Moose and Goose

Chapter Twelve

Judith watches the trees pass, and when a breeze sweeps against the sides of her afro, she closes her eyes.

"I'm sorry for the way that I've been acting lately." She exhales when he apologizes. "If I'm honest, I thought that you'd leave me for that Kenneth Norton look-alike."

"Who?" She narrows her eyes at him, and he rolls his. David has his hands at ten and two, his attention on the red ford pickup truck in front of them. She slowly faces forward, her lips agape. Hesitant and meek, she asks, "Why'd you get angry at me?"

"You're really asking me this?" He scoffs incredulously at her question, glancing at the sorrow in her gaze. She nods, and he emits a tense sigh through his clenched teeth. "I asked you numerous times to stay away from that guy, yet every time I see you, you're near him and so close that it seems like you two are an item."

"David, he's not a threat to me or you," she softly assures him, but he brushes her off with an eye roll. "Seriously, if you talk to him, you'll see that he's nice."

"What would I have to say to him, Judith," he asks her, his body tensing with slow-burning bitterness. "Not only do I have nothing in common with him, but I also don't want to break bread with a man who I know is out for my woman! Stay away from him, or I'll tell your parents that you're stepping out on me."

"Then you'll be lying because I don't have feelings for him or anyone else. Whether you believe it or not is your business, but as for me, I'll speak to whomever I please." Pain stings the back of his head when he swings his attention to her. They stare at each other, her heart pounding in her ears. Her eyes drift away from him, and onto the windshield, then they widen. "Watch out!"

He follows her gaze onto an approaching grey semi-truck. The blaring horn follows them into the right lane, then the off-white Volkswagen Beetle behind them honks.

She looks behind them at the pale man in the Beetle, her boyfriend's terrified eyes on the road as he struggles to regain control of his Impala.

"David, you're scaring me. Stop driving like it's your first time behind the wheel," she yells over the screeching of his tires. When he doesn't respond, she looks at him and notices that he's stiff. She removes her seatbelt, then reaches across him, and when her hands settle onto his, he blinks out of his daze.

"Judith, get on your side of the car!" He glances at her then at the long road. The pair wrestle for dominance over the wheel, the man behind them practically laying on his horn.

"Get the car straightened out or move over, and I'll do it myself," she annoyedly orders him. Judith leans away from David, but before she can return to her seat, he shoves her, and her back slams against her door.

They're passing trees and light posts as well as signs warning them of potential deer, hunters, and the speed limit, which he's gradually exceeding.

'Still think he'll change,' she hears Mary say in her head.

Flashes of her bruised body and his fist colliding with her flesh quicken her breathing. Her hands curl into fists, and her stomach tightens. Her face heats up like a furnace, and she knows that if she were a cartoon, steam would pour from her ears.

She leaps forward, and his eyes dart open wider as the weight of her torso against him sends the left side of his face toward his closed window.

With her left hand tight around the nape of his neck and the other clenching his throat, she repeatedly smashes his face against his window. After the fourth blow, he strengthens his head and wraps his right arm around her waist.

The car drifts into the left road when she grips the top of the wheel in her right hand to balance herself in place.

"Get off of me," he screams at her. The Beetle cruises past them, and in their lane, a Ford pickup truck races toward them.