Double Trouble

by Constance Masters

  Becky stood dumbstruck and watched as her friend took a big cleansing breath before dragging the sledgehammer behind her. With one last sluggish, yet very heroic burst of strength, she swung it at the gate as hard as she could. The action knocked her clear off her feet but did dislodge the car from the gate. It also knocked the gate completely from its mount on the side fence. The large decorative barrier dropped to the ground with a loud clank.

  “Uh oh.” Kendall's mind too cluttered to deal with what to do about that just yet so she moved on. “Itsh not stuck now,” she said.

  They clambered into the truck clumsily and rested for a minute to catch their breath...

  * * *

  The next morning after doing the milking with a very tired Lance, John drove over to Becky's to check if she was ok and to drive her back to the city to get Ryan's car if she needed. He just hoped it was still there and in one piece. He'd felt terrible leaving it there, especially when Becky had the keys. He just hoped she'd paid attention to his note and hadn't tried to drive it herself.

  * * *

  The sun was barely up when Mike tossed the last sleeping bag into the back of his truck while Ryan poured dirt on the fire to make sure it was out. It was a little earlier than they planned to go back but neither of them could relax.

  When they'd been on the road a short time, Ryan managed to get the friend that was driving to pull into a truck stop for gas and food; a ruse really for his real reason of trying to contact Becky. He'd been trying but wasn't able to get through.

  Ryan's mouth was set in a straight line as they pulled back onto the road and continued the journey home. An hour or so later they stopped again. Ryan had had no reply to the text messages he'd sent and neither had Mike by the look on his face.

  “Maybe there'll be better reception when we're not in the car,” Ryan tried to explain.

  “Didn't seem to help the million times you tried before we left.” His friend Steve said with a smirk. The other guys thought it was hilarious that Mike and Ryan couldn't forget about their girls for a couple of days.

  Ryan took the ribbing good-naturedly but it didn't alter his resolve to get home and see his wife. He didn't blame their friends; maybe their girls knew how to behave.

  Ryan winced at the look of frustration on Mike's face. “Nothing?” he asked.

  “Nothing.”

  If one or the other had answered it'd be something, but both of them at the same time being off the air seemed more than a coincidence. “I hope they're ok,” Ryan said.

  “Me too,” Mike added.

  “Maybe they're just asleep,” Ryan said with a sigh.

  “Possibly. If they had too much to drink they could be feeling under the weather,” Mike added.

  “Yeah, but if they drank that much anything could have happened. They're not used to drinking much at all.”

  “I know, my thoughts exactly. Have they found some kind of trouble?” Mike said.

  “Geez,” Ryan said quietly, “we better get there and find out.”

  “I'll drive the rest of the way,” Mike said.

  * * *

  “Kendall,” Becky said, nudging her friend. She squinted at the light that was now streaming through the windscreen, she had a headache and it took her a minute to work out why she was even in the car. Startled when it all came back to her suddenly, she gave Kendall a less than gentle shove.

  “Kendall!” she said, “Wake up.” It took a couple more nudges before Kendall was awake. “We fell asleep. I don't know what time it is but it's daylight.”

  “Oh God,” Kendall groaned. “The car.”

  Becky turned the key and jolted the car into movement literally as she crunched the gears several times, wincing as she ran over something large and metal judging by the loud clangy crunch.

  Kendall's eyes veered over to the space where the gate used to be. Her eyes opened wide. “The gate. How the hell am I gonna explain the gate?”

  “Fuck,” Becky said. “I'm so sorry Kendall. I think I just euthanized the it.” Could this really get any worse? She wasn't one to swear, especially since she'd been with Ryan, but sometimes there just wasn't another word descriptive enough for a situation and this one fit that bill completely. The car bounced up the driveway to the garage protesting at Becky's misuse of the clutch. Kendall was forced to grasp the door handle to stop herself from banging her head as the car rocked from side to side.

  “Finally,” Kendall said as she used her remote to open the garage door. Thankfully her car was still at Becky's and the garage was empty.

  * * *

  When John got to Becky's house there didn't seem to be anyone home. He shook his head at the amount of time he'd lost messing with all this. She'd probably stayed at a friend’s house. He hoped she had. Dammit, he thought. He'd have to go check along the roads to see if something had happened and if the car was still there.

  John finally reached the city after finding nothing untoward along the way. He drove directly to the spot the car had been parked the night before. It wasn't there. He sighed and turned the car around, there was nothing more he could do at this stage but pray that everything was alright. He'd wasted a good hour and a half with nothing to show for it. He wished he'd asked Lance if he had Ryan's number. For the moment he had to get back and do some work. He'd check again later.

  * * *

  Each girl swung a hammer into the underside of the brand new SUV. Becky winced as her hammer split right through the shiny black paint making a hole in the metal.

  “Shit,” she drawled through her furry teeth. Kendall dropped her hammer onto the cement garage floor with a clunk and peered at the damaged vehicle through one bloodshot eye. She thought she was going to be sick and her head was thumping.

