Ursanthropy
2. A Bump In The Road

Doreen

I drove myself mindlessly into a direction of which I hadn’t before. I needed a new start, and I was done with all the temporary things that I had occupied myself with, the last few months.

It wasn’t very busy on this particular normal road, but every car that was in front of me, took a turn to the right. I wasn’t a shy person, nor one that was easily spooked, so I decided to follow the other cars, hoping that it would lead me to a place that was just crowded enough to grant me a job, but not too crowded for my father’s people to replace me.

As that was the reason that got myself fired last time.

Guns blazing, to shoot everyone out of their way to be able to capture me, one of my father’s guards had found me. The place was wrecked apart, and it would cost plenty of money to rebuild everything.

So, technically I wasn’t sure that I was fired, but I guess the owner of the diner wasn’t keen on seeing me back either. And of course, I couldn’t stay there any longer, otherwise the guard had taken me the next day.

I turned on the signal, to take the turn to the right, and followed the cars through the thick forest that I was in now. I slowed down a bit, to not want to look like I was following someone, but kept on driving, nonetheless.

Suddenly, someone came from behind a tree and jumped upon the road. The person was so close to me, that I couldn’t completely dodge it with the car. I had managed to sway the car to the side, but still heard a loud thud, at the left side of my car, and then the car lifted a bit, indicating that I had driven over him.

“Shit, fuck!”

I came to a stop after pushing the brake like a maniac, and jumped out immediately to see how badly I had hurt the person.

Behind the car there he was. A man, dressed like a wood cutter, with a red and black flannel shirt, sturdy jeans and black leather boots, laid groaning on the road.

I ran over to him and turned him on his back.

He had a major cut on his head, but other than the groaning and cursing, he was moving all of his limbs. He wasn’t even screaming about any broken bones, yet I had felt the car run over him!

This man looked like a mountain, as his big arms, legs and neck were hard to miss, but still, he was just in an accident! How could he still be alive?

I shook my head and quickly ran to my car to grab a bottle of vodka, that I had taken from the diner one bad day, and an almost clean shirt. Then I ran back to the man, and was stunned to see him in a seated position already.

“You should lay still; you might have a concussion!” I shouted to him and opened the bottle of vodka to poor it over the nasty head wound.

“Yeah sure.” He grunted in disbelief, and grabbed the bottle out of my hands and took a big gulp out of it.

“No, I’m serious! You should lie down.” I said again, while trying to push him down on the ground again.

But he just ignored my efforts and stood up, after shaking his head a little. Then he gave me the bottle of vodka back, took the shirt out of my hands and wiped his head with it.

“Thanks for the rag, but be careful next time.” He grunted, pushed the now bloody shirt, which he called ‘rag’ into my hands and walked away, like nothing had ever happened!

I didn’t know what to say, or how to form words at this moment, so I just stood there, thinking this whole thing over.

The road was clear, there was no body still laying there, which could indicate that I had just seen a ghost or something. No, the actual man that I had run over, had simply walked away!

Another car was coming in, so I just got inside mine and drove further.

Why the man had walked in the forest, in the first place, was confusing me too. But after turning around a corner, a small village peaked up, and I just figured that his car must have been broken down and he took the rest of the distance by foot.

“Please, no more crazy stuff.” I whispered to myself.

This little town was quite busy, a lot busier than I had originally expected, as there weren’t that many cars going into this direction. But it looked nice and comfortable as I drove further on.

There was a butchery, bakery, an old garage, a flower shop and a little market. Everyone was greeting each other, and all the people looked rather lively.

I could get used to this scenery and I hoped there was some sort of restaurant where I could maybe get a waitressing job, without too much of asking questions from their side.

I sighed, as I couldn’t tell anyone about where I came from, otherwise it could bring them into danger.

Ah, luck was on my side for once, as a diner was right around the corner. Bertha’s Diner, it said on the front door of a cosy, full windowed, restaurant. I parked the car and checked to see if I had any blood stains on my clothes, as I didn’t want to raise any more questions about myself or my whereabouts from earlier.

I took my bag from the passenger seat and saw the phone that had been off, ever since I left my father, three years ago.

This little town gave me a good feeling, and I truly wanted to start anew.

I opened the back of the phone, took out the battery and card, and then I stepped out of the car and stepped on the phone with the heel of my boot, shattering the screen and making sure I could never even think about ever calling my father again.

“New beginnings.” I said and threw the pieces of the phone in the thrash.

Confident about myself, I walked inside the diner and took a seat at one of the tables. There weren’t many people, but I was hoping that was because it was still early in the morning.

“What can I get you, hun?” A rather large, but really happy looking woman, I´d say was in her fifties, asked me.

“Well, I’d like your blueberry pancakes, but I would also like to ask if you guys might be hiring new people?” I asked her.

She looked warily at me, but wrote down my order of pancakes.

“Where are you from, dear? You are not in any trouble, are you?” She asked me with one brow raised.

Shit, would she know about what happened early this morning? Did I miss any bloodstains that was on my shoulder or back? I looked at her, not knowing what to say or do.

“Oh, don’t be so tense! I was just kidding!” She said and laughed, and I released a breath of relief.

“Do you have any experience, working as a waitress?” She asked me now.

“Yes, ma’am, I certainly do. I have been a waitress at several places already.” I blurted out, before I realised that mentioning the word ‘several’, wasn’t a smart thing to say.

“Good, because you get one chance, to see if you can manage some animals, and it starts in,” she looked at the clock behind her, “ten minutes.” She said and I looked shocked.

“Well, what is your answer?” She asked me, and I was wondering what to say, as I hadn’t heard her asking me a question.

“Uhm, yes, of course!” I said hesitantly. “I can handle any customer, including animals. Where can I replace an apron?” I said after clearing my throat.