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My foot mashed the brake, but the car barreled on Auto By then, I was into a wide turn sweeping right onto a connecting road that led to Route 1

The weird thing about post-traumatic stress is that it affects you in the oddest ways, at the least expected ti, my instincts kicked in, and a surreal calm settled over me

To ht The car’s left side skidded onto the shoulder, but the right side tires gripped the pave road, andit to Route 1 without plowing into a phone pole or another vehicle

I sideswiped the tires against the curb, which did little ood tires Slowly, I pulled the handbrake The car slowed a bit, so I pulled harder The car shuddered to a halt curbside a few feet short of the intersection

Exhaling a breath, I stared through the windshield After a minute, I hit my four-way flashers and called AAA

???

The AAA tow truck took nearly an hour to arrive But that gave ure out ulara leak when I hit a pothole or accidentally ran over so

Or had the brake been monkeyed with Who would do it? Who knew I’d be at the university that day? I hadn’t told Terry my exact plans Maybe souys he’d expected to greet with his gun in hand I called Two-Bit Terry and got his voice mail

I mulled over these questions as I rode with the tow truck driver, who see me in conversation

“Sorry I took so long,” he said The driver ashed-out denim overalls (bib and all) over a red-and-white checkered shirt Looked like he should’ve been driving a farm tractor

“No problem”

“Leastwise, it’s not raining or snowing, huh?”

“Right Snow in September would be weird”

The driver laughed, takingSomeday, I’ll learn to keep my mouth shut

“Well, with that global war on, you never knohat the weather will be, right?” he said