Anne stamped a brake petal, and Carrie flew into a dashboard.
“What the heck??” Carrie said.
Anne stabbed a finger up a dirt road. “Look.”
Cornstalks lining both sides, the road meandered up a hill past a hotdog stand.
“Who’d put that in the middle of nowhere?” Anne said.
“Well, not someone who thought they were nowhere.”
Anne rolled her eyes and then studied the stand. Atop its roof, a red- and yellow-striped ‘Hotdogs Here!’ sign flashed, and beneath an overhang, an ‘Order Here!’ and ‘Pay Here!’ sign dangled above two windows separated by a countertop upon which a napkin dispenser and a squeeze bottle laid.
Carrie shrugged. “So, what are we waiting for?”
“What?”
“Drive up and ask for directions.”
“Are you mad? We’re not stepping outside.”
“Fine. What do we do?”
“We push onward.” Anne shifted the car into ‘drive’ and wheeled up the hill. Soon, the stand loomed outside her window, and she slowed. Inside the stand, all was illuminated—over-the-range microwaves, cabinets, wall clocks—but no one worked there. Alongside it however, dozens of empty pickup trucks and cars sat, and beyond the vehicles, a big-top tent.
Anne and Carrie shared a glance.
“So, everyone’s at a circus show?!” Carrie said.
Anne read a dashboard clock. “At half past midnight?” She sped-up and steered down a slope and into trees, beneath waving branches. “Re-check the GPS.” She watched Carrie toggle through a cell phone.
“Still no signal,” Carrie said.
Anne sighed. “Of course…”
They reached an intersection, halted, and read a street sign.
“Back here again??” Carrie said. “This time, turn right onto Kildare.”
“Like we did last time?”
“No, last time we’d turned left. By the way, you’d suggested that first, and look how things have turned out.”
“We’ll head straight.”
“Why straight?”
Anne pounded the wheel. “Do you, or do you not, want to make it home?”
“Whatever.” Carrie slumped in her seat. “Just drive.”