shevette's book!
Book #2 of three
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shevette's book!Book #2 of three
CHAPTER 12 |
When dad and Shela came back I found out that dad hadn't told her about me. He had probably felt her out and found out that she felt the same way about CB's as me--before I found out I was one. It was the pits. In my mind I was sure I would have to leave home. I had to get with Toni or anyone else that might be willing to help me. I didn't really want to leave. I just wanted to continue living my life the way I always had. We all resist change--until our present situation becomes intolerable.
I was sad as I drove my car back to the house. Who knew how many more times I would get to drive it. It was so pretty.
I had a bad headache. Too much suns. My back was beginning to burn. I knew I would have a real time trying to get to sleep that night what with my burn hurting me and the fear of dying in my sleep. I hoped I would be safe taking two sleeping pills.
We had passed many kilometers of farms and huge grazing sheds for livestock. Everything was housed in to reduce evaporation. The water had to be recycled. There wasn't enough to allow the air to become moisturized. It was a good thing that the air was as dry as it was otherwise we'd have to contend with all the dilemmas earth had with chaotic weather. Seco was a benign mother. She didn't try to blow us away or drown us. We were lucky.
Up ahead I could see a farmer driving a tractor out of one of the huge sheds. He must have been growing hay in there because he was pulling a large wagon of the stuff. I slowed the car in case he pulled out in front of me. The tractor stopped and he jumped off of it. I think he was going back to the door on the shed to close it. I started to speed back up when I saw the tractor move forward on it's own down the slight hill it was on towards the roadway. I was too close to stop. I jammed on the brakes as hard as I could. The car began bucking as the automatic braking system kept engaging then releasing the brakes. I cut the wheel to the left as the air bags deployed. My arms were pinned. I waited for the crash. It came. The right hand side of the car lifted as I haed a rending tearing sound. I could see above the airbag. We were thrown into a spin to the right. The car went off the roadway sideways and slid to a stop.
Shela was crying. Mom was asking if everyone was alright. Dad was in shock for a moment then began to swear about the farmer. It looked like everyone was alright and I was glad of that much, but I felt bad about tearing up the car.
Dust was still falling when the farmer ran up to the window on dad's side of the car. "Y...you people alright?" he shouted through the broken window breathlessly.
My window was broken too! I opened the door on my side and carefully got out of the car. "I'm sorry." I apolligized to my parents and to Shela. "Is everyone ok?"
They were.
Dad got out. I thought he was going to get in a fight with the farmer. He was a man not quite as old as my father. He was trembeling noticably.
Mom kept trying to calm dad down.
Shela was still in the back seat of the car. She had been sitting on the side of the car that got hit. She was dazed and confused. "What happened? Why'd you hit that man, Sue?"
"I didn't mean to, Shela. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just don't understand why you did that. Don't you like your car?"
"Yes I do. I couldn't help it. It was an accident! Things happen."
"Is dad going to fight that man?"
"No, he's just mad. Everythings going to be alright. C'mon, get out of the car. Let's see how bad it is."
"No! I'm staying right here."
I was a little worried about the squirt. I didn't know if fuel was leaking or not. Safety would dictate that I get everyone out of the car until I could determine that everything was safe but I felt sure that it wasn't going to just blow up. I went arround to the side that had been hit.
It made me sick on my stomach to look at it. The car was still drivable. Dad had managed to get his door open but I wasn't sure if it would close back or not. What made me so sick was the way it was bent in from near the very front to the back of the door. It looked like I had hit the tires on the front of the tractor. There were great black marks where it's tires had slid accross my car making a deeper and deeper bend until something had caught on the back of the door post. That was probily what had spun us arround. The car wasn't completely ruined it just wouldn't ever be the same again. I felt sorry for it. I had been reasponsable for cutting short it's useful life, or at least I had made it less desirable to own. A lot less desirable.
Dad was still pretty steamed but he and the man had gone back to the tractor. I looked at it. It was completly unhurt. It made me kinda mad to see it sitting there ideling away like nothing had ever happened. They were calling in the accident over a radio the man had on his tractor. I went to where mom was sitting on the front seat holding Shela who was crying.
