Lavender Morning p.27 Read online

  The only way she knew they’d reached the bridge was when she heard the bottom of the car hit the wood. There was a hollow sound that incongruously made her think of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

  When they hit the road again and the bridge was behind them, they both yelled in triumph.

  And that was when they saw the cow. The rain had washed enough of the mud off the windshield that they could see, and lazily walking across the road, as though she had all the time in the world, was a huge black and white cow.

  “Hold on!” David yelled as he tried to move the heavy car to the side and not hit the cow. At the moment, he wouldn’t have cared if he smashed the thing, but a cow that big would make them crash.

  But they crashed anyway. The car hit the hedgerow at the side of the road, went into a spin, then turned around twice before heading back toward the bridge. David fought the big steering wheel with all his might, but then the leg brace tightened up on him and he couldn’t move his knee. While turning the wheel, he had to lean toward Edi as he fought to get the clutch all the way to the floor so he could downshift and try to slow the car. But the clutch, the brake, and the mud were all too much for him and the old car.

  The car flipped over, Edi tumbled upside down, and the big car slipped on its top down into the river, beside the bridge that they’d just successfully crossed.

  For a few seconds both of them were stunned, not able to realize what had just happened. There was blood on the side of David’s head and Edi’s right arm hurt.

  “You have to get out,” David said, reaching for her.

  She’d been thrown, so she was on the roof of the overturned car, but David was still behind the wheel and hanging with his head down. She followed his eyes and saw that the water was rising around them. The only thing keeping the water out was the closed windows of the car—but that wouldn’t last long.

  “Yes,” she managed to say. She was dazed, not sure what was happening. “I’ll open the window and we’ll swim out.” She was pleased that she’d been able to see what needed to be done.

  “Can you swim?” he asked.

  “Yes, quite well,” she answered. Her head was clearing with each second. “What about you?”

  “High school swim team,” he said and gave her his little grin that she’d seen several times.

  “Okay, then,” she said. “Are you ready? We need to go as soon as I get the window down.”

  “Hey, Harcourt,” he said softly. “A favor? How about a kiss before you go?”

  “A kiss? You think that now is the time to—” She broke off when she realized what he’d said repeatedly. When she went, not him, just her. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “It’s this damned brace,” he said. “Bad luck on my part. It’s steel and it’s stuck. I can’t get out.”

  Edi gave a look out at the water surrounding them and the rain still coming down hard. In minutes they were going to be completely underwater and the pressure would probably burst the windows and they’d drown.

  It wasn’t easy to get her long legs and arms twisted around so she was upright and she could get to his legs, but she did it. His foot was trapped under the crushed pedals of the car, and there was another piece of metal that had stopped at his calf.

  “Just move your leg, bend at the knee, and take it out. Is your leg broken?”

  “I don’t think so, but it’s encased in a steel brace. You need to go. There isn’t time to waste. You have to—”

  “Shut up,” she said. “How do I get you out of this thing?”

  “You can’t. You aren’t strong enough. My leg is trapped under some steel and—”

  “Just for once in your life stop talking!” she shouted. “How do I move the brace?”

  “In my pocket there’s an Allen wrench. It’s—”

  “I know what an Allen wrench is.” For the first time, she saw that his right arm was bleeding. He couldn’t get inside his own pocket. She moved so she was lying across him, then stuck her hand down deep into his pocket and found the little piece of metal.

  The second she had it, the window in the back of the car cracked and the interior started filling with water.

  “Three screws in the round hinge at the knee,” David said. “You should go. Give me the wrench and get out of here.”

  Because the car was upside down, the last place to be filled was where David’s feet were trapped, but his head was near the roof. Even if she got him loose, he might still drown before she could get him out of the car.

  Edi half stood, half knelt on the roof as she reached up and pushed David’s trouser leg back and tried to find the screws on the hinge to loosen them. She found one, twisted, and it moved. But she could feel the water around her legs.

  She looked down and David’s head was almost underwater. He was bending as far forward as he could, but he couldn’t move much because of the huge steering wheel across the front of him.

  Edi took a deep breath, went under the water, looked at David, and touched his lips. It took him a full second to realize what she meant. She kissed him all right: she released air into his mouth, then went back up to the brace.

  She got the second screw loose, then took another breath and went under to give air to David.

  The third screw stuck, and she thought she wasn’t going to get it loosened. There were only inches of air space in the car now. She went under again to give him more oxygen and he motioned for her to get out. She didn’t waste her time shaking her head no.

  She had to put her face up against the roof to get a breath of air, then she went under to loosen the last screw. When the hinge gave way, she gave a hard push on his leg and it moved. He was free!

  Edi went downward, toward David’s face to tell him to help her get him out, but his eyes were closed, and he was limp. She pushed out with her legs to get to the roof for more air, but the car was full of water. There was no air to be had.

  Already, her lungs were hurting. She reached across David to the big handle that turned the window and cranked it. It was difficult to move and she could feel her arms giving out and her head was feeling light. But she got the big window down enough that she thought she could get him out.

  The water made him lighter, so she was able to maneuver him toward the window enough that the current of the river seemed to suck him away. Edi nearly panicked when David’s body disappeared, but in the next second the current grabbed her too and she went flying upward.

  When she came to the surface she took a deep breath, then was pulled down again. The next time she came up, she looked for David, and saw him entangled in the roots of a tree just a few feet away. His eyes were closed, but at least his head wasn’t under water.

  She tried to swim to him, but the current was pulling her in the opposite direction.

  “Grab this,” came a voice, and she turned to see a long pole just inches from her head. It seemed to be attached to something but she couldn’t see what, nor could she see who had spoken. She had to lunge at the pole twice before she caught it, then she held on with both arms.

  “Him!” she yelled to the unseen person who’d saved her. “In the trees. There!”

  Edi held on to the pole with her arms and swiped the water out of her eyes as she saw someone in a green coat on the bank. From the shape of him, with his hunched back, he looked to be an old man. But he was obviously strong as he pulled David by his collar and dragged him out of the water as though he were a big fish he’d just caught.

  Edi was battling hair and rain to see what was going on, but she didn’t dare let go of the pole. Turning to her left, she saw that it was part of the bridge, maybe something used to ferry barges across the river. Slowly, she began to use her arms to pull herself along to try to reach the end of the bridge and the land.

  As she moved, she wondered what the man was doing with Sergeant Clare. Would the old man think he was dead and make no attempt to save him? If Edi could get to him she thought maybe she could apply some modern lifesaving technique