The Bad Country

by Hervey Copeland

  He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

  “I tell you what. Try not to look at him, just focus on your meal. We’ll be done here in five minutes or so. Then we’ll leave and hit the road again.”

  He placed a hand over hers and squeezed it gently while looking into her eyes.

  “Do you think you can manage that?”

  She started to move her lips, and it looked like she was about to say something, but she changed her mind. Instead she closed her eyes for a few seconds, nodded and gave him a strained smile.

  “Yes. Yes, I think I can manage that.”

  David was relieved to see that his words had calmed her down, and squeezed her hand one last time before he pulled his plate back and started on the remaining half of his steak sandwich.

  They ate in silence. The realisation that they weren’t welcome put a dampener on things. David also noticed that Mary wasn’t able to keep her promise, and on at least two occasions she cast quick glances in the direction of the old guy behind them.

  It took them less than five minutes to empty their plates, and two more to settle the bill. The waitress left her spot behind the counter when David signalled her, and only offered a lacklustre thanks when she picked up the two notes that David had left for her on the table and informed her that she could keep the change.

  When he slid out of the booth a few moments later and looked behind him, wanting to get a look at the old man that had scared his wife, he noticed that all eyes in the diner were on them. It was just like when they first entered the place. It made him shudder, and he quickly turned around again. There was something seriously off putting about this place and the customers that frequented it. In fact it was so off putting that he changed his mind and decided not to use the restroom. It wasn’t that big of a deal; they could always pull over to the side of the road when they were back on the highway again.

  He put his hand on his wife’s shoulder and the two of them hurried over to the entrance door, eager to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.

  “Dammit!”

  David slammed his hands against the steering wheel. Then a few seconds later he lowered his right hand and began turning the key in the ignition again. But nothing happened. The engine was completely dead.

  Mary closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, and felt like she had just entered a bad dream where everything goes horribly wrong. Then after having calmed down enough to let the analytical part of her brain kick in, she turned around and looked at David.

  “Do you think it’s the battery?” she asked. She knew almost nothing about cars, and it was the only thing she could think of.

  David kept looking straight ahead, shook his head and continued turning the key.

  “No, I don’t think so. We didn’t leave the lights on, nor did we leave any of the other electrical components turned on when we went into that place. And the battery should be fully charged after having spent four and a half hours on the road. It has to be something else.”

  He slapped the steering wheel one more time before leaning back in his seat and looking out the driver side window without saying anything. Mary could hear his breath going in and out of his mouth in quick short bursts.

  She gave him some time to calm down before she started talking again.

  “There has to be a mechanic in town who can take a look at it. Hopefully it’s just a simple problem that can be easily fixed.” The words came out slowly and she tried to sound upbeat, despite having a sneaking suspicion that it was going to be anything but. She also had serious doubts as to whether a qualified mechanic could be located.

  David didn’t respond. He just kept looking out the window, and Mary got the distinct impression that he had reached the exact same conclusion. The Mazda was not exactly the latest model, and the engine had already clocked up a hundred thousand miles when David had bought it three years ago.

  Eventually David turned his head toward her. She could see his shoulders dropping noticeably.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” he said. “I’ll have to go back in there again and ask the waitress if there is a garage or mechanic in town that can take a look at it. If there isn't, we‘ll have to organise a tow truck to come and pick it up. I hope that’s not the case, because that means we'll have to figure out another way to get to Billings.”

  Mary nodded and put a hand on his shoulder.

  “Let’s hope that it is something minor,” she said.

  They were six hours away from Billings, and at least two hours away from the nearest city. Getting the car towed wouldn’t be that much of a hassle, she told herself. David was a member of the AAA, so getting the car transported to the nearest repair shop wouldn’t break the bank. No matter how it turned out, there would be a solution to their problem. Thinking about it in a rational manner made her relax a little, and it made her realise that their situation wasn’t as dire as she had initially feared. They would be able to deal with it and find a workable solution, even if it meant that they couldn’t continue in the old Mazda.

  “Right, let’s get this over and done with,” David said as he opened the driver side door and stepped outside. Before he closed it, he leaned back in again and looked at her.

  “Keep your fingers crossed,” he said and flashed her something that resembled a smile. Then he pushed the door shut, walked around the corner of the red brick building toward the entrance area and disappeared from view.

  Mary followed him with her eyes and kept staring at the corner for a good twenty seconds after he disappeared, wishing they were driving out of town instead of being stuck here in this parking lot. It was not so much the fact that the car didn’t start that bothered her, it was more the hostility she’d felt inside the diner. It had really freaked her out, to the extent that she didn’t want to go back in there again. If they had been somewhere else, she would have joined David and ordered a tea or a bottle of water, while he sorted out what needed to be sorted out. But not here. She would not set foot inside that place unless she absolutely had to.

