by Jen Minkman
A cold shiver ran down her spine. Her right hand reached for the glove compartment and found the unloaded gun she kept there for emergencies. “Just in case,” her mother had said when Hannah first got her driver’s license. She wasn’t a big fan of firearms, but right now she was silently thanking her mom.
“Fine.” She pointed the gun at the guy on the hood. “Go force the door open. Let’s see how far you’ll get after that.”
They stared at her wide-eyed. The guy in front of her slid off the car hood. “Come on, let’s go. That chick is nuts.” He kicked against the front tire and glowered at her. “Have a nice life.”
Hannah followed the guys with her eyes until they disappeared into the dusk. She let out a shaky breath. Her heart was hammering like crazy.
“Hannah?” A tinny voice piped up from the direction of the passenger’s seat. “You still there?”
She grabbed her cell phone. “Yeah, I’m still here,” she replied softly.
“If I ever get my hands on those bastards.” His voice trembled. “Are they gone?”
“Yes, they’re gone.”
“We’re almost there, sis,” she heard Ben shout in the background. “Hold on just a little longer.”
Hannah put the gun down. The grip had turned all sweaty in her hand. “I’ll see you soon. Gotta go. My battery is almost dead.”
“All right.”
“And Josh?” She sighed. “Thank you so much.”
She hung up just before the battery died and sagged back in her seat. After five minutes, the headlights of Ben’s car appeared in her rearview mirror. Hannah unlocked the door and staggered outside. Ben parked next to the Datsun, and he and Josh got out.
“Hi,” Hannah said timidly.
Ben got to her first, hugging her tightly. “Hey sweetie,” he whispered in her hair. “That was quite a night, huh?” Now that she felt safe, Hannah started to shiver uncontrollably. She could feel Josh rubbing her back to calm her down. For a while, the three of them were just standing there, comforting each other. Ben was the first to pull away from their group hug to get the jerry can. “Let’s feed your car, shall we?”
Hannah turned around to face Josh. “Thanks for your pep-talk on the phone. I really don’t know what I would have done without my helpline.”
He smiled. “I’m sure you would have been just as brave.” He noticed the way she rubbed her hands over each other, silently taking them in his. “You cold?”
“Yeah. Stress, I guess.” Hannah felt her hands warm up against his palms. She fought the urge to press her body closer to his. She didn’t need to. Him holding her hands was enough to warm her up inside. Hannah looked at Ben, catching the glance her brother shot at her hands safely tucked away in Josh’s hands. She sighed. “God, I’m exhausted.”
“You should sit down.” Josh pulled her toward the Datsun’s passenger seat.
“But ... I have to drive.”
Josh shook his head. “No, I’m driving. You’re too stressed and tired.” He helped her into the seat, but didn’t let go of her hands straight away. “I’ll drive safely,” he added with a grin. “Trust me.”
“I trust you.” Hannah closed her eyes.
“Are you done filling her up?” Josh asked Ben.
“Yep, all clear. Are you driving Hannah’s car?”
Ben shut his car door and started up the engine. Josh sat down next to her and turned the key in the ignition. She closed her eyes again when they drove off, feeling her entire body relax.
“Just rest,” he said. “You’ll have to wake up to eat your tacos when we get home, though.”
“Hmmm.” She dozed off, thinking about the way Josh had made her feel when he’d held her hands. Even though he was six years her junior, she felt inexplicably safe and secure with him. She wasn’t sure she wanted to feel that way about him, though. The age difference between them wasn’t bugging her, but his mood swings were. Plus the fact that Emily had warned her about Josh pushing people away, not letting anybody get close to him.
Hannah fell into a deep sleep. She didn’t notice the car pulling into the driveway. She didn’t wake up when Josh lifted her and carried her inside, or when Ben tucked her in.
That was the night she dreamed about the burning village for the first time.
Clouds of smoke billowed above the primitive hoghans of the small settlement. Hannah panted. She was on the run from a group of Mexican-looking soldiers. Even though she’d never seen soldiers dressed like them in her life, she instinctively knew they were from Mexico, and they didn’t mean well.
