Chapter 7 - Third day, Part 2

Third day



Part 2



The heat... the heat... Frankie couldn’t concentrate on nothing else. It has stopped raining hours ago, but that made things even worse. The sun effused its warm rays upon the bus. Frankie was sitting on the front seat, trying to figure a way out of there. Suddenly, a red ball whooshed in front of her nose. She was sunk in her thoughts, she didn’t notice it first. Then the ball came back and hit her face. She looked around in surprise and recognized Bloo flailing with his paddleball.
- Bloo! Can’t you just play somewhere else?! – yelled Frankie.
- Ssssh! You’re hurting her feelings! – replied the blob, stroking the paddleball. – Don’t worry, It’ll all be all right!
- Ah, man! – sighed Frankie. – How are we ever gonna get out of here?
- Well, if you ask me... – Bloo began.
- No! I don’t want to hear any single word from helicopters, flying saucers, teleportation, or pizzas! – declared Frankie.
- But all these things could get us out! – wined Bloo. – And I’m hungry!
- One more word and you are so getting a knuckle sandwich! – hissed Frankie.
- Fine! Come on! We will not listen to this unmannerly talk! – said the imaginary friend to his paddleball. He went to the back of the bus huffily.
Frankie sighed again and toweled her forehead with the green sweater.
- Senor Mac! I’m thirsty! – said Eduardo.
- Here you go, Ed! – The boy gave him their last bottle of water.
- Drink only a little, Ed! I mean if that’s okay... – Wilt said.
Suddenly, Coco stood up.
- Coco?
- Hear what? – asked Wilt. Soon they all heard the sound Coco was talking about.
- A car! – exclaimed Goo.
- Oh, my gosh! A car, a car, a car! – repeated Frankie monotonously.
Everyone began to shout as hard as they could. They could hear that the car stopped and its driver stepped out.
- Probably, he’s recognized our tire tracks! We have to make sure he’ll hear us, Frankie! Open the door! – jabbered Mac.
Frankie pulled the switch, but the door did not open. It was stuck between two boughs. She tried again, but the door remained closed.
- Darn! The door doesn’t work! We need another idea! – cursed Frankie.
- Hold still woman! Superbloo to the rescue! – exclaimed Bloo and jumped into the air, but he crushed into the windshield. He fell down.
- I did that on purpose! – said he lying on the floor.
- I’d never thought I’d say this, but good idea! – enthused Frankie. – Everyone get to the back!
She raised her foot and kicked the windshield. It was already full of cracks before, they just grew bigger. The girl repeated the action. And again. And again... Finally, the windshield gave it up and broke into pieces; a bigger one fell onto the distorted hood.
Everyone exclaimed “yeah”. Frankie shouted from the window, but she received no respond.
- I’ll have to go out! – determined she.
- No, Senorita Frankie! It’s very dangerous! – warned her Ed.
- I have to!
- Be careful! – said Mac.
Frankie looked back once more and crawled out through the hole, but she unknowingly grabbed the steering wheel. The front wheels of the bus turned right and pulled its weight to the bough, which held it. Frankie got out and stood up on the hood. She kicked the piece of the windshield off to free more space. She looked down and saw the thick boughs and limbs of the tree. Under that, there was the abyss. She wanted to call for help, but suddenly, the bus quickened. She heard a clashing noise. A few seconds later, the right wheel came away from the bus and the vehicle slowly lost its stabile balance. Everyone wanted to run in front to save Frankie, but she stopped them.
- No, no, no, no! Stay right where you are! Don’t move! – She said.
The wheel detached from the axis and fell down, and the bus slipped forward on the only bough, which kept it back from a big dive. Frankie crawled back into the cabin as careful as she could.
- Wow, that was close! – She sighed, when she was inside.
Unexpectedly, the bough broke apart with a loud crack. The bus tilted and then fell down...

Frankie opened her eyes. She thought she was already dead. Luckily, there was another thick and even stronger bough was below them. The old tree saved their lives two times. The bus was stabile again, but the impact destroyed its front which drilled itself in between two pinny boughs. The distorted hood blocked the entire windshield, even the hole where Frankie crawled out before.
Everyone was totally freaked out, except Bloo. He was jumping around and said:
- Wow, this was so awesome, do it again, do it again!
- Oh, my gosh, I never wanna live this trough again, I thought we were goners, and I said to myself, I’m too young to die, but then realized I’m not dead, and now I guess, this tree must be our friend, because we would have fallen down ages ago... – gabbled Goo.
- I’m sorry, but we’re even lower than we were before... – noticed Wilt.
- Noone will see us now! Waaaaa! – cried Ed.
- At least we’re still alive! – said Mac.
- Coco! – approved Coco.
- Sure everyone okay? – asked Frankie.
- We have to be more careful! That action nearly cost our life! Besides, I think that car is long gone though. I can’t hear any noises. – assumed Mac.
- Yes, and we’re still here! And it’s still warm! – yelled Frankie. She checked if anyone has injuries or not, but except of little scratches, she found nothing serious. She tried to calm herself down. It’s all going to be okay soon... hopefully...

***

A black and white police car stopped before the building of the Wilson District Police Department. The police officer has returned from his mountain road patrol. He knocked on the door then entered his superior’s office. He was alone inside. Officer Thomas Bradley looked up from his paperwork. He took his glasses off and threw it on the bench. He rubbed his eyes and drunk a gulp of coffee, but he put the jar down and cursed.
- Damn it, it’s cold... – Then he realized, the policeman who stood in front of his desk. He reported.
- I’ve found traces, which are assuming the vehicle ran off the road, although I could not detect the wreck. I also found a burnt out sport car crashed into the rocky wall, no license plate.
Tom listened patiently; then he gave the instructions.
- Give out a warrant of caption for the disappeared bus’s registration number. Take more men, search in a ten-mile circle of the mountain area and hunt up that vehicle or the wreck.
The police officer left the room and Tom continued his paperwork.
- Like I didn’t have enough work already... – mumbled he glumly.

***

Mr. Herriman hung up the phone. He hopped out of his office and found Madame Foster in the foyer.
- Oh, Madame, I’m glad you’re here.
- What’s the problem? – asked Madame Foster.
- I’m afraid I have to tell unpleasant, moreover catastrophic news.
- Something happened with Frankie, right?
- Indeed. I’ve just received a call from Officer Steve Mason, one of the gentlemen who visited yesterday. He informed me, that they assuming Miss Frances had an accident.
- What kind of accident???
Herriamn paused.
- She... ran off the mountain road. – The bunny finished quietly.
Madame Foster didn’t say anything.
- The authority says there are some hope, they have not found the bus yet. – annexed Mr. Herriman.
The Madame put her coat on.
- May I ask you, where are you planning to go?
- I’m going to see what’s going on up there myself! – declared the old lady.
- In my opinion, we should let the authorities handle this case. What we could possibly do, Madame?
- Aren’t you worried just a little? Maybe Frankie’s not among the living by now! I’m going and that’s it! – yelled Madame Foster.
- Yes, I am worried! Miss Frances, Master Mac, Miss Goo and four other residents of Foster’s are missing!
If you really insist on visiting the mountain road, in that case, I feel my duty to accompany you to the premises. – replied Herriman.
- No, you must stay here and run the house! I must go alone. Who knows when I’ll be back...
Madame Foster slowly walked to the garage. She started her Pontiac Firebird’s engine and stormed out at the direction of the mountain road...

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