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As soon as it seemed civilized, I called the convalescent hospital and talked to Mrs Haynes about Agnes Grey Apparently, she’d been as docile as a laements for her transport to Santa Teresa by air a it in stride She claimed she couldn’t even re up, I put a call through to Irene and passed the infor to ht serve

"Oh, Mother’s just like that," Irene said when I voicedhell, she feels she’s soht you should kno fearful she was She sure raised the hair on the back of my neck"

"She’ll be fine now Don’t be concerned You’ve done a wonderful job"

"Thanks," I said As there didn’t seem to be any reason to re off shortly and would give her a call as soon as I got back to town

I packed athered up my briefcase, the portable typewriter, andin the car while I went up to the front office to settlefrom the room next door They were both in their fifties, a hundred pounds overweight, dressed inwestern-cut shirts and oversize blue jeans They were discussing interest rates on short-teran painted on the Cadillac’s rearread: justlot, arms around each other’s waists, or at least as far as they would go While the car warmed up, I pulled my little32 out of the briefcase where I’d tucked it the night before and transferred it to er seat

I cut over to West 86 north I drove the first ten miles with a constant check on the rearview mirror The day was sunny and the nuan to thin some by the ti to find a station with more to offer than static or the price of soybeans, alfalfa, and sugar beets I caught a flash of the Beatles and focused briefly on the radio while I did soain, with an automatic reference to the traffic behinddown on me He couldn’t have been hty miles an hour toet out of his jae, shuddering a hop, skip, and a jurill of the pickup appeared at lass It was clear the guyht, but not fast enough The Dodge caughtsouth instead of north I sla the shoulder, throwing up a spray of gravel My handbag seeine died I turned the key in the ignition and willed the car to start Diht Where had everybody gone? Just up ahead on my left, a soft-packed dirt road followed the curve of an irrigation canal that bordered a fallow field, but there was no ranch house visible and no signs of life

Behindas it headed straight atwith fear, a terrified eye glued tospeed The Dodge plowed into me, this time with an impact that propelled the VW forward ten yards with an ear-splitting BAM My forehead hit the windshield with a force that nearly knocked lass was splintered into a pattern of fine cracks like a coating of frost The seat snapped in two and the sudden liberation fro wheel The only thing that saved me from a half-rack of cracked ribs was the purse inthe blow

The other driver threw the pickup into reverse, then punched on the gas The truck lurched back, then forward, raround in a short flight that ended in the irrigation ditch, plu out in all directions I narrowly avoided biting ainst the headliner and then off the dashboard I put a hand onsure I hadn’t lost any The car seeainst the muddy bottom The runoff water in the ditch was only three feet deep, but both doors had popped open and silty water flooded in