"She's not hurt, is she?" I asked worried.
"No she's fine. Just shaken up a bit, I think." mom told me.
"Good. That happened so fast! I slowed down and everything. That dumb farmer. Why didn't he make sure his tractor wouldn't roll down in front of us? We could have all been hurt!"
"Thank goodness we weren't."
Suddenly it dawned on me that I could have been killed! That would have been the end of me. The rest of 'em would have been in heaven wondering what happened to Sue. I wouldn't have been anywhere. It could have happened that quick!
I shook my head and turned away. I went up the road a short ways and sat down in the dirt. I prayed to throw up. I felt very nauseous. What was the use? I cried and held myself. I was all alone. We are all alone by ourselves. The fear, the panic, the paranoia swep through me again like when I tried to go to sleep. I wanted mom to come over and calm me like she was Shela. I felt a twinge of jealously.
I sat there a long time before dad finally came to see how I was doing. "You ok, peaches?"
"Yeah dad, how about you and the rest?"
"Nobody's hurt thank god. Why are you holding your arm? It's ok isn't it?"
I hadn't even been aware that I had been holding my arm. I looked at it. It was sore. "I must have bumped it on something. It's nothing serious. I'm alright, daddy. I wish I could say the same about the car."
"Don't worry about it, that's what we have insurance for. They'll fix it up as good as new."
"How are we going to get out of here?"
"I'm sure we can still drive the car. As soon as the police get here we can go. It won't be too much longer. I'm surprised they haven't gotten here by now. They're never arround when you need them."
"I'm sorry about the car."
"Don't worry, I told you, peaches. It wasn't your fault. The guy on the tractor admited his brake didn't hold."
"Good! I would have stopped if I had only known. It looked like everything was safe to just go on by."
"I know. I know. Don't worry."
I looked up at dad and gave him a brave smile. He smiled back and put his hand on my shoulder. I felt like I had so much I wanted to say about the accident. It kept replaying itself over and over again in my mind. What could I have done to prevent it?
I looked out in the road where the man was standing. He would stand there and make anyone who came along slow down. He had moved the tractor from where it had been so cars could get by. The people stared at us wondering what had happened. Two cars had stopped and offered asssistance.
It was nearly an hour before I saw a police hover car headed our way. I stood up and brushed the sand off of my legs. My headache was pounding and my back was on fire. I would be glad to get this over with and go home. I might not need two sleeping pills to get to sleep that night after all, I decided.
I walked over to where the police were colecting the information on what had happened. I put my headache to one side and tried to be as helpful as possible.
"How do you do officers." I greated them
"You are the driver of the car?" the male one asked me. He was older than me but still young. His hair was blond and cut short. He was very trim, very proper, very polished (in a leather/crome/uniform way.)
I found that I was trembling again. I was imtimidated but his appearance and his official manner. "Y...y..yes. That's my car...well my folks gave it to me...we're still paying on it..." I offered helpfully. I knew I was being silly but I wanted to convey to both officers that I wanted to co-operate as fully as I possibly could.
"Is everyone riding in your car alright?" he asked me like it was my responsibility to know. I suddenly realized that it was. I was ashamed to admit that I wasn't positive. Everyone had seemed alright awhile ago but you know how once the excitement dies down injuries begin make themselves known. I hadn't checked back with mom and Shela. I wasn't sure I had even asked dad how he was. I was flapping my mouth trying to come up with a good answer when dad spoke up.
"Yes, we're all fine. No thanks to that farmer."
"Sir, please have a seat in your car. I'll interview you next."
Dad started to say something but decided not to. He went back to our car and meekly sat on the ground beside it.
"Do you have a valid permit to drive that vehicle." I was asked.
"Y...yes."
"Let me see it!"
"Um...it's in the car...may I get it?"
"Yes."
I went to the car and got my permit. Dad told me to do whatever the police told me to do. I nodded my head to him in agreement. Shela was crying again. I offered my permit to the officer who had come over right behind me. He took it and had me walk away from the car a little.
"Your name is Sue Ann Tegor?"
"Yes sir."
"How old are you Miss Tegor?" he asked as he put my card in his handheld.
