Garberville
In the early AM a VW bug was heading south on highway 101 in northern California when its rear passenger side tire blew. Jack, a young man in his 20s, pulled over and stopped. The second flat in less than 12 hours he thought and without time to fix the first one there was no spare. Getting out to inspect the damage he saw the tire was beyond repair, being old and worn, the blow-out made a large gash in the tread.
He said to himself, “I need some new tires. Where am I going to get them around here?” This part of the country was nothing but redwoods and mountains on all sides. The mountains were really just big hills, but because they were so close they seemed tower over you. Just then another car rounded the bend heading in the same direction. Jack waved his arm. He was lucky, the car stopped.
“Flat?” said the driver. “Yes and my spare is flat also. Any chance I could get a lift to the nearest service station?” “Sure. Kelly’s is just up the road a few miles. He can fix it for you.”
Jack opened the driver’s door, pulled the hood release, then fished around in the glove box for his wallet, pulled out two twenties and put the wallet back. He carried the spare over to the man’s car, who’d opened his trunk, put it in and they drove away.
“I would guess you’re a long way from home...saw the BC plates.” said the man. “Yes. I wanted to get away. The weather in Vancouver gets so depressing: gray, gloomy, rainy,” said Jack. “How far are you getting away to?” “Not sure, anywhere the sun’s shining.” “You’ll need to head inland. We’re so close to the coast, it’ll stay pretty cloudy here this time of year.” “Inland?” “Yeah, like Redding, there’ll be plenty of sun. It’s a desert climate. You could go back north, then take the highway east.” “I’ll keep that in mind.” “Hope you’re car will be okay. I’d hate to leave anything out here.” “Why?” “Well, you hear stories, still, I guess you won’t be gone too long.” This bit of news gave Jack an uneasy feeling.
They arrived at Kelly’s. The driver let him off with his tire, which Jack rolled in to the station and leaned up against a wall. He walked into the office. The station attendant was hunting for something behind the counter, he looked up.
“Can I help ya?” he said. “I need a flat fixed. What’s your repair schedule like?” “I can fix it this morning, give me 30 minutes. I charge $10.” “Okay. Say what’s the nearest town?” “Well, Redway, but Garberville is larger, it would have more to offer.” Jack nodded, looked at his watch, then began to stroll around. Garberville sounded good he thought. He’d go there for breakfast, but first things first, get the tire repaired. With only an occasional vehicle driving by, it was a very quiet Saturday morning. He looked up that those mountains, again came an uneasy feeling. Another car heading south pulled in for gas. A tall long haired man got out. He pulled down his rear license plate, opened the gas cap behind it and started refueling.
“Morning.” said Jack. The long hair man nodded, but didn’t return the greeting. “Say, did you pass a blue VW just up the road a few miles?” said Jack. “VW?..Yeah.” “I had a flat and had to leave it there. You see a man was telling me you have to careful leaving a vehicle unattended out there. Did it look okay, I mean was there anyone else around?” The long haired man shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, then looked away and kept to his refueling. Jack could see he didn’t want to talk. He finished, put the gas cap and hose back, then went inside to pay. He came out got in his car and drove away. Jack watched him leave, he noticed the man hadn’t put his license plate back up, so you couldn’t read the number.
The man at the station fixed the flat. “Have you got any tires my size for sale?” said Jack. The service station attendant perked up, he said, “Well, let me check...how many do you need?” “Two.” He stood on a small ladder and leaned sideways looking along a row of tires on an overhead rack. “These two are your size.” he said. “How much are they?” “$42 a piece. So $84 plus tax. I tell you what. I won’t charge you for installation.” he said.
There goes the trip money thought Jack, after breakfast I’ll be heading home, not to the land of sunshine.
“Sure. That sounds good.”
Another vehicle pulled into the station, also from the north, an elderly couple in an old Dodge pick-up truck. They looked like typical grandparents out for the mornings errands. Jack rolled his tire near the road and stood waiting for a ride, any ride.
The old couple looked over at Jack. Then the old man got out to put in gas. “Mother, there’s a man who could use a hand,” said the old man. “Do you think we should give him a ride?” said the old woman. “I don’t think it would hurt.” “We’d have to be careful.” “Yes, we would, but I think we could chance it.” “Well, it’s up to you, but we don’t know what he might do.”
After gassing up, they drove over to Jack, the old man leaned out his window. “Need a ride?” “Thanks. I’m just up the road a few miles.”
Jack put his tire in the back of their pick-up and got in. The old woman moved over on the front seat to make room as they drove away.
“Car trouble?” said the old man. “Yeah. Second flat in a row. Used my spare yesterday so I had to get this one patched. I shouldn’t have gone on this trip with such old tires.” “Got to be prepared, you never know.” “You live around here?” said Jack. “Sometimes. Me and mama move around a bit. It depends on how things are going. We’re not much for the city, prefer the country.” They both smiled at Jack. He looked them over. They had to be in their sixties, there was a resemblance between them with their pudgy dough like features they could have been brother and sister. Around the bend, Jack’s VW came into view.
“There’s my car.”
The old man pulled over. Jack thanked them, got out, and went around to the back of the truck. There was a large faded blue tarp covering a bunch of things in the flatbed. As he lifted the tire a corner flap came up exposing something red which looked familiar. Crossing, he turned to the old man and said “Would you mind waiting a minute? I might need help getting the lug nuts off the rim.” “I’ll just go up and turn around,” said the old man. He drove away. Jack wondered why he didn’t wait.
After crossing over, he saw his driver side corner window was broken. The contents of the car were missing: sleeping bag, back pack with his clothes, boots, groceries and some books. Over on the passenger side someone had been trying to break that window as well. There were scratches on it, a big rock laying nearby on the ground. He checked in the glove box, amazing, his wallet was still there. Whoever robbed him must’ve been in such a hurry they didn’t bother to look.
The pick-up never returned. Jack wondered why they didn’t come back. He might have needed help. Though the lug nuts were hard to budge, he was able to get them off by standing on the tire wrench to break them loose.
Back on the road again he gazed up at those mountains. They were kind of spooky, maybe that’s what made him feel so uneasy. Then suddenly he realized what what’d been sticking out of the tarp in their truck: his red back pack! Those sweet looking old folks were the thieves, hard to believe, but there was nothing else for it. Why did they offer to give him a lift, they could have just driven away? Did they feel bad about what they’d done and decided to help their victim? Or was it to watch him, maybe even get to know him a little, like a cat playing with a mouse before killing it or in this case before he found out his misfortune. Did it give them some sense of power? Or was it their private little joke? He could only speculate. After buying the new tires, and without breakfast, Jack turned around and returned north. He never made it to Garberville.