Page 2 of Strike a Chord
He made it in time—but barely—and when he came out, he nearly barrelled over a young kid, maybe eight, eyes fixed on his Nintendo Switch and not watching at all where he was going or who he was bumping into.
“Careful,” Dax said.
The kid grunted.“Sorry.”
Shaking his head, Dax quickly forgot about the boy and made his way back to his truck.A cursory glance out a window said that they were probably another twenty minutes to the Departure Bay terminal in Nanaimo.
So in less than an hour, he should be home.
He missed his chickens and goats.
He was also looking at rescuing a dog, but hadn’t found one that fit in with the chickens and goats.The ones that he’d brought home so far for a trial visit, just terrorized the poor livestock and Dax was pretty sure his animals were considering mutiny if he did it again.
He reached his truck and climbed in, closing his eyes again.He wasn’t going to fall asleep this time, but lightly doze.The last thing he wanted was to hold up the line a second time.
In about ten minutes, the announcement of their impending arrival came over the speaker, inviting all passengers to return to their vehicles.
Dax had done this trip countless times.It was like riding a bike, so he waited until the vehicle ahead of him turned on its ignition and the red brake lights shone, before Dax turned on his ignition.No sense idling too long and filling the deck up with carbon monoxide.
He expected the vehicle behind him to do the same, and normally, he wouldn’t have glanced in his rearview mirror, but he did and what he saw was a woman beginning to panic.
The vehicle in front of him pulled away, but Dax tossed on his hazard lights and jumped out of his truck, running to her window.“Won’t start?”he asked the pretty woman with dark blonde hair.He glanced into the backseat and recognized the kid he’d crashed into on his way out of the bathroom.The kid was still playing on his Nintendo Switch.
She rolled down her window, deep-seated panic in her pale green eyes.“Y-yeah.The battery must have died.”She tried a few more times, but it just did the grating sound of the key turning over, but no engine starting up.
Dax nodded.“I’ve got jumper cables in my truck.Hang on.”Then he ran back to his truck just as a ferry attendant approached.
“Her battery died,” he said to the guy as he hauled out his jumper cables from under the back seat.“I’m going to wait, and turn around to help her.”
“Okay.We’ll unload around you.But you need to be quick.”
Dax bobbed his head, then climbed back into the front seat of his truck, waited for space and did a quick three-point-turn so that his front bumper was just a few feet from her front bumper.
He got her to pop the hood, then he went to work hooking up her battery to his with the cables.
It probably felt like forever to the embarrassed woman and the ferry workers, but in reality, it all took about five minutes before her engine revved and he had her smiling.
Unhooking the cables, he closed the hood and nodded.“You can pull out and drive off before me.I need to turn around.”
“Thank you,” she said, relief in her eyes.“I so appreciate it.”
“Drive safe.”
“You, too.”Then she pulled away in her white Toyota Venza, taking it slow as she unloaded off the ferry.
Dax was quick to stash his jumper cables and shut his hood, then he climbed back into his truck, turned around and was out of there.Lo and behold, who should he be behind as they made their way through the parking lot and onto the main road, but the Venza lady herself.
It was a hell of a lot windier on the island than it was in Vancouver.He was surprised they hadn’t cancelled any sailings yet.
Ferry traffic was always hell to get through, but in the dark, rain and wind, it was even worse.Even though he needed to get home to his pets, he did have a neighbor checking in on them, so it wasn’t like they’d gone three days without food or attention.By the time he got home, they’d all probably be put away for the night, so he’d go say hello to everyone in the morning.
Knowing that he didn’tneedto get home to the animals made it easier for him to take it easy on the road.There was no need to rush.No need to endanger his life or anybody else’s.Not in such terrible fucking weather.
Unfortunately, not everybody thought that way, though, and more than one more person rode his ass like they’d just bought him a seven-course dinner, and others wove through traffic as if they were trying out for the Olympic slalom team.
Dumbasses.
All of them.
