Somewhere on SR 52 Outside Appleton City
Saturday Afternoon
No sooner had Evan turned off the interstate than the skies opened up. It was an angry storm with a high westerly wind. The abundant rain was coming down in sheets, driven so hard the droplets chased the eastbound car horizontally like slicing knives.
Visibility was chaotic and blurred. The two-lane highway hadn’t been washed down for weeks. The fresh slurry of grime and engine oil on its surface made traction uncertain for the lightweight Fiat. Evan had to wrestle with the steering wheel to keep the car tracking closely to the centerline. Inevitably, he ended up behind a semi that was doing decent speed, but the height of the trailer and the spume flung up from its tires totally obscured Evan’s view of the road ahead. Any atte
