Short Story: Repeater

He was falling. There was a drumming noise, then a louder thump and he jerked upright. His hands swerved the car back out away from the hard shoulder. That had been a bit close for comfort! He grinned and shook his head. Another war story to tell the guys. The BMW swept on along the M4 heading for Reading and all points west.
He glanced sideways but Jane slept on, head propped against the passenger window. He also stole a quick glance at the back seat but in the darkness he could only see the grey smudge of Colin’s face as he snuggled against his little sister. If only they’d get on so nicely with each other when they were awake. Charlotte was three and he was eight, just at an age when “girls are stupid!”. She doted on her big brother who tolerated her sometimes and got her to steal biscuits for him. One time she…he was drifting again. He shook his head more forcefully and took a hand off the wheel to massage some life into his eyes.
It struck him that all the cars in front had pulled away from him. As he looked ahead the last set of red rear lights in the distance winked out and was gone. He glanced at the speedo, ah, he was only doing sixty. That would explain it; everyone else was racing to get to where they were going. No one did less than seventy when the road was clear. Except drunks and people who were really tired! He put his foot down a little, he’d be as tired at sixty as at seventy, but at least he’d get to Jane’s mum’s a bit sooner and be able to have a rest. Not that he’d get much rest between putting the kids to bed and suffering his mother-in-law’s fatuous questions on how the job was going, how was the garden, how Jane seems tired blah blah blah. He’d probably fake a headache and go to bed early, sleeping on that bloody concertina of a pull-out double bed. What a joy to look forward to.
Tired, tired, tired…he really should pull over and ask Jane to drive. But that would mean stopping the car and admitting defeat. He’d said generously that he’d drive them to her mum’s and dismissed her suggestion of breaking up the journey. If she got the kids ready and fed he’d come home from work, have a quick shower and they could go straight away. A clear demarcation of roles; him the provider and driver, she the mother and packer. Just as it should be – ha ha.
Hence it was past 10pm and he was dog-tired in charge of a motor vehicle. The motorway looked like the road in one of those old arcade games, where you had to steer the car left and right. The plastic car was static while the road rolled on a belt underneath it, twisting this way and that. He smiled at the memory; summer holidays on the South Coast, his mum admonishing him not to waste all his time on the machines, his dad winking and slipping him a few 10 pence pieces. He remembered the dim interior of the arcade, spotted with coloured lights, the wall of noise from fruit machines paying out, bells dinging, the crackle of fake machine-gun fire & the roar of fake engines. Stepping into the cool from the baking hot seafront pavement to…again the falling sensation and again he snapped his head up, as adrenalin coursed through his bloodstream.
He noticed that there were no cars behind him either, couldn’t see any lights in the mirror at all. He looked at the speedo again. It showed seventy. He must have pulled ahead of the cars behind but not enough to catch up with those in front yet. To give himself something to focus on, he played with the fog lights to see how they looked, then tried to see them lighting up the road behind him but couldn’t. He moved the dial that adjusted the angle of the headlights and watched the beams slowly rise and fall as the white lines rushed beneath them.
He turned the stereo on softly and adjusted the balance forwards so that the rear speakers didn’t wake the kids. He cursed himself for taking the CD magazine out of the boot & into the house to reload it but forgetting to put it back in again before they left. So now he only had the radio. Reception was terrible. He had to turn it up to hear anything and then when he did there was a crackle of static and he quickly flipped it back down again so as not to wake anyone. Because he was well outside London all the presets gave him was hiss so he manually clicked up through the FM frequencies searching for something to keep him awake. He got a couple of snippets of traffic news about traffic delays, an accident and lanes closed but didn’t hear which motorway was affected before it broke up into static.
The dashboard clock glowed 10:30pm. He liked that green glow, liked everything about the BMW actually, the comfy seats, the way the engine sounded so smooth but roared with controlled power. The fact that it was a BMW and not a Ford. It’d been the first thing he’d bought when he’d got the promotion to Area Manager. Joan (had he thought Joan? Who was Joan? Jane you fool!) had said to take the Ford they’d offered and spend the money saved on the house, but screw that. He was the one earning that money and he had to drive around to do it. He bloody well wasn’t going to do it in a Ford Fiesta. The little surge of anger kept him alert and he remembered the argument about new bathroom versus new 3 series. He’d had to buy a few bunches of flowers to get him out of that hole. But it was worth it wasn’t it? This was a great car. It said something about you, about who you were in the world. He remembered the first time he’d driven it down the road to their house, fresh from the showroom…Huh! This time he gasped aloud as he bolted awake and kept the car on the straight and narrow.
He drummed the steering wheel and wondered how far it was to the next junction, surely not too long now. Ah, and here was a junction. It appeared out of the night, sodium lamps gleaming overhead like a landing spaceship, everything orange. Orange and still. Not a car in sight. Not on the sliproads, not on the flyovers.
