucky that’s all he wanted.”
Hugh considered her last statement in view of what she had told him earlier. Jenny was one spunky, brave lady who had a whole lot more to lose than most girls her age if this guy had, indeed, got “all he wanted.”
Then Hugh