“Run!” she cried out to the people she met on her way through the village. In front of her, she saw burning hoghans and Navajo people trying to put out the fire with buckets of water. Hannah knew she was looking for someone. Someone who meant a lot to her. She bumped into fleeing villagers, tripped over her own feet, and scraped her knees when she fell down. Frantically, she tried to stay out of sight of the Mexicans on the village square by hiding underneath some thorny bushes.
And then, her eyes focused on a figure running across the square. He came closer, saw her lying there, but averted his eyes so he wouldn’t alert the soldiers to her presence. Hannah stared up in utter confusion. That man who was trying to protect her was the man she’d been looking for. And it was Josh.
He looked older, about thirty years old, but it was definitely him. He was wearing traditional clothes and carrying a bow, which he now raised to draw the string and release an arrow at the approaching soldiers.
Behind him, a hoghan collapsed under its own weight, spitting up flames and smoke toward the sky. Hannah coughed and her eyes began to tear.
She jolted awake, startled by the sound of her ringing phone. It was charged again – someone had plugged it in. Hannah opened her eyes and wildly flailed her left arm to grab it from the bedside table. “Hey, Nick,” she answered in a sleepy voice after glancing at the display. “How’s life?”
“Splendid. How’s yours? Are you even alive?”
“You woke me up,” Hannah groaned. “Sorry. I planned texting you yesterday, but I forgot.”
“What time are you expecting me?”
“Josh and Emily will be here around five. So if you want to talk to them about your thesis...”
“Great! I’ll be there. What’s the name of your street?”
“Oh, it doesn’t have a name. When you drive into St. Mary’s Port, you just follow the signs saying ‘Log Cabin Park’ and you’ll end up on our road.”
“Okay, see you later then. Sorry I woke you up.”
“No problem. Bye.”
Hannah threw her phone back on the bedside table and stretched her arms and legs, staring at the ceiling. That dream. It had been so bizarre, and yet so life-like. She could still smell the burning wood and hear the villagers scream. She’d never dreamed in Spanish before, but the soldiers in her dream had spoken that language. She’d been able to understand them, even though they had a strange accent. In a flash, she remembered the way Josh had looked in her dream. Older, with a more worn and muscular body, and an alert attitude that made him look like a born warrior. And yet, his eyes had been the same when he looked at her. So intense, gentle and emotional.
Hannah shivered despite the heat. Dreaming about Josh wasn’t altogether that strange – after all, she thought about him a lot lately – but dreaming like this was. It had felt like a blast from the past.
“Hey,” Ben called out from the other side of the door. “Are you awake?”
“No, I was phoning Nick in my sleep.”
Ben opened the door with a cheeky grin. “Snarky as ever. So, how do you feel, Sleeping Beauty? We didn’t want to wake you up anymore when we got home.”
Hannah yawned. “I was probably exhausted because of the stress. Well, I had a good night’s sleep, at least.” She conveniently forgot to mention her strange dream. She was so not about to ‘fess up to Ben that she was dreaming about his best friend playing her protector in a pre-Civil War setting.
He’d probably think she was losing it. If she ever had it to start with. She groaned and got out of bed.
“How about some tacos for breakfast?” Ben pointed at the plate on the kitchen table. “I saved two for you.”
“Wonderful.” Hannah smiled at her brother and sat down at the table.
“Ivy said they’d be here at four,” Ben said. “What about Nick? What did he say when you called him in your sleep?”
“Oh, he’ll be here at five. Let’s go out and get groceries before they show up. We don’t have enough stuff in the fridge to feed all of our guests.”
“Well, Amber and Ivy promised to bring drinks for everybody. Josh will bring some burgers, and I said we’d get ice cream and stuff to make a salad. We’ll pick berries some other time.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Hannah sank her teeth into one of the tacos and finished it in a heartbeat. She was really hungry.