  A cold sensation swept over her as she thought about these things, and she shuddered and looked away. Then she turned around and grabbed her jacket that was lying on the backseat before opening the door and stepping outside. It was chilly. They were already half way through September, and up here in the mountains summer had already turned into fall. The first snow was no more than a month away or so, and when it fell, it would stay on the ground until March or April. Just like in the town she grew up in.

  She sauntered over to the sidewalk at the far end of the lot and gazed out at the town before her. There was something about the place that made her feel uneasy, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She looked up and down Main Street, while trying to figure out exactly what it was that caused this sensation.

  It wasn’t the buildings. They were pretty much identical to the ones you’d find in any other small town across the nation. If it had been physically possible to somehow pick them up, transport them a hundred miles further north or south, they would have easily blended in with their new surroundings and not caused her any of the discomfort she was currently experiencing.

  Nor was it the landscape surrounding the town that was the source of it. The town was bordered by a forest and was overlooked by several tall mountains, and could only be described as scenic. No, it was something else, something more subtle, something hidden just beneath the surface.

  She stood there at the edge of the sidewalk for another minute, trying to think of what it was. And then all of a sudden it dawned on her, and when it did, she was surprised at how she could have missed such an obvious thing. It was the lack of people that made her feel uneasy. She couldn’t see any cars on the road, nor were there any people out and about. The place looked deserted, as if the inhabitants had just left the town to fend for itself. And the more she thought about it, the more she thought that it looked like a ghost town, albeit a well maintained one.

  At that point her
train of thought was interrupted when she sensed someone approaching her. She turned around and saw it was David. He lifted his hand and gestured for her to come back to the car. She nodded and started making her way back again, trying to read his expression as she did so, but she was unable to tell whether he had managed to locate a garage or not.

  “We’re in luck,” David said. He was standing in front of the passenger door when Mary stopped and looked at him expectantly.

  “There is a garage in town. I just got off the phone with the owner, and he promised to come straight over and have a look at it.”

  Mary closed her eyes and felt her shoulders drop.

  “Do you think he’ll be able to fix it?” she asked. She knew the question was meaningless, but she had to ask nevertheless. David knew just as much about cars as she did, but asking the question made her feel more at ease for some strange reason.

  David shrugged.

  “I don’t know, but I certainly hope so. I don’t want to spend any more time in this place than I have to. I felt like an actor on a stage who had just forgotten his lines when I went back inside that place. Everybody was following me with their eyes. It was pretty unsettling to tell you the truth.”

  Mary moved next to him and leaned her back up against the car. Then she waited for a few moments before she turned her head slowly and looked up at him.

  “Can we afford to fix the car, David?”

  He shot her a quick glance, and what could be interpreted as a careful smile formed on his lips. Then he turned away and gazed over at the end wall of the building next door.

  “That depends entirely on how much it’s going to cost us. But as long as it isn’t anything major, and the final bill doesn’t exceed more than three or four hundred dollars, we should be alright.”

  Mary bit into her lip and started thinking about how nice it would have been if David didn’t have any student debt to pay off. At the moment he was forking out five hundred dollars a month, and at that rate he would continue to do so for the next ten years.

  She put a hand on her tummy and looked down at it. Maybe she could get a job when the little one was old enough to start day-care? It was not what she wanted, but it would make it easier for them financially. They would have to sit down and have a serious talk about it when the time came.

  A very faint noise broke the silence that seemed to surround the town, and half a minute later an old pickup truck pulled into the parking lot and parked next to them. A tall muscular man wearing a ball cap, fleece jacket and faded jeans stepped out of the driver side door and walked over to David.

  “I take it you’re the guy who called about the car?” he said in a deep baritone voice and nodded toward the Mazda. His face was weathered with distinct smile lines, but it contained no smile. To Mary it seemed like it had been chiselled from stone, and that it was incapable of expressing any joyous emotions. There were thick tufts of silver hair protruding outward below the rim of the cap, and at the back it reached down to the nape of his neck. Numerous oil stains were spread out across his hands and covered the front of his jeans.

  David who had taken a step toward him, lifted a clenched fist to his mouth and cleared his throat.

  “Yes, it was I who called.” He turned his head slightly and looked over his shoulder back at the car.

  “It was working fine until we decided to pull up to get something to eat. When we came back out again it refused to start.” He turned and faced the mechanic. “Do you think you can take a look at it?”

  “Well, I’m here aren’t I?” the mechanic said, his voice completely emotionless.

  “Yes, I guess you are,” David said and shot Mary a quick look. Then he put his hand in his pocket and handed the mechanic the car keys.

  The mechanic grabbed them without a word and made his way around to the driver side and opened the door.

  As he began working the ignition, the passenger door of the pickup truck swung open and a second man appeared. He walked around to the front of the truck and leaned up against it, a hand rolled cigarette resting casually between his index and middle finger. He was smaller than the other guy, but was wearing the same kind of clothes and had the same rough appearance.

