How can school be ready to start already? Oh, well, routine is a good thing, though this year may be anything but routine if we don’t get the COVID numbers back down. I’m not a publically political person, but GET YOUR STUPID VACCINE! Notice, I could have rearranged those words and been a bit more offensive, but chose not to.

Anyway, it’s Wednesday, so time for an excerpt from my work in progress. I’m sharing my latest work, which is from earlier this week. For just enough context for the events to make some sort of sense, Harry has been injured and is just out of the hospital, though he’s only just out and is not quite up to par physically.

Here you go. Hope you enjoy. I also hope you comment and share. Commenting and sharing are like a cool breeze on a hot day to bloggers.

“Wait here!” I said over my shoulder. Before I covered half the ground between us and the car, it became obvious Sparks’ car had stalled and he was trying to re-start it. The battery was starting to lag on him, but with only forty feet between his rear bumper and me, it finally caught. He instantly put it in reverse and floored the gas pedal, spraying grass and mud away from the front of the car. There was a pretty good lip on the edge of the road, so he knocked his muffler loose as the rear end of his car bounced back onto the blacktop. Finally, his front drive wheels hit the pavement with a startling screech. The tires catching caused the car to lurch hard left, toward me. Still running as fast as my battered body would let me, I swerved right just in time to avoid his rear bumper. He hit his brakes, skidding maybe five feet before shifting into drive and flooring it again, pulling away with a deafening roar, leaving his entire exhaust system behind.

Only when the car was gone and the adrenaline started to subside did my head start pounding like there was a little man with a mallet trying to take the side of my skull off from the inside. My forehead was awash in flop sweat, my knees were rubbery, and my stomach rolled. I turned back toward Dee, who had apparently been following me as I chased Sparks. I buckled at the waist and barely turned my head in time to keep from throwing up my dinner on her boots.

She stepped back to avoid being in the splash zone but started toward me as I tried to straighten. I was suddenly gripped with another spasm. I turned away from her and just kept my legs under me as what had to be the last of what was in my stomach jetted onto the pavement at my feet. Each heave ratcheted the jackhammering in my head another notch until the world around me turned red and I felt like I was looking at the world through a long, crimson tunnel.

“Dee? Dee?” I waved my hands around me wildly until I hit something soft.

“I’m here.” A soft, strong hand grasped my sweating palm and an arm wrapped firmly around my waist. I stayed upright with her support, but only just. “Do you need to sit down? Can you walk?”

“Dee? Hold on to me. Don’t let go.”

“I’m here. Hold on. Stay with me. Oh, Harry.”

I latched onto her voice like a man hanging onto the end of a rope that’s keeping him from falling into a black, bottomless chasm. Slowly, hand over hand, I began climbing that rope toward her, taking a deep breath with each pull. Eventually, the tunnel widened, the maelstrom in my stomach eased to a gentle roll, and the throbbing in my head dropped to a light thumping, which slowed as my pulse dropped. After I don’t know how long, maybe a minute or two, my head cleared enough that we began to trudge back toward the car. As we started, Otis rolled up in his cruiser, rolling down his window as he came abreast of us.

“Sorry I’m late. Got a phone call from a witness I need to interview tomorrow and then I pulled a guy over to give him a warning out at the entrance. He had no muffler.

Dee and I looked at each other and back at him. I don’t know why, except I was just so exhausted I was losing it, but I started giggling and couldn’t stop. It grew until I was laughing so hard I was gasping and had to lean on Dee, who was struggling to keep me upright. I thought I might pass out, but finally slowed down and took in a few big gulps of air.

Otis had gotten out of his car by then and was standing at his open door. “What was that about?”

Dee shook her head. “Oh, this maniac saw someone he apparently recognized. He yelled out ‘Randy Sparks’ and suddenly he was chasing a car across the lot.”

Otis’ eyes widened. “Did you say Randy Sparks?”

I mopped my forehead with the sleeve of my hoodie. “He’s the guy you pulled over, right?”

Otis nodded. “One and the same. Why were you chasing him?”

“He saw that I recognized him and just took off.”

Dee unlocked our car and pulled me toward it. “So, you chased him because he ran from you? What, are you a coon hound?”  

I opened the passenger door and slumped into the seat, my feet still on the lot. “He was a witness in the Clingerton case. I’d seen his car three times since we got here, and he bolted when I made eye contact with him. He had no reason to be following me and less reason to run from me.”

Dee stomped her foot. “And that’s a reason to practically kill yourself chasing him? Have you lost your mind?”

I wanted so badly to tell her how adorable she was when she stomped her foot like that, but I knew it would get me in even more trouble than I was already in. “I’m sorry. It was just instinct. Something’s felt off about that whole case since the beginning and that guy barely gave me two looks when I interviewed him, so he shouldn’t have even recognized me, let alone be following me and panic when I see him.”

She crossed her arms. “Well, I was given to believe you are an intelligent man. Intelligent men can overcome their instincts and stop themselves from doing things that will endanger them. Or possibly take them away from their loved ones.”

I felt like we were talking about more than this event, but didn’t have the energy to pursue it. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Truly sorry. I know where he lives, or at least where he works, and had no reason to chase him.”

“Especially in your condition.”

“Especially in my condition.”

“So why did you do it?”

“Because I have brain damage?”

She stomped again. “This isn’t a joke, you moron.”

Otis covered his mouth to conceal a snicker. “Okay, you guys, let’s just simmer down. Harry, you okay?” I nodded. “Dee, he’s okay. It’s too late to shop tonight anyway, so how about a raincheck for tomorrow night? We’ll leave this brain damaged moron at home.”

Dee went around to the driver’s side door. “Fine by me. Get in…Harry.” She said my name, but it felt like she said moron again.

I waved at Otis. He twirled his finger in the air to tell me to roll down my window. “You want me to do some checking on one Randy Sparks? I can put one of those lowly uniforms on it now.”

“I’d be grateful.”

He gave me the double finger pistols. “You got it. Now get some rest and don’t do anything stupid for a while.”

“Roger that. I’ll be over to see your new digs tomorrow.” I rolled my window back up, smiling at Dee, but her face withered my grin instantly.

She fired up the engine. “You will not be over to see his new digs tomorrow. You will stay home and rest and recover and recuperate. Is that clear.”

“As you wish.”

“Darn right.”