Apache Wind

Four radial tires clicked along the worn out old highway road, the titanic car drifting and shaking. High and intense, heat bore down on all sides of the steel cage, making it feel like an overly hot sauna. A rolling mist that looked almost like a mirage far in the distance, caused the deep blue horizon to seem out of focus, as though the hot concrete zigzagged off path. Resting an elbow on the open window, I cinched my fingers down around the over sized steering wheel with one hand, as sweat beaded up and rolled down my face. I had already taken my thin white tee shirt off and tossed it into the back seat, it wasn't helping.

"We need to get the air conditioner fixed." Miranda chirped. "Actually we just need a new car."

I glanced over at her, slumped down in the passenger seat, legs pulled up and back, against her large breasts, cute little petite toes with bright red polish, dangling off the seat. The white tank top she was wearing had soaked through, dark outlines of her black lace bra evident. Shoulder length, black stringy hair framed her round face and short bangs cut straight across her dark eyebrows which only deepened her brown eyes. Muscular arms squeezing tight, wrapped around her legs, fingers intertwined, she stared forward a blank expression on her soft face.

Miranda was Korean, born in North Korea, both her parents had fled to the United States when she was a teenager. Her dad had become a professor of physics at Stanford University in only a short few years. Her mom was an actress, who quit acting once she became pregnant, prior to them making it to the States. Miranda was a perfect cross between her parents, smart and beautiful. She graduated early from University with her PhD and worked on developing vaccines for a small company in San Francisco, a job she recently quit so we could move to a new city for employment I had recently acquired. Her parent were not completely happy when their daughter began dating an American boy, but I soon won them over, not without hard work and lots of sucking up to her mother.

Like her mother, Miranda was gorgeous, as if a porcelain doll had mated with a Barbie doll. When we met for the first time, at a friend's house, I couldn't take my eyes off of her and the aura around her just drew me in, enveloped me, a siren's fatal song. The way she held herself and walked, her soft skin and quiet tones, all the while being confident and sure of herself, even aggressive if she had to be, the makings of a strong, beautiful woman. Her demeanor was light and playful, most of the time, until it wasn't. Miranda made the most of life and that impressed me. She came from a family that had escaped tyranny and put their lives at risk in the process. Just for that, I had more respect for her than almost anyone I had met in my entire life.

"We will get it fixed," I assured her. "Once we get settled in and everything is in order."

I glanced down at her; she was looking forward, over the horizon; I could tell she was deep in thought, probably concerned about getting a job once we finished moving.

"Are you ready for your interviews?" I asked, keeping one eye on the road and one on her.

"I guess." She shrugged, not looking at me. "Why is it so hot?"

"We are in the desert, in the middle of summer." I explained, almost laughing.

"Very funny." She reached over and slapped me on the leg, still not looking. "Why are we going this way?" She tilted her head, now staring away from me, out the side window, as the cinnamon colored hills zipped by.

"It's an adventure, we are having an adventure." My voice tried to be light. "Before we have to go back to work. You know, a road trip." I paused, gazing at her, staring out the window.

My family always went on road trips, growing up, it didn't matter where. I have fond memories of Dad and Mom, in a big car like this, getting into fights with my younger brother and sister, singing and playing road games. As the world passed by, we were living life, not even knowing that most of the fun was the journey, not the destination.

"Whatever!" Mandy huffed, then laughed, her pursed lips turning up into a smile as she continued to watch the desert fly by.

Miranda loved giving me a bad time, which meant acting like she was mad at me, but it never lasted, she could never keep it going without breaking out into a smile or laughing. Unbuckling the seat belt, she hopped up on her knees, the jean shorts that she was wearing were fringed on the edges, hugged her ass and were cut so high that the lower half of her ass cheeks were bulging out. She liked it when no one was around, it allowed her to display her body without being self conscience of men leering at her. Leaning back, she grabbed the lower hem of her shirt and tugged it up, her breasts bounced out as she yanked it over her head, tossing it into the back seat. She finally looked over at me smugly and smiled, her thin lips turned up and the lace bra tight against her velvety skin.