  Mary looked over at him, but quickly turned away when the man kept staring back at her and indicated that he had no intentions of looking away. It was a look that was meant to intimidate, and it made her feel uneasy. What made it worse was that he didn’t even try to hide what he was doing. He just stood there, less than six yards away with eyes that were cold and menacing; staring at her like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  Mary felt her pulse quicken and noticed a chill run down her spine. What on earth was wrong with these people? Why were they so unfriendly and cold? She cast a quick sideways glance over at David to see if he had noticed it too, but he seemed oblivious to it. He was too busy studying the mechanic, who had opened the hood of the Mazda and was looking at the engine. David was a few feet behind him, and was taking in everything the mechanic was doing when he began poking around inside the engine compartment.

  Mary knew he would start to question her concerns if she raised them with him later on, just like he had done when they were inside the diner, and she didn’t want that. What she really wanted to do right now was to leave the parking lot, and only return once the problem had been fixed and the two mechanics had left. But she also wanted to find out what was wrong with the car. She wanted to hear the mechanic say it was going to be an easy fix, and tell them that they would be on their way in a couple of minutes. That they could soon forget all about this place and never return.

  But unfortunately that was not what happened, and the bad news was delivered a few moments later when the mechanic, who had been hunched over the engine stood up and faced David.

  “You’re not going anywhere in that car for the time being,” he said. “The alternator is completely shot and needs to be replaced.”

  David took a careful step forward and looked down at the engine for a few moments, as if he knew what he was doing before looking up at the mechanic again.

  “So, the engine is not supplying any power to the battery?”

  The mechanic nodded as he pulled a cigarette out of a Marlboro pack from his jacket and lit it.

  “You were lucky to make it this far,” he said after having exhaled a lungful of smoke out of his nose.

  David looked back at the car again and there was a pained expression on his face.

  “I don’t suppose you have a spare alternator back at the garage?” he asked.

  The mechanic took another drag of his cigarette and rubbed the tip of his nose a few times before he answered.

  “No, not for a Mazda. I would have to get the alternator shipped from the Mazda dealership in Idaho Falls. If I place the order before four o’clock this afternoon it should be here first thing in the morning.”

  Mary’s heart sank, and she tilted her head forward and closed her eyes. She felt like the air had just been ripped out of her lungs. She began feeling dizzy and hoped she wasn’t going to faint. But she managed to remain upright.

  There were dozens of thoughts rushing through her mind. But despite the chaos inside her head, there was one thought that stood out and kept repeating itself. They would have to spend the night here. She would have to endure another twenty four hours of feeling scared and uneasy. An overwhelming feeling that everyone she laid eyes on was somehow out to get her. She opened her eyes slowly and wasn’t overly surprised to see that the mechanic was completely unaffected by the bad news he had just delivered. And why wouldn’t he be? The fact that they had to spend the night here made no difference to him whatsoever. He was still standing in front of the car, gazing at the stubborn engine that was refusing to cooperate, while puffing on the cigarette. Nor did he seem to be in a hurry to offer a remedy for their new problem. He had properly diagnosed the issue with the car and told them how to fix it. And that was the only thing that concerned him.

  Ma
ry could see David looking at him expectantly, and she could tell he was waiting for him to continue, to explain what they had to do next. But when no explanation came, David was forced to ask the only two questions that were on his mind.

  “How long will it take to replace the old alternator, and how much is it going to cost?”

  The mechanic took one final drag from the cigarette, then dropped it onto the gravel and snuffed it with the heel of his shoe.

  “Parts and labour is three hundred and fifty dollars. As far as timeframe is concerned, it will take me an hour or thereabouts. You could pick it up around nine o’clock tomorrow morning and be on your merry way after that.”

  David put a hand up to his forehead and let his fingers glide through the long locks that were hanging down on the side of his face, puffed his cheeks and exhaled slowly. Then he cast a quick glance over at Mary, as if he was expecting her to advise him what to do next. But Mary looked just as distraught as he was feeling and he realised that there would be no help coming from that direction. He let out a few more deep sighs before he finally addressed the mechanic again.

  “Well, we don’t have a choice,” he said. “We need to get the car fixed, and as soon as possible. The only problem is we don’t have a place to stay tonight.”

  “There’s a B&B a few blocks away run by Mrs Wilkinson. She’ll rent you a room for the night at a reasonable rate.” The words were spoken by the man who had accompanied the mechanic over to the parking lot.

  Mary reluctantly turned around and saw that he was still leaned against the front of the pickup truck, but instead of staring at her like he had done earlier, he was now focusing his attention on David. Mary thought she could detect the faint contours of a grin on his face, but she couldn’t tell for sure. The man was still hanging on to his cigarette that had now almost burned downed to his fingertips.

  The mechanic nodded.

  “Mike is right, you should have no problem getting a room for the night. And given your situation, I’d say it’s the only viable option.” He fished out another cigarette and lit it.