  “That's so not good,” she stated obviously. The front right panel of Ryan's brand new car was now a crumpled mess. It had started with a small dent that probably could have been fixed easily and now she'd made it so much worse.

  “Ya think?!” Becky asked. “We're in sooo much shit.”

  “Uh huh,” Kendall said.

  Becky sighed deeply. This was supposed to have been a fun night. Kendall's bachelorette party. “I never should have driven,” she said out loud but more to herself. She stared into space vacantly while she tried to get her brain to come to life and offer a solution. It didn't.

  Kendall gave her friend a poke.

  Becky nodded. “We have to get it out of here now,” she said, her last shred of self-preservation once again leading her astray.

  * * *

  “Where we gonna take it?” Kendall asked. She was really starting to panic. The shock of knowing you may be about to be arrested by your very own fiancé for car theft and malicious damage a week before your wedding could do that to to a girl.

  “Um...we could hide it and say it was stolen,” Becky suggested.

  “You know that'll only make matters worse,” Kendall said quietly. The situation was hopeless.

  “I really don't know. Maybe we should just leave it here and tell the truth?” Becky said quietly.

  “Hell no,” Kendall said. “I think I remember something about an enormous hammer and the front gate. I can't have Ryan's new car still here like this too when Mike comes home.”

  “Sorry, hon, it was all my fault,” Becky said, “I'll tell Mike. I'm gonna get killed anyway.”

  “No, no one tied my hands behind my back,” Kendall said putting her arm around her friend. “Besides, I KNOW the kind of trouble you're gonna be in and you'll be lucky if you can sit by the wedding.”

  “Uh huh,” Becky said. “You sure Mike won't, you know, spank you?”

  “No! He's a pussycat really. That big sheriff persona? All for show. Besides, I'm the bride. I get to be a little crazy.”

  * * *

  Becky smiled but she wasn't so sure that Mike would just let this go. Kendall had gotten in the car with a drunk driver, even if it was her best friend, that was pretty big. They'd virtually run off with a br
and new car. Not to mention leaving poor Lance stranded in the city. What had happened to Lance anyway? What on earth was wrong with her, why had they gone so overboard with everything? Why had she? Most of this was her fault.

  “What do you think happened to Lance?” she asked.

  “God, I don't know. I hope he's alright,” Kendall said.

  “Me too.” Becky felt terrible. She felt physically sick, her head hurt and she felt guiltier than she ever had before. There was no way she could fix this in a couple of hours.

  “I guess we can just take it to your house and then we'll tell them when Mike drops Ryan off.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Becky said. “You sure we can't leave it here?

  “There's no way, Beck. It's too late to have it towed now.” She thought out loud. “Wait!”

  “What?” Becky's face lit up with the hope that Kendall may have thought of some way out of this mess.

  “We could have it towed,” Kendall said with a smile. “Then, we tell the boys that there was an accident and the car got bumped. We don't have to say what with or where.”

  “YOU'RE A GENIUS!” Becky said, suddenly feeling better than she had since she woke up. They could do this, they could, and it would be believable too.

  “How long?” Kendall asked when Becky hung up her phone.

  “We got lucky, about fifteen minutes. He can only take it to his shop. We have to arrange for it to go to the dealer but it'll buy some time.”

  “Yeah… now what do we say happened to it?”

  “We don't know. We got back this morning and it was just like that. Someone must have ran into it while we were out.”

  “You think they'll go for that?”

  “I hope so.”

  “Yeah.” Both girls’ eyes were now drawn to Becky's lit up and ringing phone. It'd been off until she had to turn it back on to call for the tow truck. Now she noticed some missed calls. A LOT of missed calls. She tried to steady her voice as she answered it.

  “Hi, Honey?” she answered almost choking on her words.

  “Becky, where've you been? We were worried.”

  “Oh, we, we musty have been sleeping.” Not a lie. They DID fall asleep in the car.

  “Is everything ok?” he asked.

  “Yeah. I assume so. I mean we just got up, so I guess everything's fine.”

  “Great. That's great. I'll be seeing you soonish, baby,” Ryan said. “We're on our way home.”

  “Oh? Oh great,” Becky said, her voice as calm as she could make it but her face full of panic as she looked meaningfully at Kendall. “Ok, I'm gonna go get some coffee,” Becky said, “I'll see you real soon.”

  “Ok Baby,” he answered.

  “Oh, and Ryan? I love you,” she added, guilt poking her gut like a knife.

  “I love you too.”

  “When she hung up, she realized that Kendall was having a similar conversation with her fiancé.

  “You didn't say anything did you?”

  “No, of course not. The longer we can put off this conversation the better as far as I'm concerned.” she said.

  * * *

  “Kendall sound ok to you?” Ryan asked.

  “A little tired.”

  “Hmm. Becky sounded, I don't know, sort of breathless and panicked.”

