The Path

Brian Carraway stared at the gas pump’s display as the numbers surged higher. He patted his left front pants pocket to make sure his checkbook was still there. He’d hoped he wasn’t going to need to travel anytime soon, but things had changed. He looked up at the sky. It was still mostly clear, with the blue heavens still showing themselves above, but they were beginning to disappear.  The fluffy, white peaceful clouds were starting to cover it up, and they had begun to change. Some had only partially turned grey, while others had become much darker. In fact, some of them were almost black. He took a deep breath and looked away. The first thing that caught his sight was the driver’s side tire. He thought he’d just checked all of them, but he couldn’t remember if they were ok. He walked away from the pump and looked at the driver’s side tire again. It looked fine and wasn’t drooping. He walked around the front of the car and around to the passenger side. The front was good, and so was the back. As he strode around the trunk to inspect the driver’s side rear, he stopped as he felt something glare into the left side of his face. He knew what it was. He turned to see a woman standing beside an older white Ford passenger van. The woman had her back turned to him and was looking at the pump as she filled up the vehicle. What he assumed was her daughter though, who looked to be around eight, the same age as his niece, was standing beside her staring at him. Her red, short sleeve shirt and blue jeans looked like they’d faded from their previous glory but were still in good shape. She waved at Brian and smiled. Brian nodded his head and grinned, but turned away when a sudden gust of wind nearly blew him over. The gas pump for his car thumped at that moment, and he didn’t bother to complete his final tire inspection. He hustled to the gas tank on the driver’s side, removed the nozzle from his gas tank, secured it and put the lid back on the cover and locked it. He pressed the option for no receipt on the pump before he got back into his car, shut the door and locked it. He took his cell phone out of the cup holder and pulled up his bank’s app. Once he confirmed the charge was against his account, he closed it and checked the radar again. The angry green, yellow and red blobs weren’t on top of him yet, but they were closer than when he’d pulled in a few minutes ago. He started his car, checked his surroundings, and pulled out. He thought about turning around to check on the little girl again, but his mind was only focused on one thing at that moment.

           He stopped at the red light leading to the highway and breathed deeply when he looked up at the sky again. Nothing but clouds. Gray and black clouds traveling southeast. He sighed. His attention was drawn back to the gas station when he heard a loud voice behind him. He looked in his rearview and saw the woman from the white van leaning out from the pump laughing at a man walking out of the store. The man joined her in laughing and handed her a bottled drink as he got closer. Before Brian could figure out what it was, the traffic light he was waiting at turned green and a horn behind him compelled him to pull out. The navigation system from his car spoke to him as he turned. It told him to take the next left onto the interstate. That this path was still the fastest route and avoided the latest storm warnings. He gripped the steering wheel as he made his way to the next stop light, but luckily the turn arrow to the left was green, so he didn’t have to wait to get on the road. To get away.

           Brian kept the gas pedal pressed down as his car sped down the road. The bumps and bounces, irrelevant and petty. The slower vehicles and lines of passing cars, distractions and annoyances. The scenery on the sides of the road, unremarkable and forgettable. When he got caught up in traffic, he slapped his hands on the steering wheel and the dashboard until he could get around. While he wished he could get to his destination without a stop, the rest stops were a necessary evil as the brace on his left foot needed to be adjusted for the healing stitches when he drove long distances. At each stop, he went straight to the restroom, then to the first vacant bench to attend to his foot, then back to his car where he checked the radar and finally got back on the road. He had done this twice on his route to that point. Each time the distance to his destination decreased, and so did the distance from the storms and the warnings they brought.

            He looked down at the clock on his dash. 7:47 PM. He’d been on the road for almost two and a half hours. The severe weather wasn’t supposed to be in the area until almost 9 PM. He eased back a little bit in his seat and since no one was around him, pulled his car over into the slow lane. For the first time, he felt how sore his forearms were, and a bead of sweat rolled down his back. He leaned forward and put his hand on his back. His shirt was soaked. He didn’t care. He was going to make it. That’s what he thought until the announcement came from his car’s navigation system.

           “A tornado watch is in effect for your area,” the disembodied voice announced from the digital darkness. 

           Brian sat up straight in his seat and pressed the pedal down. He looked at his speedometer. It had just decreased to seventy-one a moment ago, but he’d pushed it back up to seventy-five. His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. He focused his breath, slowed down his heart, and then checked the time to his destination on his car’s display. Only an hour and fifteen minutes to go. He noticed he didn’t hear anything other than sounds of the road. He sighed and was about to put on some music when he saw a small black and white figure trotting along the shoulder the same direction as him. He only saw it for a few seconds in the streetlights as he passed it. It was a shaggy dog and reminded him of the collies and sheepdogs his family and their friends had as he was growing up. 