"Too hot Matty, too hot." Her voice raised at the end, then she dropped back down onto the sticky seat.

The car rattled on. Small round dry bushes that had been blown about on the desert floor, sat motionless, waiting for the wind to continue sweeping them toward their goal, some unknown destination. The two lane road seemed narrow and desolate, for a highway, and we hadn't seen another vehicle since I could remember. Tall reddish brown rocks stretched up in columns from the ground, reaching for the sky, surrounded by green cactus, that stood sentry about them, solid in the grainy sand.

"We should buy a house, Mandy." I interjected, breaking the silence around us and over the dull hum of the engine.

"Are you ready for that?" Her head tilted toward me, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, I believe I am." I pronounced proudly, shaking my head and pursing my lips together.

I traveled for my old job, which was part of the reason for me getting a new one. I liked to travel and see new places but also was aware that it was time to begin putting down roots. Settling down was something that would be difficult for me, Mandy knew that, and I knew that. It was an Idea I had wrestled with since Mandy and I began dating, and now that we were married...

"Yes, I have thought about it, and it is time. Would you like to make Portland your home?" The words stuttered out a little and seemed forced to me.

"Yes." Mandy responded without missing a beat, the smile on her face growing.

Neither of us really knew Portland, or Oregon for that matter. We only knew that we would be making a fresh start in a new place. It was beautiful, the city on the river, the few times we had been there to go shopping at its downtown farmer's market and drinking at the local breweries; we never left without spending too much money. Another perk that sealed the deal for us moving to Portland was our proximity to the Ocean, a short drive, which was important for both of us.

"Oh shit..." The words came out instinctively and my eyes widened. Mandy's head jerked around, her eyes glaring at me.

"We don't have to buy a house yet Matty. It's O.K." She shook her head at me, black hair flinging about.

"Dammit!" I breathed again. "Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?" As she spoke the car lurched. "What is it?"

"I don't know." My eyes were darting back and forth on the dash, waiting for some overt sign that something was wrong or a bright red light to flash its warnings at me.

I lifted my foot off the gas pedal and tightened my grip on the steering wheel as a loud hiss came from the front of the old car and a large white cloud began billowing out from under the hood. The car jerked and slowed down. I swerved off the two lane highway and allowed it to roll to a stop on the hard sand. I glanced over at Mandy, who had picked up her cell phone and was frantically pressing buttons and shaking it.

"Shit!" She mumbled under her breath. "No Service." Her eyes rotated up toward me.

The hissing from the engine slowly came to a stop and the clear steam rising from the hood died down, allowing us to see the nothingness that spanned the horizon, forever in front of us. Pulling the key from the ignition, I let it drop on the dash then sank back into the long bench seat, shoulders slouched down. I couldn't look at Miranda, but could feel her heavy gaze upon me.

"I don't know." I said before she could ask the question. "I can fix motorcycles, but I have no clue about cars.

"Are you even going to look?" Frustration was etched in her words.

"Yes Miranda, I am going to look, just give me a moment to think." I shot back at her.

I reached over her, into the glove compartment and pulled out a bottle of gin. She watched as I opened it, tipped the bottle back and let a long piney swallow wash down my throat.

"Oh gawd... that is disgusting." I spit the words out, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand that clutched the bottle.

I held it up in front of Mandy, who shook her head emphatically and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Yea, it tastes much better with tonic." I agreed, dropping the glass bottle onto the long bench seat between us.

It was already too hot, without the wind from driving. I could see sweat running down Mandy's face. I followed a drop as it hung on her chin, rolled down, over her neck, and came to a stop at the top of her chest, beading up with the rest of the glistening drops, before washing down into the valley between her mountainous breasts. I noticed her perfectly round little nipples were sticking out and wondered if the heat made them do that, like the cold did.

"Well?" Mandy urged, nodding her head and throwing her arms up in the air.

"I'm going, I'm going." I answered, not wanting to go out into the severe heat.

Sliding my hand under the grill, I searched for the latch that opened the hood; it was wet and hot, not a good sign. The heavy steel latch sprung open and the enormous hood popped up, the hefty springs making a high pitched whine the whole way.

