Becoming

Still Life

They checked out as planned and set off for Kamloops, Ade driving and Nathalie navigating with a road map in hand. The bulk of the day passed easily enough, but the roads proved narrower and more winding than they'd expected, meaning they were slowly but surely falling behind in their anticipated travel time.

As they came around yet another curve with a ravine to one side and no guardrails in sight, Ade bit off a curse as the late-afternoon sun struck them squarely in the face. As he squinted, trying to see the edges of the road, a large animal – they never knew if it was a deer, an elk, or a moose – trotted out into the road. Ade slammed on the brakes and discovered why a Camaro was definitely not the best vehicle to drive through the mountains. As the animal bolted back the way it came, the Camaro went into a skid. Ade quickly steered into it, taking his foot off the accelerator, but before he got it back under control, the car had crossed the road and the next thing he knew, started slowly sliding down the almost vertical drop-off. A heartbeat later, it came to an abrupt halt against a couple of trees.

Nathalie, to Ade's surprise, burst into laughter. "Holy shit!" she giggled. "Now what?"

"Are you okay?" Ade asked first thing. His own heart was pounding, after what had happened to Tamar, and he didn't want to be the one at fault if Nathalie was hurt.

"I'm fine," she reassured him. "I don't think I can get the door open, though, not at the angle we're stuck at." She tried, but couldn't get it open far enough to try getting out of the car. "Well, the window crank still works." She rolled the window down, unbuckled her seat belt, and pulled herself out the window. Kneeling on the side of the car, she looked and shook her head, still laughing. "Damn good thing these trees are here, though. Come on, we need to get back up to the road and hope someone comes by."

"Yeah," Ade muttered, as he released his own seat belt and wiggled his way out of the car as well.

The two scrabbled their way up the steep and rocky slope, peered down at the car resting against the trees with its underside visible, then looked at each other.

"Walk towards our destination, I guess?" Nathalie suggested. "I mean, it's been at least three hours since that town where we stopped for lunch, and I think there's supposed to be a little town on the far side of this mountain. Not much beyond a service station and a little grocery by the looks of things, but hopefully we can make it there before dark."

"I guess," Ade agreed. "God, I feel so stupid, though! I should have been paying more attention."

"That... whatever it was just jumped out in front of us, though," Nathalie said. "It's not your fault. I didn't see it either, until it was just... there, you know?"

The rumble of an engine made them both turn and look, to see a Jeep approaching, driven by an RCMP officer. The Jeep pulled up beside them. "Have a bit of trouble, did you?" the Mountie asked.

"Yeah," Ade told him. "Some big animal got in the road, and I went into a skid, trying to avoid hitting it."

The Mountie got out of the Jeep and looked down at the Camaro resting against the trees. "Got lucky there," he commented. "This ravine's at least 65 meters, and nothing but river at the bottom." He reached into the Jeep and grabbed his radio, calling for a tow truck. He waited with them until they saw it approaching, then he bid them a safe rest of their trip and proceeded on his patrol.

The tow truck operator winched the Camaro back up onto the road, then drove them down the mountain to the little town Nathalie had mentioned. A quick inspection by the mechanic, and the Camaro was deemed roadworthy, merely in need of some bodywork where the driver's side had met the trees. Ade consulted with Nathalie, the two looked over the map, and also questioned the mechanic and the tow truck driver as to the estimated travel time left to get to Kamloops. They eventually decided to go on and have the car fixed there, as they were only about an hour and a half away.