After she scarfed down her breakfast, Ben picked up his car keys from the kitchen counter. “Come on, let’s drive to Page. And when we get back, I am going to be a good student and bury myself in textbooks. I really need to catch up. You’ll have to go down to the beach by yourself.”
“No problem. I can take care of myself.”
They got into Ben’s old Chevy convertible. The top was open. While Ben started the engine, Hannah hit the side of the car stereo, which sputtered to life after a few seconds and was set to a radio channel playing lazy country music.
“Good. You still know how my radio works.” Ben was notorious for never throwing anything out until it more or less crumbled to dust in his hands. His car stereo was so old it needed special treatment.
As Johnny Cash crooned through the speakers, Hannah sank into the car seat and absently looked out at the landscape. The reddish-brown desert and its high electricity masts, low shrubs, tumbleweeds and deep-blue sky above looked so tranquil. It was going to be a hot day. Already, shimmering heat was radiating off the asphalted road in front of them. A cold shiver suddenly ran down her spine as Hannah remembered last night’s events. She couldn’t believe she’d threatened people with a gun, even if it had been an unloaded one.
“Are you okay, sis?” Ben interrupted her thoughts. “You’re so quiet.”
“Hmm. I’m still thinking about last night. It bothers me that I scared those guys off by pulling a weapon.”
Ben gave her a bug-eyed stare. “What? I didn’t even know you had a gun!”
“Well, I tried to make it clear I wasn’t interested in their company, but one of them flat-out told me they’d force the doors open if I didn’t unlock the car myself.”
Anger flared up in Ben’s eyes. “What a bunch of assholes.”
“Yeah, that’s when I suddenly remembered there was an unloaded gun in my glove compartment. Mom gave it to me so I could defend myself if something ever happened to me. I think I was supposed to buy bullets for it, but I never did.”
Ben shook his head, his mouth set in a firm line. “You know what? I think we should go down to the police station. You have to file a report. Who knows, those creeps could be stalking and harassing other girls, too.”
Hannah fell silent for a moment, then nodded. “I guess you’re right. I’d really like to forget about the whole ordeal as soon as possible, but I don’t want those guys bothering other women either.”
Once in Page, Ben parked the car on the square in front of the police station. He followed Hannah inside. “Where can we report a case of harassment?” Ben asked the middle-aged police officer with a gray mustache who greeted them when they entered the station.
“Please follow me.” The man walked them to one of the interrogation rooms and sat down at the desk himself, pulling the computer keyboard toward him. “My name is Graham Curry. I’ll draw up the report for you.”
Hannah started telling her story. She slowly drank the coffee another police officer had brought her and described the guys who’d threatened and harassed her in detail.
“Do you mind if I pop down to the supermarket?” Ben whispered, while officer Curry was busy typing the report. “I’ll see you outside when you’re done, okay?”
Hannah nodded, quickly finishing her description for the police officer. She mentioned Josh in her story as well, because he had heard the guys’ voices over the phone. He was the closest thing she had to a witness. When she got out of the police station and made her way to the Chevy, she briefly wondered if Josh had a cell phone or a landline at home. Officer Curry had asked her for contact details, but she only knew Josh’s last name was Benally and he lived in Naabi’aani. That wasn’t much to go on.
“Does Josh have a cell phone?” she inquired, when Ben had returned with the groceries and they both sat down in the car.
Ben shook his head. “No. Why? You want to call him?”
“N-no,” Hannah said, too hastily.
Ben looked at her sideways and gave her a cheeky grin. “Of course you do. Admit it.”
She blushed. “Stop teasing me. I was just wondering because that cop wanted to have Josh’s number. I mentioned him in the report.”
“No. Josh doesn’t have a cell. He doesn’t see the point. Naabi’aani doesn’t have coverage half of the time anyway, so I can see why. His uncle and aunt have a landline, so if you need to speak to him, you can call him there.”
“Nah, forget it.” Hannah sighed in frustration. Yet another reason why it was so hard to communicate with Josh. He didn’t even have a phone.
