Once out of the ruts the Scout began to skid again at once. This time Henry turned against it, deliberately snowplowing the wheels to deepen the skid, knowing without even thinking about it (there was no time to think) that it was the road-sitter’s only chance. And he didn’t rate it much of one, at that.
Pete screamed, and from thy corner of his eye, Henry saw him raise his hands in front of his face, palms out in a warding-off gesture. The Scout tried to go broadside and now Henry spun the wheel back, trying to control the skid just enough so that the rear end wouldn’t smash the road-sitter’s face backward into her skull. The wheel spun with greasy, giddy ease under his gloved hands. For perhaps three seconds the Scout shot down the snow-covered Deep Cut Road at a forty-five-degree angle, a thing belonging partly to Henry Devlin and partly to the storm. Snow flew up and around it in a fine spray; the headlights painted the snow-slumped pines on the left side of the road in a pair of moving spots. Three seconds, not long, but just long enough. He saw the figure pass by as if she were moving instead of them, except she never moved, not even when the rusty edge of the Scout’s bumper flirted past her with perhaps no more than an inch of snowy air between it and her face.
Missed you! Henry exulted. Missed you, you bitch! Then the last thin thread of control broke and the Scout broached broadside. There was a “udden’ng vibration as the wheels found the ruts again, only crosswise this time. It was still trying to turn all the way around, swapping ends-Frontsies-backsies! they used to cry when in line back in grammar school-and then it hit a buried rock or perhaps a small fallen tree with a terrific thud and rolled over, first on the passenger side, the windows over there disintegrating into glittering crumbs, then over onto the roof One side of Henry’s seatbelt broke, spilling him onto the roof on his left shoulder. His balls thumped against the steering column, producing instant leaden pain. The turnsignal stalk broke off against his thigh and he felt blood begin to run at once, soaking his jeans. The claret, as the old boxing radio announcers used to call it, as in Look out, folks, the claret has begun to flow. Pete was yelling or screaming or both.
For several seconds the overturned Scout’s engine continued to run, then gravity did its work and the motor died, Now it was just an overturned hulk in the road, wheels still spinning, lights shining at the snow-loaded trees on the left side of the road. One of them went out, but the other continued to shine.
2
Henry had talked with Jonesy a lot about his accident (listened, really; therapy was creative listening), and he knew that Jonesy had no memory of the actual collision. As far as Henry could tell, he himself never lost consciousness following the Scout’s flip, and the chain of recollection remained intact. He remembered fumbling for the seatbelt clasp, wanting to be all the way free of the fucking thing, while Pete bellowed that his leg was broken, his cocksucking leg was broken. He remembered the steady whick-thump, whick-thump of the windshield wipers and the glow of the dashlights, which were now up instead of down. He found the seatbelt clasp, lost it, found it again, and pushed it. The seatbelt’s lap-strap released him and he thumped awkwardly against the roof, shattering the domelight’s plastic cover.
He flailed with his hand, found the doorhandle, couldn’t move it.
“My leg! Oh man, my fucking leg!”
“Shut up about it,” Henry said. “Your leg’s okay.” As if he knew. He found the doorhandle again, yanked, and there was nothing. Then he realized why-he was upside down and yanking the wrong way. He reversed his grip and the domelight’s uncovered bulb glared hotly in his eye as the door clicked open. He shoved the door with the back of his hand, sure there would be no real result; the frame was probably bent and he’d be lucky to get six inches.
But the door grated and suddenly he could feel snow swirling coldly around his face and neck. He pushed harder on the door, getting his shoulder into it, and it wasn’t until his legs came free of the steering column that he realized they had been hung up. He did half a somersault and was suddenly regarding his own denim-covered crotch at close range, as if he had decided to try and kiss his throbbing balls, make them all well. His diaphragm folded in on itself and it was hard to breathe.
“Henry, help me! I’m caught! I’m fuckin caught!”
“Just a minute.” His voice sounded squeezed and high, hardly his own voice at all. Now he could see the upper left leg of his jeans darkening with blood. The wind in the pines sounded like God’s own Electrolux.
He grabbed the doorpost, grateful he’d left his gloves on while he was driving, and gave a tremendous yank-he had to get out, had to unfold his diaphragm so he could breathe.
For a moment nothing happened, and then Henry popped out like a cork out of a bottle. He lay where he was for a moment, panting and looking up into a sifting, falling net of snow. There was nothing odd about the sky then; he would have sworn to it in court on a stack of Bibles. Just the low gray bellies of the clouds and the psychedelic downrush of the snow.
Pete was calling his name again and again, with increasing panic.
Henry rolled over, got to his knees, and when that went all right he lurched to his feet. He only stood for a moment, swaying in the wind and waiting to see if his bleeding left leg would buckle and spill him into the snow again. It didn’t, and he limped around the back of the overturned Scout to see what he could do about Pete. He spared one glance at the woman who had caused all this fuckarow. She sat as she had, cross-legged in the middle of the road, her thighs and the front of her parka frosted with snow. Her vest snapped and billowed. So did the ribbons attached to her cap. She had not turned to look at them but stared back in the direction of Gosselin’s Market just as she had when they came over the rise and saw her. One swooping, curving tire-track in the snow came within a foot of her cocked left leg, and he had no idea, absolutely none at all, how he could have missed her.
“Henry! Henry, help me!”
He hurried on, slipping in the new snow as he rounded the passenger side. Pete’s door was stuck, but when Henry got on his knees and yanked with both hands, it came open about halfway. He reached in, grabbed Pete’s shoulder, and yanked. Nothing.
“Unbuckle your belt, Pete.”
Pete fumbled but couldn’t seem to find it even though it was right in front of him. Working carefully, with not the slightest feeling of impatience (he supposed he might be in shock), Henry unclipped the belt and Pete thumped to the roof, his head bending sideways. He screamed in mingled surprise and pain and then came floundering and yanking his way out of the half-open door. Henry grabbed him under his arms and pulled backward. They both went over in the snow and Henry was afflicted with deja vu so strong and so sudden it was like swooning. Hadn’t they played just this way as kids? Of course they had. The day they’d taught Duddits how to make snow angels, for one. Someone began to laugh, startling him badly. Then he realized it was him.
Pete sat up, wild-eyed and glowering, the back of him covered with snow. “The fuck are you laughing about? That asshole almost got us killed! I’m gonna strangle the son of a bitch!”
“Not her son but the bitch herself,” Henry said. He was laughing harder than ever and thought it quite likely that Pete didn’t understand what he was saying-especially with the wind thrown in-but he didn’t care. Seldom had he felt so delicious.
Pete flailed to his feet much as Henry had done himself, and Henry was just about to say something wise, something about how Pete was moving pretty well for a guy with a broken leg, when Pete went back down with a cry of pain. Henry went to him and felt Pete’s leg, thrust out in front of him. It seemed intact, but who could tell through two layers of clothing?
“It ain’t broke after all,” Pete said, but he was panting with pain. “Fucker’s locked up is all, just like when I was playin football. Where is she? You sure it’s a woman?”