I set it aside with a major effort that felt more like lifting a boulder and said, “Fine. Let’s do that.”
He glanced at me, then clicked around and said, “Well, bugger me. It works.”
“Oh,” I said stupidly. “Well, that’s good. One less thing for me to ... to re— to re—” Now, for some reason, I was starting to shake with emotion.
“What?” he said. “Why would you have to replace it? I hit you. You’re not responsible for this.”
“I braked, though,” I said, pressing my elbows into my midsection, holding myself together. “For the dog.”
“Right,” he said, then told the fellas outside, who definitely needed to get back into their own cars, because the older one was shivering and stamping now, too, “Give me your number, then, mate, and both of you can head out. We’re all good here. Cheers for stopping.”
The fella looked at him, then at me, and then back at him again. He opened his mouth, and my would-be savior said with heaps of calm decision, “Just the number, and then you can bugger off. No worries.”
They did, turning for one more look back at us, and I sat there with the heat running and the seductive drowsiness filling me, fought it hard, and finally said, “Do we have to wait for the cops? I can’t afford to wait. I’ve got someplace to be.”
That was the moment it hit me. I was going for my sisters, and now, I couldn’t.
They were going to be waiting for me, anxious and scared, and I wouldn’t be there.
I gripped the steering wheel with both hands, put my forehead against it, and breathed.
“What?” the man said. “Hurting after all?”
I shook my head, but didn’t raise it. “Never mind. I’m just … there’s someplace I was meant to be. Someplace important.”
“I’ll take you,” he said. “Least I can do, isn’t it.”
“No,” I said, all of it trying to wash over me. “You don’t understand. It’s … I’m …” I took another breath and refocused. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Me?” he said. “Nothing’s wrong with me.”
“You hurt.”
“Oh. Migraine, that’s all.” In fact, one of his eyes was partially closed, and now, he groped for the glove box and took out a box of tablets, and struggled with it. I took the box from him, got the tablet out of its wrapper, and handed it to him. He swallowed it dry and said, “That’ll do.”
“Right, then.” I tried to be brisk and capable. It had never felt harder. “First thing. Do we need to wait for the cops?”
He shook his head, then put his hand to it lightly, his fingertips touching around his eye as if he were holding it in place. A man who was used to pain. “No. Nobody’s injured. Somehow. We can go. I’ll take you wherever you were going. Hop out, and we’ll switch around.”
“No,” I said, “we won’t. Not if you have a migraine. I’ll drive. Mind stopping near Wanaka?”
He stared at me for a minute. His mouth was actually open. “No,” he said. “You nearly died. You aren’t driving.”
“But I didn’t die, did I?” I fumbled for the button, moved the seat forward, and adjusted the mirror. “Fasten your seatbelt, then. We’re going to Wanaka.”
4
The Whore of Babylon
Gray
I would have argued, but there was an ice pick in my eye.
Later, I thought, as she pulled out onto the highway. It’s less than an hour’s drive. You can close your eyes for ten minutes, give the tablet a chance to work. The white gleam of light on the road was stabbing into my head. I hated the muzziness, the vertigo, and most of all, the weakness that I couldn’t power through, but the only way it would go away was if I closed my eyes and let the medication do its business, so I did.
I should ask her name, I thought. Also, that fella back there recognized me, but she didn’t. Probably best. A lifetime as a very well-known sportsman in an underpopulated district of a tiny, rugby-mad country had taught me to notice the recognition, and to keep my distance.
That was the last thing I thought.
I woke with a start. It took me a second to realize what had happened. We’d stopped, were pulled off the road in the dark.
“What?” I asked. “Where are we?”
“Turnoff,” she said. “For where I’m going. I need to talk to you. How’s your head?”
“Head’s fine.” Good enough to be going on with, anyway. “How’re you feeling? Doing all right?”
She shook her head. Dismissively,