Many folks think that a woman stranded on the roadside in the rain is a vulnerable thing.
However, Daniel Moses Luft thinks otherwise ...
However, Daniel Moses Luft thinks otherwise ...
Coffee Breath by Daniel Moses Luft
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Shit
now it’s raining, could this get any fucking worse? Lynda’s right hand slipped off the lug wrench and
onto
the wet ground. She held up her hand and looked at her muddy knuckles as they
began to bleed. Yeah, it’s worse.
Her black hose caught
on a sharp twig and ripped as she stood up.
Sonofabitch this just isn’t
going well. She steadied herself with a hand on the car and pressed
her foot down on the wrench. Why did
I have to wear heels tonight? Of all the stupid nights.
She bobbed her foot down a few times before she lifted herself off the ground
to stand on it. The lug nut finally turned and she fell back onto the ground,
down on her butt this time. She reached for the wrench again but stopped when
she heard footsteps in the leaves. She sat very still and ignored the mud that
seeped into her pumps.
Lynda heard it again.
The sound was coming from the road ahead. She wiped a rope of brown hair out of
he eyes and saw the large shadow ooze out of the rain.
“Need some help?” his
voice rasped, dryer than anything else on the road. He was still 20 yards away,
approaching slowly, looking around.
“Think I’ve got it,” Lynda called back. “What are you even doing out here?”
“I passed by a minute
ago.” He spoke slowly, confidently. “Tried to call 911 for you but I didn’t get
any reception. Call just dropped.”
Lynda remembered the
single car passing and had been thankful it hadn’t stopped.
“And when I saw the
phone wouldn’t work out here I knew you were, well, stuck.”
He didn’t stop
walking until he was right next to her. Looming over her.
“Can I help?” he said
as he crouched down. “I’m David.”
Lynda could see him
smiling at her in the last minutes of rainy daylight. She could smell the
coffee on his breath.
“You don’t have to
help David. I’ve got it.”
His hand was next to
hers on the wrench and he slipped it away from her before she could react.
“Let me do it for
you,” he leaned closer as he spoke in nearly a whisper. “Pretty lady like you getting her soft hands
all muddy.” He ran a hand slowly down the back of her coat getting a feel for
her. “You’re a soaking mess. Bet you’d rather be out of those clothes. Are you
supposed to be somewhere?”
“Yes, yes a party.
I’m late. My husband will wonder what’s taking me so long. Everyone will
wonder.”
“You’re not wearing a
ring.”
He began to
effortlessly remove the lug nuts from the wheel that had barely budged for her.
“Don’t worry. I won’t take very long. I’ve done this before.”
He was leaning into
her as he worked. Lynda could smell sweat mingled with his overwhelming coffee
breath.
“Lemme show you what
I can do. You’ll be surprised. You might
even tell your friends someday.”
Lynda stood up and
backed away.
“Nice heels. I like
heels, especially tall ones like you’ve got on. Lousy for running though. Hell,
with mud like this I bet you could barely even walk in them.”
He had the tire loose
and the wrench between his feet. He jacked up the car as Lynda stared down at
him, feeling cold in her wet clothing, her hair falling into her eyes again.
When he removed the tire she reached for her phone and sure enough there were
no bars. David had the spare on quickly and began to reattach the lug nuts.
“Told you I was
good.” He rose and walked closer to her. “And, no, there’s never any reception
out here. Lots of flat tires but never any reception. Besides, you’re already
late.”
Lynda shivered as she
wiped the hair out of her face again. She made eye contact with David for the
first time as she slowly leaned forward and kissed him. She was shivering as
she forced her tongue deep into his
mouth. Her hands wrapped around him and pulled on his sweaty, wet hair. He bit
her lip, nearly drawing blood.
“What changed your
mind you little, horny bitch?” he whispered.
“You remind me of
someone,” she whispered as she handed him the keys.
“Who?”
“My husband.”
“And where is he
tonight?”
“Well he’s not
waiting for me at any party if that’s what you’re asking.”
David smiled. Lynda
wondered when the last time he’d brushed those teeth. He reached for her face
and ran a wet hand along her chin then slapped her hard. She nearly fell over
but when she looked at him again she was smiling.
“Never mind about
about my husband, now let’s put all this stuff in the trunk and get in the back
seat.”
Together they walked
to the back of the car. He unlocked the trunk and the little light inside gave
off a dull orange glow.
He saw the chainsaw
first, then he saw the arms piled next to it. There was a grey-haired head
nearby which was still attached to the body but there was no way it was still
attached to the legs on the other side of the trunk.
“What the fuck?”
David didn’t notice
as Lynda slipped the jack handle out of his wet hand and embedded in the back
of his skull. He fell down without a sound.
That,
Coffee Breath, is my husband.
She removed the jack
handle and dropped it into the trunk. The flat tire slipped a bit and bounced
off David’s back before she placed it also inside the trunk. Then she reached
down and rolled David off the highway and down the slight embankment. The
daylight was almost gone and the rain was picking up. She watched it bounce off
the car’s back bumper as it washed away the blood into the mud.
