Through Innocent Eyes

Family Gatherings

Halfway to my parent's beach house, I was tired, almost out of beef jerky, and almost out of gas.

The truck behind me had been tailing my car for about twenty miles. We were on a long stretch of road between Charleston and Myrtle Beach with many docks branching out into the ocean from little ports.

Seeing as though the truck wouldn't pass after my signaling, I decided to pull over to a stop on the side of the road.

As I stop off to the side, I signal for the guy to go ahead. When he fails to pick up on my reluctance, I park my car.

After about a minute of the truck sitting behind me, he finally moves along, turning out, and pulling away.

That was odd.

I wait a little while longer before finally pulling away myself.

About an hour later, I see that my gas tank is almost empty. With about twenty more minutes until I reach the town limits of Myrtle Beach, I doubt my tank will last until then.

I make it as far as I can until my tank runs out. I pull to the side of the road and sit for a minute.

I reach into my purse and pull out my phone, checking for signal. To my surprise, my phone had a signal. I look through my contacts, and dial my mom's number.

The phone goes straight to voicemail and I decide to leave one.

"Hey mom. I'm about twenty minutes outside of Myrtle Beach, and it's about 7:40 a.m. I am fully out of gas, and I didn't bring an extra gas can. Call me when you get this. Thanks, bye." I say, hanging up.

I switch my hazards on and wait for either a car or a call from Jessica.

....................

About ten minutes of waiting, a truck pulls off to the side in front of me. A man steps out, walking over to my car. I get out and smile, panicking on the inside.

"Need help?" He asks, eyeing my car.

"Um yeah." I pause, "I ran out of gas, and didn't think to bring a gas can."

"Bummer. Let me see if I have some gas I can spare." He winks, turning to his truck.

I lean on the side of my car, hoping he has a full gas can.

He pulls out a can from the bed of his truck, holding it in the air, and smiling.

"Here ya go." He hands it to me with a short pause.

"Thank you so much. Honestly it was stupid of me not to bring one of my own." I smile, reaching my arm out towards the gas can.

"If you had, I wouldn't have met you." He smiled again, grabbing my hand after I placed it on the gas can handle.

"Yep." I laugh awkwardly, averting my gaze. "Thanks again."

"My name's Dan." He winked again.

"Thank you, Dan." I chuckle, pulling it from his grasp.

"See ya around." He called, getting in his truck and driving away.

"Maybe." I call, shaking off the weird encounter and filling my tank.

....................

I finally reach our beach home and sigh a sigh of relief.

I step out of my car, getting my bags from the trunk, all while smelling the salt water.

I ring the bell and wait for Mark and Jessica to answer.

"Hi honey! It's so good to see you! Guess who's been talking about seeing you all day!"