Chapter Seven

“What should I do?” was the big question in Becky’s mind, as she considered her options. “If I can get my car started, should I go ahead, turn around or simply stay here?”
 

Becky knew that even if she was able to drive to the gas station, there was still no guarantee that anyone would be there to fill up her gas tank Beginning to realize the seriousness of her predicament, Becky decided to check all of the fluids in her car. They were fine for the moment and she had extras in the trunk, just in case.

“I would probably be wiser just to turn around and head for the highway, but it is so many miles. The gas station is much closer, but if there is no one there, I will not be able to fill up my gas tank. I do not want to be in another predicament there, or further down the gravel road, if my gas tank hits empty. Here it is a waiting game with wild animals lurking around.”

Becky was beginning to be frightened, but knew she could only stay where she was or start walking. In total wilderness, that was too risky. 

"Good old Bessie!" she said to her car. "I don’t know why you let me down this time, as you almost never do." She checked the air pressure on all of her tires as well as on her spare tire, and they were fine too. "I have a bicycle pump, if I need it. Too bad I don't have my bike here." 

She smiled at the thought of trying to bike out of here. It was getting too warm to stay inside the car so she got out and realized the air was starting to cool down. She began to gather branches and dead wood for the night. 

"This is probably an old logging road," she said, surveying the collection of decaying stumps in the immediate vicinity. They broke apart easily, but they also had ants in them too. She knew that she had to be careful with them. Sand flies and mosquitoes began swarming around her. "If I stay close to the fire, I won't get bitten." She could hear bees or wasps buzzing nearby, but did not see a hive anywhere. "There must be one somewhere around here.” 

As the sun set in the west, Becky enjoyed it fully. She sat on a log close to the fire until it started to get dark, then re-stoked the fire and pulled her sleeping blanket down from the car roof. It was far too risky to sleep outside because of wild animals and knew that smoke from her fire would not necessarily be a deterrent. Wolves and bears were the greatest threat and she was determined to distance herself from them, as much as possible.

"Unfortunately, I don't have any kind of protection," she said aloud, suddenly wishing that she had taken lessons on how to use a rifle when she was still in high school. The boys she had gone to high school with, had all joined the rifle club and learned how to use them properly because hunting was important in the mountains.

“Maybe I should still find a rifle club and do that! Someday, perhaps!”

Becky took the crow bar for her tire jack out of the car trunk and set it on the dashboard where she could reach it, just in case.

"I hope I will not need it."

When the sun went into hiding for the night, the moon rose quickly and it was not all that dark. She found tremendous joy in watching the stars and decided not to think about wild animals.

An hour later, she spotted a falling star. 

"I will never forget this one, or how beautiful it is," said Becky, as she made a wish on it. "Imagine that! In a million years, I never would have pictured myself stranded in the middle of a mountain range, watching a falling star."

Later, she spotted a large owl perched on a tree branch, almost right across from her car. 

"He is my watch dog," she thought. "I don't think he will stay around for very long if other wild animals approach the area."

Becky started re-thinking her book interview. 

"That was only day before yesterday. It seems like ages ago. So much has happened to me since then. Yesterday was day one of my wilderness adventure, today is day two and tomorrow is day three." 

She made a mental note to date and number each page of her new manuscript knowing that might prove important to her later.

"I wonder if my other manuscript made any sense to that publisher. It almost seemed like he did not really understand what I wrote. Did I write way above his head? If son, that is not the first time that this has happened to me either."

Becky sighed. 

"One of my writing instructors in college told me that my writing was too subjective for her, too much in depth and far too philosophical to comprehend fully." She thought about it for a while. "When I write about my own personal experiences, I don’t really need to justify what I write to anyone else." 

Becky was not tired enough to fall asleep immediately. Although it was getting late, mentally, she was still alert. She began racking her brain trying to figure out an appropriate title for her new manuscript and wrestled with a few possible titles. She decided to write a dedication to her parents, too.  

Later, when she heard she heard the owl hooting, it was a comforting sound in the darkness.

"I am not really all alone here," she thought, as she gradually drifted off to sleep. Later she awoke to the sound of wolves howling in the distance, but knew that they were not close enough to worry her.

"What did I expect?" she asked herself, as she drifted back to sleep. "After all, this is wilderness country."