Alan Cook - Honeymoon for Three

She knelt on the ground and placed the pad on one of her thighs. Then she went over the letters many times, pressing the pencil against the pad, trying to make them as dark as possible. Before she was satisfied with the result, the lead of the pencil broke. She swore to herself. She couldn’t go back and get another pencil. This would have to do. Gary had sharp eyes. Hopefully, he would be able to read her sign if he saw it.

Penny pictured Gary driving the Beetle, coming up behind the camper, and seeing her sign. This was how it had to work. Unless Gary decided she was more trouble than she was worth and abandoned her. Or maybe he thought she had run away with Alfred. That thought nauseated her. No, he would never believe that. He had to be looking for her. He wouldn’t give up. It wasn’t like him. She felt sorry for him, alone and not knowing where she was. He must be going through emotional hell.

Alfred called her name. In a minute he would come looking for her. She had to do one more thing. She pulled the duct tape out from beneath her sweater and tried to tear off a piece. She found she could tear it easily with her fingers. Good. She threw the pencil away and hid the tape under her sweater again. Then she folded the sheet of paper in quarters and placed it in her pants pocket. She walked back to the camper.

She checked to make sure Alfred had the camper in neutral with the parking brake off. She told him to turn on the ignition and leave the left, front door open. His station was by that door. If necessary, he could steer the camper with one hand while pushing with the other hand. He positioned himself and gave a push against the frame at a point beside the door hinges, grunting as he did so. It didn’t move.

“Hurry up and push.” His voice had a growl in it.

He was irritated that she was the brains of this undertaking. Penny took a position in back of the camper and pushed when Alfred did. It still didn’t move.

“Push harder.”

She almost said something obscene. What did he want from her? He outweighed her by at least fifty pounds. He had to provide the main effort. However, at his command, she pushed as hard as she could. Slowly, the camper moved forward a few inches. Then it stopped.

Penny used up her strength and couldn’t maintain the effort. She and Alfred must have let up at the same time, because the camper rolled back to where it had been and even a little farther. Then it rolled forward to the starting point and stopped.

“We’ll rock it,” Alfred said. “When it rocks forward, push with all your might.”

They pushed the camper forward and when it stalled they let it go back. When it rocked forward toward the original position, they pushed together “with all their might.” It almost stalled again at the point of furthest progress, but an extra effort on both their parts got it into new territory.

It continued to move forward slowly, begrudging the inches it gave up. The effort was exhausting. They had to stop several times to catch their collective breath, but each time they were able to get it moving again. Eventually, they moved it close to the road. One more push and it should start to roll downhill.

Penny looked around the camper at Alfred. “Do you know what to do?”

“I think so.”

Alfred looked inside the camper, presumably rehearsing in his mind the sequence he had to go through. Penny had an urge to tell him to be careful, but she suppressed it. It was in her best interests that he not be careful, and she found herself wishing for that eventuality. She was becoming a terrible person. She reminded herself that she couldn’t get any worse than she was already.

They gave a final shove, and the camper started rolling, slowly, by itself. It would quickly pick up speed on the slope. Penny stepped over to the side of it to see if Alfred had control of the situation. He didn’t look very coordinated.

He was walking beside the camper with one hand on the steering wheel. He swung his right leg inside but in an awkward fashion, and he didn’t seem to be able to get his left leg in. The camper was picking up speed. His left leg bounced along the ground. It looked as if he were trying to run on one leg.

He gave a big yank on the steering wheel and jerked his left leg inside, but the camper veered toward the ditch at the edge of the road. Then it swerved toward the trees on the other side as he turned the wheel in that direction. Then it straightened out. Alfred should stop it now and gain full control before he tried to start the engine. He could easily get it rolling again.

Instead, he was apparently trying to start it immediately. Penny heard the sound of the engine coughing at the same time the camper bucked violently. He had put it in first gear, and it was going too fast for first gear. Penny had forgotten to tell him to use second gear. Or perhaps she hadn’t forgotten.

The camper swerved again, and this time the right front hit a tree before Alfred could control it. The tree stopped it with a jolt. Penny found her heart racing; she was glad she wasn’t inside.

She ran forward to the open front door to see if Alfred was okay. His forehead was bleeding, but somehow the engine was still running. He had instinctively depressed the clutch. She pulled on the hand brake and reached across his body to shift the camper into neutral. Now the engine would keep running even if he couldn’t hold the clutch down.

“Are you all right?”

He looked at her for a moment without comprehension. Then he said, “Yeah, I’m all right.”

He didn’t sound all right. He sounded groggy.

“Did you hit your head on the windshield?”

“Yeah.”

“Take it easy for a minute.”

Penny walked around the front of the camper to survey the damage. The spare tire, which was fastened to the front, had hit the tree. The tired looked flat, but there was little damage to the camper, itself. It was probably drivable. Penny wasn’t sure this was a good outcome, but she remembered what she wanted to do.

She went back to Alfred’s door and said, “I think it’s okay. Rest for another minute. I’ll check the back.”

She ran around to the back, making sure that Alfred stayed in his seat. She removed the paper with their names printed on it from her pocket and unfolded it. Then she took out the duct tape from underneath her sweater. She quickly tore off four pieces of tape and secured the four corners of the sheet to the back of the camper. She hoped that Gary or the police would see it and be able to read it.

She went back to Alfred’s door. “Let me look at your forehead.”

“My head’s all right.”

He sounded angry.

“Let me at least wash it off.”

“Leave it alone.”

Did he blame her for his injury? Alfred wiped his forehead, smearing the blood on his hand. He pulled his handkerchief, already dark with Penny’s clotted blood, out of his pocket and wiped his hand with it. That wasn’t sanitary.

“Let me drive. You need to rest for awhile.”

Driving would give her more control. She wasn’t sure Alfred was competent to drive right now. Especially downhill on a winding, potholed dirt road with trees, cliffs, and ditches.

“I’m driving.”

Alfred shifted the camper into reverse to back away from the tree. Penny got out of the way. He gunned the engine and released the hand brake. The wheels spun, sending a spray of loose dirt into the bottom of the camper. It inched away from the tree. The tires found traction and the camper surged backward. Penny thought it would go into the ditch on the other side of the road. Alfred jammed on the brakes and managed to stop it just in time.

He sat for a few seconds, breathing heavily. He wiped some more blood from his forehead. Then he seemed to remember Penny. He looked at her and said, “Get in.”