           Brian looked out of his passenger side mirror just in time to see the figure disappear. He started to look back through his rear window when a horn caught his attention. He looked over to his left to see that he had drifted into the fast lane as a car was passing him. He turned the steering wheel to align himself as the other car passed on. He looked around again, saw nothing and figured he’d continue his journey. That’s when he saw the green sign for exit 156 ahead on his right. He turned on his right turn signal as the on ramp came into view and pulled off on the shoulder at its base. His car doors automatically unlocked as soon as he put it in park. He locked them again and checked the radar on his phone again. The menacing storm blobs were closer, but they were well south of his position. While he waited, he hoped a flash of lighting in the sky would give him a reason to flee. But the dog came into view in the streetlights over the horizon before that happened.

           He watched it approach for about a minute and felt relieved each time a pair of headlights on the road passed it. As it came closer to the exit, he realized it wasn’t going to stop. He was about to open the driver’s side door when a pair of headlights flew by him up the exit, quickly followed by another. He held back until it was clear no other traffic was coming up when he turned off his car, got out, and walked towards the dog. As he approached, the dog stopped, and he was able to see it in detail for the first time. It was a Border Collie, just like his next-door neighbor had when he was in high school. It was wearing a red collar with a white stripe in the middle, looked well fed, and other than some dirt and leaves on its fur, appeared in good shape. He walked up to the dog and knelt in front of it. The dog was panting, but stopped and tilted its head to its right side as it looked up at him. Brian reached out his hand and scratched the dog’s head, which prompted it to lick his arm. He petted it for a minute when the wind from a large pickup truck going up the exit blew on them. As the dog moved, Brian was able to make out a tag on its collar. He saw the tag was filthy, so he spat on his thumb and wiped it off. Once he did, the tag indicated the dog was male, his name was Bugsy, and had a phone number to call in case he was found. The area code looked familiar to him, but when tried to think where he’d seen it before, a clap of thunder interrupted him. He reached down and wrapped his arm around the dog. When it didn’t growl or offer any resistance, he picked it up and jogged to his car.

He put Bugsy in the passenger seat, closed the door and had to wait a few moments for another pair of cars to pass by on the exit ramp. Once Brian got in, he pulled out his phone and checked the dog’s collar again. He dialed the number and the line picked up after one ring. A voice on the other end answered after a pause. 

“Hello,” the diminutive voice answered.

“Hello, my name is Brian and I think I found your dog.”

“Really! Where? Is he ok!” The voice shouted.

“Yeah,” he said as he chuckled. “I found him off interstate 65 heading north. I’m at the exit ramp 156.”

“That stupid thing!” She said as she laughed. “My name is Chelsea. Let me get my daddy and you can talk to him.”

“Ok,” Brian said as the line went silent. He looked over and petted the dog as it looked around and smelled the passenger side of its new home.

A few moments later, a deep voice came on the line. “Hello?”

“Hi, my name is Brian and I think I found your dog, Bugsy.”

The man sighed. “Thank goodness. That little shit dug a hole under our fence and ran away a couple days ago. Where did you find him?”

“I picked him up off interstate 65 heading north. I’m at exit 156 at the base of the ramp.”

“Ok, you’re not that far from us. Name’s Richard, and if you wouldn’t mind, can you turn back around southbound and back to exit 153? We live in the sticks, and it will take me about fifteen minutes or so to get there.”

   Brian froze. He held his phone out in front of him and swiped the screen from the phone call to the weather app. The storms were closer than they were before and gaining speed and strength from the color changes of the warning boxes. He changed the screen back to the phone call and his finger hovered over the disconnect button. A rumble of thunder in the background seemed to urge his finger forward. He inhaled deeply and swallowed. Memories of his house shaking, windows shattering, and the roar of the tornado hit him all at once. He was about to press the button when Bugsy licked his fingers. Brian looked up and then heard the man’s voice from the phone again. He put it back up to his ear.

“Hello?” Richard asked.

“Yeah, I’m sorry Richard. I just, yeah, I’ll turn around and head that way in a minute.”

“You alright Brian?”

Brian looked over at Bugsy as the dog bumped its snout against his arm. The feeling of its wet nose tickled. “Yeah, I’m ok. I’ll head that way now. Where would you like to meet?”

“When you go back southbound, get off exit 153 and turn to the right. There will be a hardware store next to a fast-food place, a farm supply store, and a walk-in clinic about a mile down the road on the left. Don’t worry, it’s got some streetlights and the police station is across the street. If you’ll park in the hardware store parking lot and call me, we can meet from there.”

Brian laughed. “Ok, that sounds like a plan.”

“No offense Brian, but I don’t know you.”

“None taken Richard.  I’ll head that way in a minute.”

“Thanks again for all your help bud. Really do appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.” The phone clicked off, and Brian dropped his arm to his side. He leaned back against the seat. He grimaced for a moment and was about to check the radar again when he stopped and put the phone back in the cup holder and breathed deeply. He realized at that moment how tired he was. Tired of the fear, tired of the running, and just tired of trying to control what he couldn’t. He looked over at Bugsy, who tilted his head and panted. He reached over and scratched the dog’s head before he started his car. He pulled on the exit ramp and turned left towards the southbound ramp.