CHAPTER 1

Medford County, Kansas, 1984

Abbey Taylor trusted to God and Ford to get her into Medford so she could buy some groceries. She was driving the family's old pickup truck. It was harder and harder for her to get around, much less into town, so she figured she should take advantage of feeling good on a nice sunny day and load up on whatever she could afford.

Billy had stayed home from work again today and was sleeping off another night out with his buddies. That involved plenty of meth, which was why he was in no condition to go in to work as an auto mechanic in Medford. All he wanted was to lie on the old vinyl couch and listen to some natter-head on the radio railing about how crooked the government was. Hell, everybody knew that already.

So Abbey, in her ninth month of pregnancy, left Billy to his anarchist dreams and waddled out to the old truck parked in the shade.

The truck was black, so it soaked up the sun, and as soon as she managed to climb inside, Abbey cranked down the windows. That let a nice breeze in, scented by the nearby stand of pine trees.

She turned the ignition key one bump, and needles moved on the gauges. The gas gauge, which was usually accurate, indicated over a quarter of a tank. Abbey knew from experience that would carry her into town and back.

The engine stuttered once and then turned over and ran smoothly enough, though it did clatter some. She released the emergency brake, shoved the gear-shift lever into first. The truck bucked some when she turned onto the dirt road, but she got it going smoothly in second and kept it in that gear so she could navigate around the worst of the ruts and holes. One particular bump was so jarring that she feared for the baby.

Soon she was on blacktop, and she put the truck in gear and drove smoothly along. The ride into town was pretty, the road lined with conifers and old sycamore trees and cottonwoods. The warm breeze coming through the open windows whisked away most of the oil and gas odor seeping up through the floorboards.

About halfway to town, on a slight hill, the motor began to run rough and seemed to lose power.

Abbey stomped down on the clutch and jammed the truck into a lower gear. That got her more power, but only briefly.

Then the engine chattered and died, and she steered the truck to the slanted road shoulder.

Abbey cursed herself for trusting the old truck. And she was worried about how Billy was going to react when he found out she'd run out of gas on the little traveled county road to Medford.

She heard a hissing sound and saw steam rising from beneath the hood. A closer look at the gauges showed that she hadn't run out of gas at all. The truck had simply overheated. She thought of Billy at home on the couch.

Where's a mechanic when you need one?

At least it had happened where she'd been able to steer the balky vehicle into the shade.

Abbey tried to judge just where she was stranded. It was almost the halfway point, and a far walk for anyone, much less a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy.

What if ...

But Abbey didn't want to think about that. She opened the door and kicked it wide with her left foot, then wrestled herself sideways out from behind the steering wheel. It was less trouble than it might have been because the truck was on a slant to the left, and her real problem was to catch herself when her feet contacted the ground and keep her balance so she wouldn't go rolling down the grade. Despite her problems, thinking of what that might look like made her almost smile.

Abbey stood with her hand against the sun-heated metal of the front fender for a moment, gaining her balance, then waddled around to the front of the truck.

Steam was still rolling out from underneath, but the hissing had stopped. She knew then that she'd screwed up. She wanted to see what the problem might be, but she'd forgotten to release the hood latch in the truck's cab. Keeping both hands on the truck to help keep her balance, she made her way back to the open door on the driver's side.

She was halfway there when she heard the sound of a motor.

So there was another vehicle on the county road!

Abbey felt like singing with relief.

Then she realized she might have a problem. There was no guarantee the driver of whatever was coming would notice the truck pulled well off the shoulder like it was.

She tried to make her way back to the road side of the truck, all the while listening to the approaching car or truck motor getting louder.

Damn! It went past her. A dusty white van with tinted windows, rocking along faster than was lawful. Its radio or cassette player had been on. Abbey had heard a snatch of music as it passed.

Wait! She heard music now. A rock band. Sounded like the Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

Abbey thought, Ain't that the truth?

Then she heard the motor, growing louder.

She had been seen! The van was backing up.

She glimpsed it between the trees, then it rolled backward around the shallow bend and slowed.

It parked only a few feet from the truck. Mick Jagger shouted, "I cain't get no—I cain't get no—" as the van's door opened and a heavyset, smiling woman awkwardly got down from behind the steering wheel and slammed the door shut behind her.

She was tall as well as bulky, and stood with her thick arms crossed, looking at Abbey, then the truck and the puddle beneath its front bumper, then back at Abbey. Her smile widened, showing bad teeth with wide spaces between them. Though badly in need of dental work, it was a kind smile and Abbey was glad to return it.

"Hell," the woman said, "you got yourself a problem, sweetheart. But it ain't hopeless." Her voice was highly pitched but authoritative, each word abrupt.

"The engine just stopped on me," Abbey said. "Overheated."

"I'll say. I'm familiar with these things." She strode over to the truck, the soles of her faded gray tennis shoes crunching on the gravel. "You know where the hood latch is?"

Abbey shrugged.

The woman went around to the driver's-side door and opened it, reached inside and did something. The hood jumped upward a few inches. She slammed the truck door shut then walked around and raised the hood all the way, exposing the engine and the steaming radiator.

"Don't s'pose you carry any water," she said.

Abbey shook her head no. "Maybe we oughta take the cap off the radiator. It might make it cool down faster."

"Burn your hand, sweetheart. Maybe your whole damn arm. Gotta let these things run their course." She propped her fists on her hips and glanced up and down the road. "Ain't what you'd call heavily traveled."

"Never is."

"And you, in your delicate condition, oughta be someplace outta the sun."

"Couldn't argue that."

"My name's Mildred," the woman said.

"Abigail Taylor. Or just Abbey."

"You was headed for Medford?"

"Was."

"I'm goin' that direction, Just Abbey. How about I drive you there, you do whatever it is you gotta do, then we can come back this way with a jug or two of water. That might be all you need to get back home. You got a husband?"

Abbey was taken slightly aback by the question. "Sure do. He's home sleepin' now. Had hisself a rough night."

"Men!" Mildred said. "Still tryin' to get at you, I bet."

"Uh, no," Abbey said. "It's close enough now, that's stopped till after the baby."

"Baby good an' healthy?"

Abbey had to smile. "Doctor says so."

Mildred held her arm to balance her as they walked over to the van; then she helped Abbey up onto the passenger seat, next to the driver's.

Abbey settled into the seat while Mildred climbed up behind the steering wheel and got the van started. It rode kind of bumpy, but Abbey was glad to be moving.

"Gotta stop by my place and pick up somethin' on the way into town," Mildred said. "You mind?"

"Not at all," Abbey said.

Mildred turned the air conditioner on high and aimed one of the dashboard vents directly at Abbey.

"Too much?"

"Just right," Abbey said.

The day wasn't turning out to be such a disaster, after all. And she'd made a new friend.

She couldn't have been more wrong.