By Maezee Khemraj
You check out a book from the Johnson County Library’s Central Branch and head out driving west onto I-70. The prairie is beautiful until you notice black clouds coming up behind you. Your engine light comes on, so you take the next exit, a rest stop you don’t remember ever seeing before in which the sign reads, Night Forest 1 mile…
I get out onto I-70. As I drive up onto the pavement of a side lot. I pick up my phone to call my mom, but it is dead. It had been plugged into the car the entire time, and when I checked a couple of minutes ago it was fully charged. I’m probably just in a dead spot I thought to myself. I look out the passenger window and see a gas station that says “Betty Ex”. I don’t know if it is open or not, but there are lights on inside. I drive up onto the pavement of the parking lot and get out. As I walked up to the door the headlights flickered on my car. I started to get kinda scared.
I went inside the gas station and called out to see if there was anybody there. I started to hear whining and growling, not mean growling, but more of a playful growl. I looked behind the counter and saw a box full of puppies. They were not ordinary puppies they were Canadian Eskimo puppies. They are one of the most expensive dogs in the world. They can cost from $800 to $8,750! Why would someone leave such expensive dogs behind the counter of a gas station? There were 3 of them. One was brown with white spots, one black with white around its eye, and the last one had a black body with a white chest. I couldn’t leave them here, they needed food and water. I looked around the store and spotted a section for dogs. I grabbed a bag of dog food and a couple of bowls and fed the dogs. Before I left I grabbed a few boxes of water and the necessities like shirts, pants/shorts, underwear, socks, sleeping bag, blankets, and a couple of pillows.
I took the box of puppies and 3 leashes out of the store with a few collars. I fastened each collar on the puppies and took them to the bathroom on a small patch of grass outside of the store, there was no way I was going to have them go to the bathroom in my car! I put a couple of towels on the backseat so that they could roam.
Suddenly you realize you are kind of lost. It seems really dark for an afternoon and you find yourself in a forest. Toto, you for sure aren’t in Kansas anymore. You are thinking of getting back in your car and ignoring the engine light when someone comes up behind you...
I was driving back onto the highway when someone pulled up behind me. I rolled down my window so the lady could talk to me. She asked me if I had seen the lady that runs Betty Ex. I told her that I was just there and nobody was at the counter. She told me that the lady is the granddaughter of Betty. She took over her grandma’s store after she had died. Her name was Brandy, she was a thief, she stole a very expensive car and is now on the run. She gave me her number and told me to call her if I spotted Brandy.
As I continued to drive more and more trees were coming up around me. I found that I was not on a paved road anymore. Dust was flying up behind me. Storm clouds started to form. It looked like tornado clouds, but I was not quite sure. The dogs started to whine and yip, so I pulled over and moved them to the front. They started to quiet down a little bit, but I knew something was still wrong.
Just when you think things can’t get any stranger, the rain and lightning start, the sky turns greenish yellow, and you hear strange winds whistling like a train coming. You don’t panic. You try to remember what to do from scout camp, back in the day. You are deciding between hiding under an enormous pine tree or laying down in a ditch you see up ahead, which you distinctly remember is for lightning or tornadoes (and at this point you could be in danger of both). You are leaning toward […] when you notice two things: a small cave in a little green hill to your west and a hot air balloon parked on top of it with no one inside. You immediately run to…
I immediately ran to the cave. If it was lightning I did not want to be stuck in the air and if it is a tornado I did not want to be outside, so the best choice was the cave. I quickly grabbed the Puppies and all the things I had bought at the Gas Station and ran to the edge of a ditch. I had to figure out how to get across a ditch to get to the cave. I took the puppies first, then came back for the rest of the stuff. As I stepped foot in the cave with the last load it started to pour. I set up the sleeping bag for me and then put the blankets and one of the pillows next to me for the puppies.
When it had stopped raining I looked outside to see how full the ditch was. It was full to the top. There was no way we would be getting out of here any time soon. I looked around the edge of the cave and spotted some sticks. I quickly took those inside and used them to make a fire with some grass that was dry enough to use. I look at the watch I have on my wrist. I could barely read it, but I think it says 8:30 pm. I decided that maybe we could get some sleep. I headed back to the sleeping bag and the puppies crawled to the end again. I couldn’t argue, at least they were keeping my feet warm.
Just when you think your day is turning out rather well considering everything, you realize the jig is up. They’ve found you. Should you fight back, run, or prepare a very zesty speech to get them on your side?...
I woke up suddenly in what I thought was the middle of the night. I checked my watch, it was 2:30 in the morning. I thought I had heard growling. I wasn’t sure though It could have just been the puppies. I was about to fall back asleep when it happened again. It was a low rumbling sound, like a wild dog. I got up and put the dogs on the leashes and packed everything up. Whatever it was I did not want to be in its territory. As I was about to leave the cave, the growling became more distinct. I turned around and I was face to face with a bear! I ran to the ditch and swam across while holding everything high up in the air including the dogs. When I got to my car I threw everything inside and locked the doors. The bear came thrashing through the water filled ditch. As he approached my car he threw his paws on it and rocked it back and forth. I was terrified! After about 20 min he went away. I was relieved, but I waited another 10 min just to make sure he was gone then fell asleep.
Morning finally comes. When you wake up, you find your car safely parked at the rest stop in Kansas. There aren’t many trees, if any, around. Inside your car, you find your library books and a note that reads…
I woke up and looked around, last night was terrifying. I checked to make sure the puppies were all ok. As I went back to looking at the Steering wheel I spotted a piece of paper on the dash that was not there before. I picked it up and read, “Daughter, thank you so much for going on this trip for me! I knew I was not going to be able to make it to Betty Ex in time for your birthday due to my trip to Texas. I think you have already found out what I was going to pick up for you from Betty Ex. The stuff the officer told you was all made up, the “officer” is a good friend of ours. That is why she was not in a real police car. I will meet you at home. Dad.” I knew my dad was ornery, but this, this was too far.