I knew that information was probily coming up on his handheld's screen already. He was just checking to be sure that I hadn't given him someone else's card. I don't know why he would have thought I had done that. Police procedure, I guess.
"I'm seventeen...um, kinda. I was in a capsul. I was born a thosand years ago but my...my age of being awake, not asleep in a capsul, is um, seventeen--about. Actually I'm a little older than that. My birthday was last month--" I stopped there. He ether knew what I was trying to say or he'd ask me to explain.
"Tell me what you saw."
I explained as best as I could what had happened. I was having a hard time making sense. The officer listened to me dispassionately. I was sure he was thinking. "this person is a moron", but he said nothing about it.
"Ok Miss, have a seat in my car."
"I'm not under arrest am I?"
"We have not finished our investigation. Please be seated." he said pointedly.
I swallowed hard and got in the back of the hover car. It was clean and polished and as official as the two people who operated it. In the back there was just the usual seats and seatbelts. In the front of the car I could see a dash loaded with all kinds of electronic equipment including a two-way radio and a computer. There was also a rifle secured to the dash and I could see some chains.
Between the front and the back was a wire cage type material.
I blinked back a tear. I hoped that I wouldn't have to be arrested again. I remembered the last time I had been in a police car. They had put handcuffs on my hands. I didn't want that to happen again especially in front of my whole family. I tried to console myself that this was only a trafic violation and besides I wasn't even at fault. The police would see that. I had the upmost fath in the police.
Just when I was feeling better I saw the officer point a remote at the car. I jumped at the sound of all the doors locking themselves. There were no door handles on the doors. I would have to wait for someone to let me out. I was imprisoned
The other cop was a woman. She had a long conversatiom with the man who had been driving the tractor. There was another man who had come up. I think he was the man who owed the farm or something. He was given a slip of paper. I guessed it was the ticket for the accident. I almost smiled. It looked like I had been vidicated. I sat back and waited for someone to let me out of the back of the police car. I listened to the calls coming in over the radio. I couldn't tell what they were talking about. They kept talking in code numbers. I enjoyed the air conditioning. The cool air felt good on my legs. Dad'd get the car fixed and that'd be the end of this whole thing.
I saw my cop finish talking to the folks. Dad was nodding his head a lot so I guessed everything was getting worked out alright. The two officers had a little talk with each other then the guy officer went to the back of the car I was in and the female officer came over to the door where I was.
She did the thing with the door locks and opened the door slightly for me to get out. I noticed she had one hand on her gun.
"Get out of the car, please."
I got out as calmly as I could. She was nervious. It made me nervious.
"Place your hands on the car."
"Is something wron..."
She pushed me up against the car. "Put your hands on the car!" She ordered. A lump formed in my throat. It looked like I was being arrested! I put my hands on the car. Why were they arresting me? I was told to spread my feet. I did and she kicked both my ancles to make me spread my feet more. She was being unnecessarily rough. I wanted to complain. I was too frightened to move.
"Do as they say!" I heard my father yell at me.
A handcuff was fastened arround my left wrist. My hand was twisted behind my back.
"Give me your other hand!" The officer told me.
I started to comply but she grabbed my free hand before I could get it down behind me. She twisted it and I felt a handcuff being locked on that wrist too. I was helpless.
Why were they treating me like this? All I had done was get in a traffic accident. When they had arrested me before they had only put my hands in front when they had handcuffed me. Now my hands were twisted behind my back and she had tightened them down hard. It hurt! I leaned against the car. What was I being arrested for? The female was feeling all over me, checking for conceled weapons. Her touch was rough. I felt both officers grab my arms they helped me get my weight back on my feet so I could stand. I hoped they would be willing to talk to me before they took me away.
"May I ask what I've done?" I asked timidly.
"You are under arrest for reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and resisting arrest."
"What?" I asked incredulous. I looked over to where dad was. He was holding mom and Shela.
Only dad was looking my way. Mom and Shela were both crying against him. "Go with them...we'll meet you at the police station!" he shouted to me. I nodded my head vigeriously as I was put back into the back of the police car again. I was strapped down and they took me away from my family.
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