To Quiet the Little Voice - 5. Stranded

Prompt 246 What now?

“What now? How the hell should I know what now?” Carlos looked at the boys around him at a complete loss.

“Well you are the one got us into this! It’ll be fun you said. What could go wrong? Famous last words!”

“Oh come on now. How was I supposed to know mom’s car would toss a fan belt in the middle of a desert? Or Jason over there didn’t know how to read a map and would get us lost in the desert? Or the satellite help thingy would send a tow truck without telling us about it? Or the tow truck driver they sent to get us was a complete pervert? “

The day had started out innocently enough – borrow mom’s car and go out to the new amusement park on the edge of the desert. It was supposed to have the best coasters in the country and the idea of a water park, while it sounded odd to put in a desert, sounded like the best way to cool off between rides on the super coasters. Mom had even been cooperative and only extracted the promise of one day’s labor in the garden to get the car.

The excruciatingly slow start should have clued the boys in that celebrating Billy’s 18^th birthday was not going to go the way they planned. First they all had to pitch in and get Jason’s chores done before his mom would let him leave. Then Wayne had forgotten his rescue inhaler, and they had to go back for it, and they needed to stop for gas besides. Between the long line at the gas pump and the exorbitant price when they filled the car they were all a tad irritated before they even left. Being the youngest always seemed to make Billy take the brunt of the irritation when things went wrong, but today when the others started he tossed the blame right back at them. It was his birthday after all, and he wasn’t going to take all the abuse they usually piled on him. Seeing how things had started he shoved the map at Jason and informed him it was his turn to navigate. No way was he going to get blamed if they got lost this time.

And lost was an understatement. Seems no one ever told Jason just because north on the map was at the top didn’t mean that you were actually traveling north on any given road. In fact they had driven a good 30 miles in the wrong direction before someone noticed things were looking more and more desolate and less and less like the road they had traveled to the park when Carlos’ dad had driven them out there only to find they were not open yet.

Ok – so being lost isn’t all that bad right? Billy reasoned they lived in California. Find the nearest reasonably paved road and turn west. If you have to turn north or south go south till you can find another west bound, and sooner or later you have to find the coast right? Then it’s reasonably easy to get on the coastal highway and find your way home. He was suggesting this course of action when the car made a god awful screeching noise and a loud bang under the hood announced yet another problem. None of the boys had any experience working on cars but they all gathered around the hood to look anyway. Bits and pieces of the fan belt were all over the engine compartment.

“I read somewhere you can tie a stocking or the leg of a pair of panty hose on those pulleys real tight and it will work till you can get to help” Jimmy offered after several minutes of staring into the engine compartment and bickering amongst themselves. A voracious reader, Jimmy believed there was no problem you could not find a solution for in a book somewhere.

The boys all stared at him with these dumbfounded looks on their faces. Jimmy stared back confused. “What? I read it in one of my brother’s car magazines I think. It will work, I know it will!”

“ Ummm Jimmy? Is there something about your wardrobe you are not telling us? Unless you have a pair of stockings on under those jeans, just where do you propose we GET a stocking leg?” Conner poked at his ribs several times. He knew his boyfriend hated to get his ribs poked, but this one deserved it.

“Carlos?” The tiny squeaky voice came from inside the back door where Wayne had sat to get out of the sun a bit. He wasn’t exactly the most robust boy in the crowd. Small and frail, he tended to blend into the background whenever he could.

Carlos sighed heavily as he turned to Wayne. He didn’t have the patience to deal if the kid had a panic attack now.

“I know your mom tossed a fit about you using the satalite thingy the day Conner was pushing all sorts of buttons in the car just to see what they would do. But she did say it was for emergencies only. Isn’t this sort of an emergency? I mean, we are lost and stranded in the desert with only a couple bottles of water each in our packs. I think it qualifies.” He said meekly.

“Ok so why did it take the squirt to think it through?” Conner grinned as he slapped Wayne on the back, a tad too hard if you asked Wayne. Darn near knocked the little guy sprawling.

Carlos smiled and reached into the glove box. Tossing the cars manual to Jimmy he continued to shuffle thru the box for anything else they might find helpful.

“You’re the speed reader around here Jim. Find out how to use the satellite thing right while I find a pen to make notes once his hot voice starts talking back to us.”

“Jeez Carlos – we really need to find you a boyfriend. We are stranded out here for who knows how long with no food and little water, and all you can think about is how hot the satellite voice was? What if it’s a girl on the monitoring desk huh? Will you tell her no thanks; we’ll wait for the hot baritone to answer?”

***

Twenty minutes later the boys all sat in the little shade the car offered while Jimmy poured over the manual. He had followed all the instructions but nothing seemed to be happening. No voice, male or female, came back with comforting offers of help like on the commercials

***

Billy looked at his brand new cell phone for the thirtieth time in the last hour. He just could not accept the idea there was no signal out in the middle of nowhere. His dad had said they had the most reliable system available with the widest coverage there is. Guess it wasn’t quite wide enough.

Finally one of the boys looked up to see a tow truck headed towards them. The all scrambled to their feet cheering.

There elation hadn’t lasted long though. Once the car was hooked up the boys all climbed into the car to ride back. Not exactly legal but they would never all fit in the tow truck and they all agreed they would rather pay the ticket if some bored cop caught them, than leave anyone behind in the blazing sun. Unfortunately things didn’t go as planned – again.

After what seemed like riding in the hot, disabled vehicle swaying on the tow bar forever, the boys stared in awe at the sheer size of the building the tow truck pulled them inside. As they scrambled out of the car, the automated door slammed shut behind them. Holding a door open for the boys, the driver waved them over to what he called “a more comfy area to wait”.

“Wait for what?” Billy demanded. “We haven’t even called our parents to come get us yet. No cell service out here. We tried! We need your phone to call for someone to come get us, and exactly where the hell is here anyway?”

“Here is where you will wait while my friends arrive. Then we are gonna have a little party with you sweet young things. Maybe, if you are good boys, we will sell you to the more gentle customers we know. Raise too much fuss and I can guarantee you will not like your new homes one bit!” The huge man slammed and locked the door behind the boys.

“What now?” Jimmy asked………