"Linnea Sinclair - How I Spent My Summer Vacation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sinclair Linnea)

How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Linnea Sinclair

First Place (tie): Futures Magazine Short Story Contest


It all began with two ominous and unrelated noises. The first one interrupted
my summer vacation. The second one changed my life.

The wheel of my ten-year-old Ford Explorer shimmied as I crossed a small
bridge on Interstate 75, right outside Sarasota. An ominous thumping noise
punctuated the movement.

The source, I figured quickly, was a balding tire I couldn't afford to replace
on my meager teacher's salary.

Now I'd have to scrounge up a tow fee as well.

"Oh great," I said. Well, not really. I said something a lot stronger than 'oh
great'. But after nine months of correcting profanity in my students, my brain
was still in the self-edit mode.

I pulled over to the shoulder and got out of the car. One of my high heels
immediately sank in the soft ground. I stood there, yanking on my shoe,
sweating in my best summer dress, and surveyed the deserted highway for any
signs of help. Abandoned orange groves bordered both sides of the road. The
nearest gas station was at least twenty miles back. The only thing working in
my favor, I thought as my shoe finally came unstuck, was that it wasn't
raining.

Then, as if reading my thoughts, the sky darkened overhead. And a second
ominous noise buzzed behind me. I knew that lightning made your skin prickle,
but did thunderstorms also crackle on approach? I whirled around, hoping I had
enough time to dash back into my car. I wasn't dressed for rain.

A man and a woman wearing identical gray pajamas stepped out of the air
between me and the orange grove. They saluted.

I definitely wasn't dressed in a manner that would cause anyone to salute me.

But salute me they did.

Really.

"Captain, sorry for the delay." The man was tall, with broad shoulders and
short brown hair framing a lean face. He looked like he could be a lifeguard
on Lido Beach. Not a guy in gray pajamas who just appeared out of nowhere in
an orange grove. "It took us a while to find you."

"To find me? You're here to fix my flat tire?" I wanted to focus on the tire