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I opened y in itself I wrestled it out and bounced it on the paveet me as far as the nearest service station, which I re and bust hts, so I can cope with life’s little inconveniences At least I wasn’t wearing heels and panty hose and I didn’t have glossy fingernails to wreck in the process

Meanwhile, the flatbed had turned out onto the highway and had come to a stop a hundred yards behind me A dozen ed themselves They seeestions in an alien tongue I couldn’t really translate, but I got the gist I didn’t think they were giving any actual pointers on how to change a flat They seeood-natured bunch, too weary from the short hoe to do me any harm I rolled my eyes and waved at therabbing his crotch

I tuned the like a stevedore as the flatbed pulled away At tidown on me The air was dry, the quiet unbroken I don’t know the desert well To round level, where I sat wielding my crescent wrench, all I could see was a dead mesquite tree a few feet away I’ve been told that if you listen closely, you can hear the clicks of the wood-boring beetles that tunnel through the dead wood to lay their eggs

I settled down to work, letting the isolation envelop me Little by little, I became accustomed to the stillness in the same manner that eyes become accustomed to dark I picked up the drone of an occasional insect and noticed then the foraging warblers catching bugs on the fly The true citizens of the Mojave eht: rattlesnakes and lizards, jackrabbits, quail, the owl and the Harris hawk, the desert fox and the ground squirrel, all searching for prey, angling to eat each other in a relentless predatory sequence that begins with the termites and ends with the coyote This is not a place I’d want to unrolland lay my little head down The sun spiders alone will scare you out of ten years’ growth

By 3:20, I’d successfully completed the task I rolled the flat tire around to the front of the car so I could hoist it into n body rattle around inside, a rock or a nail by the sound of it I checked for the puncture, running ers around the circued perforation not quite the size ofchilled, not wanting to believe my eyes It looked like a bullet hole An involuntary sound escaped as I was overtaken by one of those rolling shudders you experienced as a kid on leaving a dark room I liftedNot another car in sight I wanted out of there

I hoisted the tire and shoved it into athered the jack and my crescent wrench, ot in I started the engine and rahway I drove faster than I should have, given the condition ofout there by uy in the pickup truck He’d passed ht have caused the dae, but I couldn’t think how it could have penetrated the sidewall, leaving such a nice neat hole in its wake

The first service station I passed was out of business The gas puraffiti, in a garland, had been sprayed along the foundation Local advertisers were using the supporting columns for their poster art and a real estate company announced in bold print that the property could be leased Fat chance

On the outskirts of Niland, at the intersection of Main Street and the Salton Highway, I found a sasoline that ine burp I put some air in the spare tire and dropped off the fiat

"I’ve got some business to take care of at the Slabs," I said "Any way you can do this in the next hour and a half?"

He studied the tire The look he gave ested that he’d come to the same conclusion I had, but he made no comment He said he’d pull the tire off the ri I’d be back by five o’clock I didn’t want to iave him a ten for his trouble and told hiot back I hopped in my car and then leaned my head out in his direction "Where’s the road to the Slabs?"