She was still thinking about him and last night’s situation as she was sun-bathing on the beach that afternoon. Apparently, thinking had made her head spin so much that she dozed off. She woke up with a start when her phone rang.
“Hey Ben,” she said. “I’ll be home soon. Where are you?”
“Home, of course,” Ben replied. “I’ve been cramming all afternoon. Pitiful me. I deserve a medal for this.”
“You got it. I’ll pin it on you as soon as I get there.”
“Wonderful. Ivy and Amber can sing the national anthem for me. They just arrived.”
Hannah giggled. “Sounds like a ceremony I can’t afford to miss. See you in a bit.”
She hung up and cringed when she tried to get up. Shoot. She’d forgotten to apply sunscreen to the backs of her knees, and the unprotected skin had scorched in the hot sun. She couldn’t even stand up straight or her skin would stretch too much and cause a stinging pain. Just her luck.
When Hannah finally arrived at the cabin and limped up the porch steps in agony, Ben raised his eyebrows. “What the heck happened to you? Someone stole your wheelchair on the beach?”
Hannah glowered at him. “Not funny. My knee-pits are sunburned. I can hardly walk.”
“You should put some herbs on it,” Amber suggested. “Mixed with yogurt.”
Ivy laughed. “Listen to the witch. A potion for every ailment.”
Amber poked her. “Keep mocking me and I’ll turn you into a toad.”
Hannah sat down and shot Ben an apologetic look when she took a cigarette from the packet lying on the table. She could resist anything, except temptation.
“Okay girls, let’s go down to the lake and catch some big fish.” Ben got up to load the stuff they needed into the trunk.
“Not me,” Hannah protested. “First of all, I’m a cripple, and moreover, Nick will be here at five. I’ll be the welcome committee.”
“Good idea. We’ll come back once everyone has caught at least one fish. Let’s not make things too easy for the neighbors.” He grinned at Amber and Ivy.
“Well, see you at midnight,” Ivy added sarcastically.
When Ben’s car drove off, turning onto the sandy track toward Lake Powell, Hannah got up, took a shower and applied some after-sun on her poor legs. Just as she stumbled into the kitchen, she heard a car engine outside. Sounded like Nick was already here. Hannah got her guitar from the living room and went outside to greet her new friend.
Instead, she found herself face to face with Josh, who ha
d just parked his car next to the log cabin.
“Oh. Hi.” She swallowed and watched him lift two heavy bags from the back seat. “You’re... early.”
“Hey, don’t sound so surprised.” Josh walked up the steps. “I know punctuality is not my strong suit, being Indian and all, but really. There’s no need to rub it in.” He grinned at her.
Hannah stepped aside, mumbling. “Yeah. I mean – no! You’re always on time. I think.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Well, you convinced me.”
He disappeared into the kitchen to put the hamburgers in the fridge. Hannah let out the breath she’d been holding. This was awkward with a capital A. It hadn’t occurred to her that Josh could get here first. Now she’d be alone with him until Nick and Emily got here, and she felt nervous at the prospect. Which was stupid. She’d wished for a one-on-one conversation yesterday, after all. This was the perfect opportunity to discuss that weird tension passing between them. As well as the Kitchen Incident, in which she accidentally, well, rejected him. It was definitely time to talk, but it was like cotton was stuffed down her throat. Every time she met his eyes, she turned into a babbling heap of nerves. Maybe she should just shut up about it. Nothing special was going on. Josh was just a normal, seventeen-year-old guy learning the ropes and testing it out on her before moving on to an actual potential girlfriend his own age.
“So, how are you feeling now?” he asked.
She turned around and unwittingly smiled when he gently put a hand on her shoulder. “Better. Ben made me go to the police and file a report, by the way.”
“I can imagine. He was worried sick about you during the drive.”
“I mentioned your name in the report. You’re the only one who heard those guys’ voices, at least.”
“Sure. If I can help or testify against them, let me know. I hope they’ll get arrested and get an official warning.”
“At the very least, yeah. They only took off because I held them at gunpoint.”
Josh looked surprised. “You had a weapon?”