encounter

We were heading home, up through the rural Delmarva Peninsula,
south of Wilmington, south of New Castle. South,
where the hawks soar, the geese settle among the corn
stubble, the tidal creeks teem with crabs.

It was a very dark night, the kids were sleeping, one in the
back, one in the front. We were heading north up US301, a
beautiful four lane at-grade highway that cuts a swathe
across eastern Maryland from the east side of the Chesapeake
Bay Bridge to the Delaware line. Ahead of me a semi touched
his brakes. Why? I could see no-one in front of him.

Off to the side, about twenty or thirty yards off the highway, I
could see a small, flashing vertical rectangle of yellow
light, over a brighter rectangle of white light. What was
that? Could it be...?

At the next turnaround, I headed back down, to get a better
look. As I came up parallel, I could see that another car
was there near the lights I had seen. I turned left off the
highway anyway. By the time I figured out how to circle
around through the little residential development to the
spot, the other car wasn't there. Gone for help, I presumed.
Because sure enough, there was a Blazer, over on its side,
turn signal flashing. I pulled over, and the kids awoke.
It was a cold night- later I saw some flurries.

"Hand me my sweatjacket," I said to my daughter in the back. I
grabbed it, but I forgot to put it on, in my haste. The
Blazer rested in the ditch, the roof towards the road, low
enough that when I walked up I could peer down into it from
the passenger window. Below me, a woman sat on the driver
door, holding an infant in a carrier. They both seemed to be
OK. In back was a boxer, a fine looking young dog. I tried
to open the door, but it was locked. "Can you unlock this
door?" She couldn't. This was frustrating. I considered
opening the hatch in back. But as I thought of this, a small
pickup with a flashing light came up. I waved my jacket at
it, as if it wouldn't see us. A man got out, he looked into
the Blazer. I told him the door was locked. "Can you pop the
hatch?" He asked the woman. Click.

In minutes, the little street had several small cars and trucks
with flashing lights, the boxer was running around, and
people were gathered around the woman and her baby on the
street. I got back in my car, and turned around, pulled
gingerly through the group of cars and people, and the dog.
I could hear the baby crying as we went past, for the first
time.

Desire 2
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