Page 85 of River Ride

Watson Cabin. Great Smokies. North Carolina.

Tammy woke up on a narrow bed with her leg propped up on a cushion. Her hair was pulled back, and she felt a bandage on the left side of her head. Her left arm was taped in place tight to her body and she couldn’t move it.

“How are we doing this morning, Tammy?”

“Better. Thank you for helping me, Willy-John. You are a kind person.”

“I’m making some breakfast. Do you feel like eating anything? Your stomach could be off after all the trauma you’ve been through.”

“I could eat a piece of toast.”

“Sure. That’s an easy one. I’m cooking on my hotplate because the weather is too warm to light the woodstove.”

“I’m not hot.”

“No, you wouldn’t be. You haven’t got enough blood left inside you to even keep you lukewarm. Your body has to work for a while to top you up.” He smiled and Tammy smiled back at him.

“I can imagine what a mess I must be.”

“You look fine to me, Tammy. I’ll get your toast. How about coffee?”

“I’d like coffee. I drink a lot of it.”

“You smoke too?”

“My smokes and everything else I own is in my truck. I missed a turn and rolled my Freightliner down the mountain.”

“You’re lucky to be alive.”

“You are my only luck, Willy. I don’t deserve a person as nice as you. I’m not worth saving.”

“Being kind of hard on yourself, aren’t you?”

“No. I had a great life and then things happened to me and I’m pretty sure I lost my mind for a while. This is the clearest thought I’ve had in weeks.”

“Glad I could help.”

Willy brought her a mug of coffee and a piece of toast and helped her sit up against the headboard so she wouldn’t spill the coffee.

The dogs barked and raised a big ruckus on the porch and Willy-John said, “Huh, sounds like we have company, Tammy. I’ll go see who it is.”

“Cops for me,” she mumbled.

“We’ll see.”

Willy-John went out and closed the door behind him.

The house was small and the walls thin. Tammy could hear the men talking outside and for sure it was all about her.

“Morning, Willy.”

“Nice to see you, Sheriff. Something I can help y’all with?”

“Probably not, but we’re checking every house on this road. A big Freightliner cab went through the guardrails way up at the lookout point. Helluva drop from way up there. Don’t know when we’ll ever get the truck out.”

“Huh,” said Willy. “No sign of the driver?”

“Not a trace of him, but for sure he’s hurt bad. The truck is covered in blood. A regular bloodbath.”

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