  “Probably nothing. What could they possibly have done that's that bad? They're ok, that's the main thing.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  * * *

  It was the longest and most anxious fifteen minutes of Becky's and Kendall's life. The longer it took, the more Becky's tummy flipped with the telltale butterflies, a warning of the trouble she would no doubt be facing. Seeing that truck pull up the driveway was the best feeling ever. It seemed to take forever for the guy to hook up Ryan's car. The amused mechanic took in the surroundings and the girls’ clothes and smiled.

  “Attempt a little car repair did we girls?” he chuckled. “Big night?”

  “No,” Becky said indignantly. “It, the car, something ran into it.” The man chuckled.

  “What ever you say, lady,” he said. “I saw what hit it on the way in. Nice gate, or I bet it was yesterday.”

  “Ignore him. We need to let him get out of here so we can call a cab,” Becky said, giving the man her most unimpressed glare. Didn't seem to have much effect though with the way she was dressed and the night before's makeup spread all over her face.

  “Finally,” Becky said as the truck pulled out of the driveway and choked it's way up the road with it's heavy load. “Let's call a cab.”

  * * *

  “It's been an hour!” Becky said impatiently. They were waiting out near the street for the cab she'd called but it hadn't showed. She rang the company again. “But I need to get home,” she whined to the operator.

  Kendall sighed.

  “No cab?” she asked when Becky hung up.

  “Nope. It's Sunday, not many drivers. This is not what I want to do, but I think we better start walking.”

  “Can I go get changed?”

  “We don't have time. We've wasted enough time as it is. If we get back to my house we can both take a shower and get changed.”

  “Ok,” Kendall said, “if we have to.”

  “Unfortunately, we do.”

  * * *

  “Finally, we can go home,” Ryan said after they dropped the last of their friends home.

  “I'm sure everything's fine,” Mike said, “Kendall said it was.”

  “Yeah,” Ryan said. He felt terrible for being such a downer, even though he'd spoken to Becky he just couldn't shake the feeling he had.

  * * *

  “Ouch,” Kendall said stopping her slow hobble for a quick rest. Her heel was wobbling on the rocky ground and it was making her hobble even wigglier than it would have been normally walking down the middle of the country road.

  “Please, Becky, can't we rest for a while?”

  “Can't, gotta get home,” she said, not skipping a beat as she continued on her quest.

  Kendall had to really hurry to catch up with her.

  * * *

  Becky had taken her boots off and was walking in bare feet. They were covered in painful blisters. Her head ached and her bottom tingled. She was in BIG trouble and every fiber of her being could feel it. That must have sparked something in her addled brain; the part that was determined to save her and her doomed ass. It spurred her on and she was almost at a jog in her skimpy skirt with its pink sparkles. Her blonde hair was a tangled mess and her face looked panda like with her smudged eye make up. Nearly every nail was broken from the damn hammer and she wanted to sit and cry. She wanted to phone Ryan and tell him what she'd done and tell him to come help her. She had nothing left but sheer bloody mindedness and determination. She wouldn't give in, so on she went, brushing the annoying tears from her eyes as they tried to escape and run down her stubborn cheeks.

  “Come on, Kendall. We're nearly there,” she shouted back over her shoulder.

  Kendall had no choice but to follow.

  * * *

  “Holy cow!” Mike said as he slowed in front of his house. There in the front of his driveway, instead of the double front gate that'd been recently installed, there was a single. Over by a tree was the other. It was badly dented and looked like it'd been tossed out of the way.

  “I knew it,” Ryan said.

  Mike pulled into the driveway and drove right up to the garage. Everything looked to be ok. He noticed the shed was open and they both ran to have a look. Nothing appeared to be stolen. He opened the house but he could tell virtually straight away that nobody had been there. It was too tidy.

  “Better check out my place,” Ryan said.

  * * *

  “I need a drink,” Kendall panted.

  “We're nearly there,” Becky lied. She knew they had ages to go and she knew that Kendall knew it too, but once they admitted that fact they'd be done.

  “Becky we've been walking for so long. It feels
like hours.”

  “It hasn't been hours, hon,” Becky said.

  “I know that, I said it FEELS like we've been walking for ages.”

  “I know, if a car comes along we'll try and get a lift.”

  “God, I hope one comes along soon.”

  “Me too.”

  * * *

  Mike wasted no time in pulling back out onto the road from his place, a rush of adrenalin made his heart pound. Perspiration ran down his face, he looked over to Ryan who didn't look any better. They were about half way to Ryan and Becky's house when he spotted two figures on the road ahead.

  “Is that?” Mike started.

  “It sure as hell is!” Ryan said, throwing open the door as soon as Mike stopped.

  Mike was right behind him.

  * * *

  The sound of a car engine was music to Kendall's ears and she stopped in her tracks. Becky's gut forced her to turn and look. A mixture of panic and relief washed through her and she froze, unsure of what to do next. A quick glance at the road ahead and she admitted to herself it was over. There was no way they could escape from an off duty cop with a ruined gate and a pissed off husband. They were caught.