The sound of the motor got louder, and they watched the hill. Around the bend of the last rise, a faded blue truck lumbered into sight, bouncing and jostling over the road.
Jake struggled up the bank, slipping and sliding on loose stones.
The truck slowed and ground to a halt beside them.
“What’s up? We heard the 911 call on our radio,” said a man who might have been in his seventies somewhere. In the driver’s seat sat another man about the same age.
Jake touched his hat. “Caleb. Zeke. This car tried to pass us and went off the road. We ended up on the bank on the other side trying not to hit him. The child is moving, the driver isn’t, and I can’t get the windows open.”
The brothers got out and stepped over to the side of the road to assess the accident. They wore baseball caps, as well as faded jeans and plaid shirts, sleeves rolled up. For an interesting fashion twist, they both wore Nike running shoes.
“How many in there?” asked Caleb.
“Two, as far as I can see. One appears to be a child.”
Caleb rubbed a stubble of beard. “That’d be our nephew from Portland. He has a little girl. We’re expecting them. They were on their way here to visit. Zeke, we better hook up the winch. See you got a chain there. Hook it under the front bumper, and we’ll pull the car up the bank.”
Jake and the Easton brothers got to work. The two old guys stepped into the task with a speed and economy of motion not seen in younger men. They intrigued Fiona, and she wanted to know more about who they were and where they lived but now wasn’t the time.
By the time a couple from a ranch south of the hot springs arrived, Jake and the brothers had the car hooked to the winch but were having trouble getting the winch to engage. Dora, the woman from the ranch, checked in with Jake then started down the bank, Jake right behind her. Fiona watched from her safe perch by the side of the road, feeling useless. Caleb and Zeke continued to fuss over the winch on their old rust and blue truck.
Dora tapped on the window of the passenger door. “Can you hear me? Open the door,” she said, her face close to the window. “Unlock the door,” she said, louder. To Jake she said, “The child inside appears to be responding.” She kept rapping. “Open the door,” said Dora again. “The inside lock. Open it. Excellent.”
Jake had to yank the door open since at first it wouldn’t budge and was barely clear of the water. He opened it wide and supported it as Dora leaned in, talking to the child in the front in a tone Fiona couldn’t hear. She said something to Jake, and he called up the bank to the brothers who stood watching the operation.
“Dora says we should leave them in the car and winch them up the bank. The driver’s eyes are half open but he isn’t talking. She doesn’t want to move them until they are properly examined.”
“What about the child?” asked Fiona.
“She’s talking, but they’re both in shock.”
Dora shut the door. “Okay, boys, see if you can pull the car out. Easy now.”
Fred, her husband, yelled from the bank, “Dora get away from the vehicle. You don’t want to get sucked into some place you don’t want to be.”
Jake helped Dora back from the car. Zeke started the winch that the two brothers finally had gotten to operate. Slowly the car started moving out of the spring, advanced about two feet and got stuck. Fred came down the bank with waders on and went in the spring to see what the trouble was. The car appeared to be hung up on rocks. Fred called for a shovel and the Easton brothers threw a couple of shovels down the bank. Jake and Fred worked with the shovels trying to clear the wheels of rocks only to stir up the water and make it cloudier with mud and silt.
“Try it again,” yelled Fred.
Zeke started the winch which had a thick twisted cable hooked to Jake’s heavy duty chain. The car moved again with a loud crunching sound and an accompanying screech from the winch. The man and child were barely visible, because the windows were darkened, and the sun against the windows made a glare. Fiona stood beside Caleb watching the operation.
“That boy never could drive worth a darn,” said Caleb.
“If he’s from the city, it would be tricky to navigate a gravel road going the speed he was doing. Where do you live?” Fiona asked.
Caleb jerked his thumb up toward the mountains. “Up the mountain a piece.”
Fiona looked up to where he pointed. She saw only canyon and rim rock.
“You say these are your relatives?” Fiona asked.
“Yes, ma’am. He’s one of our brother’s boys. Never had an ounce of sense that one. His little girl got more sense than he does.”
The car’s nose was now even with the dusty bank which was strewn with rocks and pebbles and peppered with brush. Zeke stopped the winch when Jake held up his hand.
“Give us a minute,” he said, “to clear some of the brush in front of the fender.”
They chopped away at grease wood that blocked the upward advance of the vehicle. Caleb lent a hand, and when they were satisfied the car had clear passage they gave the sign for Zeke to start the winch. The car looked like it had been in a demolition derby.
The focus of the operation was on the car, but Fiona’s eyes were drawn to something that bobbed up out of the water behind the car. She looked around at the others but they were concentrating on the car as it was hauled up the bank. Zeke got in his truck and pulled the car the rest of the way to level ground. Dora went immediately to the driver’s door, and Fred helped her open it.
Fiona’s attention was drawn back to the blob that floated on the surface of the cloudy water. It looked like clothes or an old sheet puffed up in the water. Had the car hit someone or something in careening down the highway? She watched but saw nothing in or attached to the dirty gray thing that bobbed in the water. Fiona joined the people on the road, wanting to tell them about the odd thing in the water.
The driver sat in the car, and Dora was checking him over. He held his head in his hands like it hurt. The little girl sat on the seat at the other side of the car, its door wide open to the sun. She clutched a small stuffed toy that looked to Fiona like a frizzy headed rooster. Jake was kneeling, talking to her. Caleb stood by him.
“We’re good at fixing things,” said Caleb, “but Dora knows a lot more about doctoring than we do.”
“I hope they’ll be okay,” Fiona said.
“If anyone can make it right, Dora will,” he said.
Fiona was impressed with his faith in the small ranch woman, who went to the little girl and asked her name.
“Molly,” said the little girl. “My name is Molly.”
“How old are you?” asked Dora.
She held up seven fingers. “I go to school.”
“Good,” said Dora. “May I check you for cuts?”
“Okay,” said Molly.
“Does anything hurt?” Dora asked as she checked and prodded the girl.
The little girl touched her leg. “My leg hurts.”
Dora continued her exam while Jake joined Fiona and Caleb. He had opened his sweat darkened shirt to let the breeze blow through.
“You can come up and dry off at our place. We got a clothes dryer,” said Caleb.
“I’ll wind dry here any minute,” said Jake, pulling the tails out to aid the drying process.
Caleb said, “I’m glad those two are alive. Molly’s mama is going to be upset.”
Jake nodded. “I hope they’ll be all right. They got knocked around pretty good.”
Caleb nodded toward Jake’s truck. “Better check your rig over to see if it runs.”
The two walked over, and Jake started the truck but couldn’t get it to move. It landed straddling a rock on the front end and wouldn’t move front or back. Caleb hooked up the winch again and pulled Jake’s big Ford 350 out with his ancient truck. The truck bounced off the bank. The two men checked under the hood. Fiona walked around the chassis checking for damage.