Book ive Started Writing

I
Passing west through Wichita , one couldn’t help but notice that the next city of its size would not been seen for over five-hundred miles. However, the Carson ’s would not be traveling this distance, stopping in Montezuma, a mere two-hundred miles ahead, down the flat, straight, gloomy US-54. Jack, a native of the much more populous state of South Carolina, had been driving laboriously through Kansas’s ‘storm of the century’ for the last fourteen hours and did not intend to stop until he had reached Montezuma, at the condescension of his middle-class American family.
          However, the 1986 Buick Electra Estate Wagon, which Jack had bought used solely for this trip, had not cost him only two-thousand ninety nine dollars without reason. Its significant flaws included but were not limited to: a dripping gas tank, cracked windshield, power windows which did not open, no heat, and an overheating problem which had already caused one breakdown so far, back in Mississippi. The family had really thrown all its eggs in one basket when setting out in this piece of trash. If it was to break down, the Carson family would be stuck in rural Kansas, miles and miles away from civilization.
         Jack, the only one still awake at this ungodly hour, 3AM, had just witnessed the passing of a sign, pointing out that he had just crossed out of Wichita’s city limits. With this he acknowledged that he would probably not be able to find any help incase of a second breakdown, a thought that sent shivers through his spine. Jack pictured being stranded on the side of the road, out of any cell phone range, on this blistery winter morning.
         US-54 was a narrow road, two lanes. Its parallel sister road, headed east, separated back in Wichita and was now a couple hundred yards through the thick, pitch-black, February air. At this point in the trip, the El Camino was humming along, driving like a car should. However, Jack failed to notice, or at least comprehend, the ‘low fuel’ light, since it had been on for a few hundred miles. At any point, the car could run out of gas, as he would not know when it actually began to run on fumes.
         Jack had not slept since 6AM, when he and his family had set out, almost twenty-four hours; this drowsiness was not helped by the fact that his whole family, his wife Jennifer, 5-year-old son Ben, and 14-year-old daughter Michelle, Jack’s step-daughter, had been sleeping since around 10PM. Another factor playing into Jack’s beginning inability to keep his eyes open, was that dinner had been ten hours ago and he had had nothing to eat or drink since.
         The rain was now beating harder than ever in a deafening roar upon the windshield. It brought about a dense fog that blanketed almost everything, except for the forty yard patch of road directly in front of the car. Jack was letting his mind wander, thinking about Lisa, who he had been fantasizing about ever since Jenn and he had been married. Their marriage at one point had been pleasant, before she learned of his yearnings for younger women, and the only thing that had kept the two of them together for six years was that they both knew how traumatic it could be for their children if they were divorced. Their kids, the one true passion which they both could find common ground on, were completely oblivious to the unhappiness of their parents, albeit they were usually right there when a fight broke out. The most recent fight had been at dinner, the night before they left. Straying from the conversation about school, Jenn exploded on how stupid it was to purchase a “piece of shit car” just for the trip, when Jack’s pickup could have done the job just as well. God, why can’t we just act civilized around the kids? It’s just one goddamn fight after the other. It might do everybody well if we just—.
         Suddenly, the awful noise that came about from driving on the side of the road squealed. Jack’s eyes, which had briefly shut, shot open and his foot instinctively slammed down on the brake. He heard a noise come from under the car that obviously did not belong as he and his family shot forward, their lives most definitely saved by their seatbelts.
         The car came to a halt, and nobody said a word for a few moments, although Jack knew they were all awake, and terrified, until Jenn broke the silence.
         “Jesus fucking Christ, Jack! You could have gotten us all killed. Good fucking idea to drive all the way through the night.”
         “Give me a goddamned break,” said Jack, “can you just shut up while I try to sort this thing out? Your berating me won’t make the situation any better.”
         “Fine,” said Jenn, giving up, “lets just sit here for a couple minutes and decide what to do next. Wichita must be a hundred miles back down the road and theirs probably nothing down this way for a lot longer than that.”

II
         Thirty seconds passed. A minute. Two. Four. Ten. Finally, out of the back seat came a sudden cry from Michelle, “Fuck! What a goddamned nightmare.”