The good thing about these older cars was that the engine didn't have any computers, so a person like me, who has little to no knowledge about them, could sometimes figure out the problem. I looked around for anything obvious, but couldn't find any issues. I reached my hand down and found an opening that didn't seem right, on the bottom front of the engine block, but it really didn't look like anything was missing or broken. I searched around for a little while longer, staring down at the parts I didn't know, pissed that I hadn't listened to my dad when he was trying to teach me about car engines.

Dropping back into the seat, I picked up the bottle of gin and downed another swig, cringing the whole time. Mandy had her feet up on the dash and was inspecting her toes, pulling each one up and twisting it.

"Did you fix it?" She asked, matter of fact like.

"Uh...No..." My lips pursed down and I squinted my eyes.

"So, what's the plan?" She continued fidgeting with her toes. "What are our options?"

"We sit and wait for another car to come by." I paused for a second, waiting for a reaction, nothing came. "or we get out and start walking."

This time she raised her eyebrows and peeked over at me. Lowering her feet to the floor, she calmly put her small hands in her lap and inhaled deep.

"So we wait?" She said as a question, but it wasn't really a question. Mandy was not into exercise, and she didn't like the heat, so I figured walking would not be an options she would easily agree upon.

"For a while." I agreed, shrugging my shoulders.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Her tone became serious.

"Have you seen any cars since we started out on this deserted highway?" I shifted in the seat to face her.

Mandy did the same, leaning back on the car door and tugging on her jean shorts. She unbuttoned them, then unzipped them and folded the top hem down so they were loose and open. Her silky skin folded around her taut abdominal muscles and the top part of her extremely low cut underwear skimmed over the lower half of her hip bone, which stuck out a little. She tilted her head down and glared at me through the bangs that hung over the tops of her eyes.

"What are you suggesting Matthew?" She bit the side of her lip, afraid of what was coming.

"If we don't see anyone and it starts getting dark and cooling off." I stopped, I could see her eye twitching in the corner. "Then we have to walk?"

"H-How far is it?" Her voice broke a little.

"I don't know Mandy." The events of the day started playing out in my mind.

"We stopped at the gas station and filled up. That was at the signs that said 205 miles to next service." The thought was getting grim. "Then we drove for what...an hour and fifteen...twenty." I started doing the math in my head. "So that's, about, holy shit!" I jumped when I finished, making Mandy jump also.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I whispered under my breath.

"What?" Miranda blurted out. "What is it?"

"We have got to be close to exactly half-way." I scratched my head, running the figures in my mind again.

"Is that bad?" She leaned forward putting her small hand on my leg.

"Yes, I mean, it would be nice if we were at least a little closer to one side or the other." I stretched my arms out and shook my head. "That's just shitty luck, I guess."

There was a long stanza of silence, as we both contemplated our dilemma. It seemed to get warmer in the car and felt as if we were being cooked alive. Not knowing what to do, I crawled out of the hot car and leaned on the warm steel, looking out over the sweltering desert. I better do something, I thought. I began gathering all the supplies we might need and packed everything we didn't intend to use in the trunk, while Mandy figured out our meager water supply.

"Should we close the hood?" Mandy stood next to the front of the car, with her arm raised up and hand on the hood, she was up on her tip toes, barely able to reach it.

"No, leave it open." I instructed. "It's a sign that something is wrong and will hopefully alert someone to stop and help, I put my hands on my hips, shrugging my shoulders.

As she was stretched up on her tiptoes, in her bra, with shorts that were hanging open, only held up by her round ass, she reminded me of one of those Japanese, anime cartoon girls. I had talked her into dressing up like one of those characters a couple of years ago; she put her hair into two ponytails that sprung out each side of her head and wore a colorful mini skirt that flared out over her plump ass. She had to hold her hand against the back of her legs so the short dress wouldn't ride up and show off her white cotton underwear. Along with the tight white shirt that accentuated her full round breasts, she garnered most of the male attention at the Halloween party we attended. She was so uptight about it the next day that she swore never to wear it again. I told her that year, I was going to take her to Comicon in San Diego, but she flatly refused. I wasn't really into that whole scene, but I knew that she would be an instant hit.

