Out of Gas, Alone,....In Danger

Out of Gas, Alone...In Danger

It is a chilly July morning in upper Wisconsin. I found my friendly little cat Lucy about a year ago while visiting a local farm. She was emaciated and crying for help while she rubbed herself in and around my feet. Her communication skills have been something to write about and this morning was no different. I was sound asleep and rather upset at her waking me to go outside I presumed. I got up as usual because when she cries she wants to go out on the porch or her food dish is empty. She didn’t take me anywhere this day. I checked her dish only to find plenty of food....I asked her if she wanted to go outside, but she didn’t move. She hunched down on her "belly" and opened her mouth as if she couldn't breath very well. I knew she was ill. I called my daughter from her sleep and asked if she would like to come along, as it is a twenty-mile stretch to the vet clinic in another city. She decided she would drive so I could hold our ailing friend who cried most of the way there. At least until my daughter put some rock music on the radio which calmed Lucy right down. Don't ask me, I don't get it.
We make it to the vet whose diagnosis is upper respiratory infection and gives Lucy a shot after checking her throat and temperature. He did say if she worsens we should go to the Emergency Animal Clinic in our hometown for her to be scoped for any foreign matter in her throat. I am far old enough to realize that cost would be minimum of five hundred and that best not happen. We pay the ninety four dollar fee for his fifteen minutes of fame with our little friend, get the antibiotics, place ourselves back into my daughters nice used Buick Agoura and off we go home.
We have traveled some six miles or so and were on a secondary country road when her car begins to chug disgustingly. In an angry voice she proclaims we are out of gas. Now this is a foreign phrase to me because I don't run out of gas. I have a nice little red lever that tells me when to buy some more. On one end of its dial is a large F for full and on the other end is a large E for empty. Come to find out the gas gauge lever is a non-working entity on this vehicle. It says large F all the time so she goes by the trip set. She had driven one hundred and twelve miles on $25.00 she thinks. I think eighteen year old girls cant think at all. They only see what they want to and when it doesn't work out they are just beside themselves. In fact she said it was her step Dad's fault for buying such a piece of junk. We wont tell him she said that, or she could, should, be walking without any fear of running out of gas for their wont be a vehicle to have such a thing happen to it.
I sat in the passenger seat maintaining my control thinking what to do and so wishing I had driven my own car this day. I decided to dial 911 because I couldn't recall the three numbers to call for roadside assistance. I immediately stated this was not an emergency, little did I know. The dispatcher asked where we were and darned if I knew. I have traveled that road at least ten thousand times since I was a kid but this day I was in a spot with fields on either side and hills in front and back of the car. I could see a road sign but couldn't read it. I gave him my best guess and he said he would send an officer out. I was hoping an officer with a gas can but did not say that.
Suddenly life became quieter than I ever recall it being. At least in this past few years where turmoil has spent some of my precious earthly time. Just outside my window were yellow and purple and white wild flowers and the most beautiful breeze I had felt in some time. The sun had come forth during our busy time with Lucy and the Vet making it a most lovely day. The fields were greener than green and the sounds of the trees were as though they were talking to me with a clear deep blue sky full of puffy clouds with faces. A car would pass now and then but no one stopped. Time wasn't happening for a little while out there on that desolate road. On occasion I would have a fleeting thought that someone might kidnap us, or the cat might get out and be lost forever in those fields. I quickly let those thoughts go with the wind onto their next destination leaving me to enjoy this peaceful place in time.
In the passenger side mirror I could see a police car coming in the distance. I was relieved now that help had arrived and it arrived with a badge, which usually means safety and honor and caring. The young officer came to the window and asked what he could do for us. For some reason I asked him if he was the officer the dispatch sent out and he responded he was indeed. He told us he did not have a gas can but could take one of us to a nearby station to purchase a gas can and some gas. I said we both needed to go, as I didn’t think it safe we should be out there alone. The officer responded only to say fine. I got out of the car on the ditch side only to step into thistles, which would be only the beginning of our nightmare.
