The volunteer bodyguard drove my car, which suited me just fine. Although my tears had washed the remains of bug irritation from my eye, I was rattled by recent events. Having survived two murders, two canine disappearances, and desertion by Jeb, I faced a daunting new challenge: recognizing at ground level the turnoff from Route 20 to the Amish goat farm that Brad had found from the sky.
“I remember that!” I shouted, pointing to a tire store coming up on our left.
“Turn there?” MacArthur asked, flipping on the blinker.
“No. I just remember it, that’s all.”
He turned off the blinker.
We rode in silence for at least five more minutes as I desperately scanned the landscape.
“Everything sure looks different from down here,” I remarked for the sake of making conversation. “Yessirree. This is like being on a road trip instead of, you know, a helicopter ride. Wow, what a difference.”
“Close your eyes-“ MacArthur said.
“How is that going to help?”
“Close your eyes and visualize what you saw from the air. Colors, shapes, sizes. What was the last thing you remember before Brad found the goat farm?”
I did as I was told and recaptured the physical sensation of leaning forward in my seat as Brad angled the chopper in widening arcs south of Route 20. I’d focused on green-gold fields and white buildings while the gray ribbon of highway receded.… I opened my eyes. MacArthur was adjusting the steering wheel and our speed to accommodate a rare bend in the road.
“This curve!” I shouted as if I were still in the chopper. “I remember this curve in the highway! I saw it from the air! We were almost directly south of here, I think!”
“I’ll take the next left,” my driver responded.
“Yes! That might be the road! But we landed on a dirt lane next to a cornfield. And hiked in from there.”
“Let’s use the front door this time, shall we?” MacArthur said.
I liked that idea. We bumped along our unnamed road past tidy rolling fields in various shades of green, copper and brown. This late in the season, many acres had already been harvested.
“Amish homestead up ahead,” MacArthur announced as we drove over a low hill. “Does this look familiar?”
“I never saw the house,” I admitted. “Only corn, goats, and the back of a barn.”
“We got corn and a barn,” MacArthur said. “That’s two out of three.”
He pulled into the driveway just far enough to clear the road, adding, “We’ll stay back to show respect for their ways.”
Too little too late. Not only had I inflicted my loopy dog and precocious neighbor on them, but-thanks to me-their teenage nephew had flown off in a chopper and been busted for drinking beer in Elkhart. Oh, yeah, if this was the right house, I could only imagine how pleased they’d be to make my acquaintance.
I was about to close the passenger-side door behind me, when a familiar roo-roo reached my ears.
“Did you hear that?”
MacArthur had frozen, too.
“Definitely an Afghan hound,” he confirmed. “Yours?”
And then I saw her, a flash of gold on gold. The late afternoon sun striking her back made her blonde coat glow as if lit from within. Madly she raced away from me along the edge of the cornfield on the other side of the road.
“Abra!” I shouted. “Abra! Come back here!”
Without thinking, I launched into a sprint. At first my muscles resisted, but before I’d gone twenty paces every fiber had activated. My legs and arms pumped as my feet slapped the gravel road. I kept my eyes trained on Abra.
Ahead a silver pickup truck shot out of a narrow dirt driveway, tires squealing. The truck turned toward us fishtailing wildly.
“Abra!” I screamed, terrified that she would be struck right in front of me.
The truck lurched and then backfired.
I felt sudden intense pain, a sharp sting like fiery metal scalding flesh. With my left hand I clutched my right elbow and tried to keep running.
Another boom, another flash of pain. This time in my right shoulder. I could no longer see my dog. Or call for her.
“Whiskeeeeyyyy!” MacArthur yelled, stretching my name into a dirge.
The third and fourth booms came from behind me. My legs buckled as the truck whooshed past. The last thing I glimpsed was its windshield splintering apart.