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“What the—Mark? Jacob? Did one of you boysto be happy!” Dianne shouted over the sound of the car as she unbuckled Josie, trying to shield her daughter’s ears with her arms
“It wasn’t me, mom!”
“Me either!”
Dianne pulled Josie out of the car and yelled “You three back in the house!”
Dianne waited until the kids were back behind the car before cli into the driver’s seat She twisted the dial for the radio volu happened She inserted the van’s key and turned it, but nothing happened there either She got back out of the car and headed back toward the house, covering her ears with her hands “What’s going on with that stupid thing?”
Once she was back inside, Dianne grabbed her cellphone off the counter and tapped in her unlock code She scrolled through her contact list until she reached the na ever broke down on one of the test cars Wincing at the sound of the still-shrieking vehicle, Dianne shooed her children into the next roo down in a nearby chair
After holding the phone to her ear for several seconds, Dianne pulled it away and glanced at the screen The call status, instead of reading out as a count of how long the call had been ongoing, ”
“What?” Dianne hung up and dialed again She watched the screen of the phone, but nothing changed, even after severalup the phone, set it down on the kitchen table and then turned to her children
“Stay in here I’o disconnect the battery, then we’ll take the old truck into town, okay?”
Jacob, Mark and Josie all nodded and Dianne headed back toward the front door of the house As she swung the door open, a light breeze picked up, sending the s it, however, was a foul stench that took Dianne a few seconds to recognize
“Gasoline?” Dianne mumbled to herself as she turned to look at the car out in the driveway As she looked at the vehicle, wondering why she was suddenly s and the electrical systeniting the gasoline vapors with a faint whoosh that was quickly followed by an ear-shattering explosion The van shuddered under the force of the explosion and burst into flaan to consume it both on the inside and out
Dianne fell back against the front door of the house, partially from the force of the blast and partially fro a vehicle that her children had been cli in a few minutes earlier explode before her eyes
“Mom?” Mark’s voice came from inside the house The thirteen-year-old pulled open the front door and all three children gasped as they saw the wreckage of the van in the front driveway Flames licked out froh above the trees A tire popped fro outward, and Dianne turned and pushed Mark back through the door and into the house She followed behind hi to look at the carnage out front
“Mo on?”
Dianne could only shake her head and whisper in response