We got into the back seat of the squad car which left us about four or five inches of space for our feet and was very dark. He shut the doors and when he did we found ourselves in a prison with no way out. Windows locked, doors locked and it was hot. Lucy started to cry very loudly and I couldn't understand that. She is quite the communicator as I said, and Lucy knew this was not a good place. If nothing else the demons from the many previous riders were all about us. Fear was prevalent, as was anger and illness and pain, but mostly fear. Between the front and back seat was a Plexiglas wall with the edges covered in round foam. Not enough room at the top to even get a hand through to the front. My thoughts were racing and I didn’t know why when suddenly he tromped on the gas. I felt as though I were on a fast paced fare ride to someplace I didn’t want to go and I had no control nor could I get out. The faster he went the more horrified I was as was Lucy. My daughter seemed more in control than I but that comes from her youth and inexperience of life. This was a bad situation and I could sense it. I was afraid to speak to this man with a badge so I didn’t for quite some time. We passed several gas stations at a high speed. I could feel the car flipping over and over as though we already went off the road into a field of death or worse. The cat, what would happen to her? My daughter’s eyes are filling with tears and my hand is on my cell phone. I dial 911, and then set the phone down.....
I ask the driver of this ghost-infested squad car what station we were going to as I noticed we passed several. There was no answer. I said, "Sir, didn’t the dispatcher send you to help us out on Hiway B?" I knew the 911 operator would catch that and check it out and hopefully we would all live long enough to be found. I was watching this kidnapper in the rear view mirror even though I could only see his eyebrows above his sunglasses. I was so frightened my stomach was physically retching itself in and out. All at once we caught one another's glance in that small mirror that seemed to be the box called my life. His eyes were steel gray as the devils. He grinned directly into my soul an evil grin I shall never forget. A grin with the call of death all about it. I thought I new fear until that moment. What did he want with us? Why did he pick us up and what, oh God what was next? I took my daughter's hand and started to pray. I had leaned down and told the 911 operator we were in trouble and he told me he was aware of this and had help on the way, to remain calm because they were tracking my cell phone. I was praying it would keep its charge long enough. At the speed we were traveling I didn’t know if it would matter. My praying was getting louder and louder until the stranger screamed for me to stop it. I didn’t stop. I knew we would die anyway so why not go out praying. It was all I had and I learned as a child if it’s all you have then God can take over and we were right at that place. My daughter is now joining in with loud prayer, which was killing that driver. I also heard prayer makes the demons run but this time the demon was driving us wherever he was running.
Trying to imagine how help was going to help didn’t get me anywhere. He had slowed down some because traffic was getting dense in the area. I was hoping and believing this would be good for us. The heat was overbearing, as were my thoughts. What if he ran the car into the lake and we couldn't get out? What if he, what if he, what if he? Horror is not a big enough word for this situation. Suddenly from behind and in front I see police squads from everywhere shimmering red, white, and blue lights blinding the roads. Who is this man that has us captive and what has he done in life to get to this place? What have we done? Suddenly he screams at us to shut up and starts banging on that Plexiglas window. He is losing control and showing it. There is no grin on his face now, only anger and more anger. He now exposes a gun, which he faces toward me. I stopped praying. God didn’t make me stupid, gutsy, but not stupid. He has now put his emergency lights on so people cannot tell who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. We are weaving in and out of traffic and I can see he is confused now and getting weary. I start to pray again and just as I did he shoots me through the Plexiglas but misses. He might as well have shot me because had it not been for my daughter and Lucy needing me I shall have passed out for the first time in my life. I guess God did come through when we didn’t know what to do, because just then the Plexiglas fell down onto our laps. My God we were exposed and so was he. The cat is screaming, my daughter is screaming and I am lunging at this awful demonized human being. I cant reach very far because the glass is holding me back. He on the other hand is trying to drive and point that gun at me again. I manage to hit him in the head with my purse, which really angered him. So much so he wasn't thinking clearly and stopped the squad car, got out and aimed that gun square at my face.
I am sure terror knew no better home than me at that moment in time. This was it, I was dead for sure.
I fainted and as I slumped down in the seat the bullet sailed over my head and through the back window. My daughter is screaming and the cat is drewling from fear. A swat team shot the police imitator many times over and over.
As he lie in a pool of blood and I lay in a place of comfort called escape, the actual police opened the doors of this prison on wheels and removed the Plexiglas from atop my daughter and Lucy. Then someone put smelling salts under my nose, which brought me back to what I thought was my personal Hell. I began screaming out of control until I saw men and women running everywhere around me. I was not in the black back seat of hell, I was outside in the sun with at least fifty plus officers all about the area. I was safe, my daughter was safe, and the cat was going to be fine as soon as I found her some litter.
We found out later the man impersonating the officer was an escapee from the mental hospital and was indeed dangerous.
I would agree since I dodged three of his bullets that day and lived to tell you all about it. It may take me some time to fully recover, yet realizing I was being taken care of by God and his heavenly host of Angels, or my spirit guides Eric and Izzie, may help me find my way back to normalcy and peace sooner.
Make sure you never run out of gas, alone, on a country road!