I put the blanket I would occasionally use to change the oil why laying under the car, over the windshield and we returned to the front seat, hoping to escape some of the heat. Mandy laid her head down on my lap and closed her eyes, while I sipped from the gin bottle. The first hour seemed to drag by, and I fidgeted with my keys as Mandy slept, her head on my lap. Her face transcended beauty, looking both innocent and sexy at the same time, a true rarity in life.

My hand, resting on her stomach, began doing circles on her soft, warm skin. I would push her belly button in and watch it pop back out. Tracing my finger up and around her abdominal muscles, to the underwire of her bra, I slipped it under and pressed the tip into her breast, causing a white indentation to form on her skin. She hummed a little in her sleep. I hooked my finger under the wire and pulled it up and back, freeing her large firm breasts. Immediately my fingers pinched her erect nipple and twisted it, while my other hand slipped down into her open shorts and between her legs. She spread them slightly and squished her toes against the passenger door, bending them back. My finger rubbed firmly against her erect clit and slid up and down as she groaned. Both her nipples shot out and little bumps raised on her full breasts.

"Oh god honey..." She whispered.

"Hello honey" The deep voice shocked me out of my trance and made my eyes open wide.

Mandy grasp my wrist and forced my fingers into her warm folds, her hips now rocking with my touch. I yanked my hand away from her, sucking in a deep breath.

"What is it?" She gasp, her eyes popping open.

We both stared out the passenger window at the man leaning onto it, peering in, his hair streaked in grey, squinting his wrinkled eyes which were focused on Mandy's rocking hips.

"Ya guys need some help." He smiled, his crooked teeth slightly stained yellow. "Having a little trouble?"

"Yes!" I yanked Mandy's bra back over her breasts, while helping her up to a sitting position.

I went to open the driver's side door and hit another guy, a younger man, who was also gazing in upon us. He quickly backed off, allowing the door to open. Climbing out of the low car, I smiled at the younger man, who smiled back then I stuck out my hand, shaking his. Just now noticing the big smoky black truck parked in front or our car, about twenty feet away, I wondered how I didn't hear it approach.

"Matt." I told him, trying to get the attention away from my wife.

"I'm Dusty and this is Merle." His strong hand shook mine and he pointed across the car, to his friend, who was still leaning on his elbows, looking in at Mandy.

Dusty was wearing a pair of working pants, with pockets on the legs and tools slipped into them. His brown, steel toed boots were untied, the laces dragging on the ground on either side, and his old greasy, button up shirt was opened down to the last two buttons, small black curly hairs scattered about his chest. A twelve inch knife was sheathed on his belt and strapped to the top of his leg.

"Going hunting?" I nodded, looking down at the huge black knife.

"Maybe." He tapped it with his palm. "You guys in a pickle?"

"Yes," I admitted. "Do you know anything about cars."

"Merle here does. Do you mind if he looks at it." He said Merle's name a little louder, to get his attention.

"No, that would be great, thank you so much." The relief obvious in my voice.

Tearing his eyes off my wife, Merle came around to the hood of the car, putting two hands on the front and leaning into the engine. Merle was wearing the same type of pants as Dusty, only without the huge knife strapped to his leg. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his hairless chest and stomach were beaded up with sweat. He was muscular, for an older guy, a thick barrel chest and large arms. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a round, silver tin. Holding it between his middle finger and thumb he snapped it a few times, the pop echoing off the desert floor, then opened the can and stuffed a huge pinch down into his lip, spitting out the remnants stuck to his lower lip.

Well, yer hose there is busted...Shit it's flat missing." He laughed. "And yer fan belt is too loose." He wiggled it with his fingers.

His eyes kept inspecting the engine, looking around as he dipped his head closer. Dusty walked around beside him, looking into the engine. He put his boot up on the silver bumper and leaned in with his friend. I watched as they both began fidgeting with parts and pieces.

"What do you think Merle, can you fix it?" Dusty stood up and tapped his buddy on the back.

"Possibly." He rubbed his chin, spreading more grease around his face, then spitting. "I might have to rig something up for that hose, but I might be able to."