by Doris Miller
It is a nice spring Sunday morning. The day is partly sunny and partly cloudy. Dana, Tony and their friends Diane D, Michael, Teresa and Joseph are all heading out camping together. They are heading out to Bear Mountain State Park, in Upstate New York. They are traveling in Dana's car, which is a dark blue Oldsmobile Sedan. They are taking the long drive on the Palisades Parkway in New Jersey as Tony sits behind the wheel driving and Dana sits in the front seat beside him. The other two couples Diane D and Michael, and Teresa and Joseph are all sitting in the back seat. After the long drive, the three couples unpack their things out of the car trunk to start camping. They camp out all day.
Several hours later, it is almost getting dark. The clouds are getting thicker. It is time to leave the camp area. The fellows pack the heavy belongings back up and carry them down the hill, back to the car. The women stay behind a little to clean up the picnic area. As the fellows reach back to the car, they discover that one of the tires on Dana's car is flat. Tony and the guys call out to the women. As the women approach the top of the hill, Tony calls out, "WE HAVE A FLAT TIRE DANA!" Dana, who is dressed in a white turtleneck shirt with rolled up sleeves to her elbows, medium blue jeans with black sneakers and a long thick braid hanging down her back, hurries down the hill. Diane D and Teresa hurry behind Dana. They are also dressed in white turtleneck shirts and blue jeans. They follow closely behind Dana as Dana starts to slow down and gives a firm walk towards her vehicle. Dana looks at her vehicle, wondering what had happened. Tony, frustrated, tells Dana, "I don't know how in the world the tire got flat! I don't remember driving over any glass or hitting over anything on the road!"
Dana's deep hoarse voice tells Tony, "The tire is probably sitting on a nail or glass right now!"
"Yeah? Well either way, the tire has to be changed! I hope there's an extra spare tire in the trunk because we had just put a spare on a few days ago!"
"I had picked up a spare the day before. It's way down the bottom of the trunk."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah."
Tony and the fellows go to the bottom of the trunk. They pull out the spare to change the tire. As the fellows change the tire, Dana, Diane D and Teresa all stand behind looking on. Diane D then bends over a little with her hands on her knees and tells the fellows, "It's gonna be dark pretty soon! The clouds are getting thicker! It looks like a thunderstorm is coming! You guys won't be able to see what you're doing! You all better hurry up!"
"We are, we are," Michael tells her as he and the fellows continue to change the tire.
The fellows soon finish changing the tire. They start to pack all the belongings back into the trunk. Then they all hop back into Dana's vehicle and take off. Tony is back behind the wheel driving as they start the long drive back home towards Queens, New York. As they are driving, a thunderstorm hits! Heavy rain starts to pour! They are all glad that there was an extra spare tire in the trunk, so that they are able to make it back home.
The next Monday morning, Tony leaves very early in Dana's car. He buys and picks up a brand new spare tire for her vehicle. He does not want Dana to be stuck out anywhere without any good spare tires. He wants Dana to have good spare tires for when she drives back and forth to work.
After Tony finishes buying the tire, he drives Dana's car back home to pick her up, so she can drive to work with her car.
As Tony brings Dana's car back home, he parks the car in front of the building, waiting for Dana to come out. Dana soon comes out of the building and approaches her vehicle. She gets inside her car on the passenger side. Tony then pulls off and drives to the train station. When he reaches the train station, he kisses Dana and tells her, "I'll see you later."
"Okay," Dana says as Tony gets out of the vehicle.
Tony then closes the driver's door as Dana slides over to the driver's seat. He waves goodbye to Dana, then goes to the train station. Dana takes over the wheel, then pulls off.
Dana, who regularly leaves her apartment every morning and goes to pick up Teresa, arrives in front of Teresa's building. Teresa comes out of her building and approaches Dana's car. Once Teresa gets inside the car, Dana pulls off. They then drive off to work together. They both start to head out towards Long Island City, Queens where they both work every morning at a large stockroom department. After work, they drive back home together every day. Dana would drop Teresa off in front of Teresa's building. Dana would then drive off.
Chapter 2
The Assault