The lamps passed overhead and he was through the glare into the darkness beyond. Tiredness swept over him again and he felt his eyelids getting heavy. Maybe he should wake Joan after all. Instead he opened the window a crack to get some fresh air, but closed it quickly because of the wind noise. He tried pinching his leg which hurt, but not enough to prevent his thoughts drifting to when he was playing cricket last season and got hit in the thigh by a leg break that had turned more than he’d expected. Now that had hurt! He’d had a dead leg for ages and the bruise had been all shades from yellow to purple. Charlotte and Callum had been fascinated (Callum? Colin! Hah.) and kept asking how much it hurt and wanted to prod it, while Daddy called out in mock pain….His head fell forwards again and properly scared him. Wow – his heart was beating fast. Surely that was enough to keep him going? If he could only get to the Bristol junction then he’d be off the motorway, and there’d be roundabouts and traffic lights and other exciting stuff to keep him awake.
He could also casually pull into a garage & get a coffee or something. All garages were effectively rubbish coffee shops come convenience stores these days weren’t they? Even this far out of London that should hold true shouldn’t it?
Now hang on, weren’t there some services along here anyway? He gazed ahead expectantly. Come on….must be somewhere. The gods were smiling on him, here came a sign. “Services 6m”. Six miles, 70 mph that was….he tried to do the maths in his head, well, slightly less that six minutes. No problem.
He reached across to Jane and squeezed her arm. “Hey hon, I’m going to stop for the loo and a coffee”. But she was so deeply asleep she didn’t respond.
Six minutes took ages and he was feeling leaden again when the 1 mile warning sign went past. There was a sheep-shaped helium balloon tied to it. Ha ha – just like Jeff had done for Greg’s stag do. Every meeting point and landmark had had a sheep balloon attached to it. That had been some weekend. The turn off appeared, illuminated in orange and with an attractive pile of dustbin liner bags strewn by the side of it. Something furry lay in the sliproad, but he went over it too quickly to see.
He indicated (to no one) and pulled off, following the car park signs. Oh for crying out loud! No cars, no lights. The place was deserted. It was bloody closed! Was it not 24 hours then? Or were they renovating it or something? Didn’t they normally put signs up for that sort of thing? Bloody hell. No flipping coffee. Flipping hah! He had used to swear like a trooper, but the kids had put paid to that. He had converted most of the bad words into less satisfying equivalents. Flipping. Sugar. Holymoly. His favourite was Count.
He drove slowly through the empty car park, his headlights reflecting in the blacked-out sheet glass at the front of the building, where by all rights there should be clean toilets and hot coffee. Well anyway, he was here – he could at least stretch his legs.
Stopping the car, he reached up and moved the switch of the overhead light so it wouldn’t come on when he opened the door. Switching the headlights down to sidelights he left the engine running as he quietly opened the door and stepped out. He only half shut it behind him, afraid that the clunk might wake Jane or the kids.
The night air was cold & fresh after the warmth of the car and his breath plumed around him. He breathed deeply, rubbed his eyes and looked up. Above him the streetlights were dead and beyond them stars dotted the sky. They never saw stars back in London, too much light pollution, but as a boy his dad and taught him most of the constellations. He stared upwards for a few seconds searching for the Plough and the Pole Star, but he was out of practice and nothing looked familiar. He looked around him instead. The car parking area, divided neatly by white lines & concrete bumpers contained no cars. Grassy banks, small trees and woodchip flower beds all in night-time shades of black, separated the services from the surrounding countryside. The petrol station, over towards the exit, was a dark unlit hulk. The motorway beyond it was an orange fuzz in the sky. He walked across the pavement to the doors of the services. His reflection, a tall, pale man in suit jacket & trousers approached him until they met and he cupped his hands to his face and looked through the glass doors.
Inside…well inside there was nothing. He could see only darkness. Emptiness. No shops, no displays, no signs. The building was just a shell. He’d been right – they must be doing some serious renovations. You’d have thought with that kind of effort going into it that they’d have marked up the road signs to let people know. He walked round the side of the building out of sight of the car. There was traffic noise, like a rushing wind, but it was distant. They must have closed the motorway or something, there was no way it would normally be like this. Anyway… he glanced around once more then unzipped his fly and had a pee on the dark grass next to the paving. The sound as it puddled in the earth was unnaturally loud in the quiet night and he sprayed it around to keep the noise down. He finished up, and stood for a moment longer looking out at the trees at the back of the service area silhouetted against the marginally lighter sky. Was the traffic noise coming from that direction? It was hard to tell. It sounded like it was in the direction of the motorway, but it must be from another road. Weird.
Oh well, whatever. He turned and walked back to the car, idling quietly by the kerb. That was one good-looking car. He rarely got the chance to stand outside and admire it, he was always on the inside or walking to and from it in a hurry. In the darkness its red paint looked black & glossy. The sidelights stopped him seeing whether Jane was awake or not. He held his hand up to block them, looking over the top of it. For a second it was as if she wasn’t there at all, then he could make out her shape in the passenger seat.
He eased himself back into the car and checked everyone was still asleep. Colin and Charlotte were leaning against each other, half out of their car seats, dead to the world. Jane was leant against the passenger window, head turned away from him. He pulled away, following the exit signs past the deserted petrol station and out onto the motorway. No need to accelerate fast to get back onto it as it was still empty. Jane slept on, the road unrolled before him out of the dark, he switched the radio back on. Static, but he hit the auto-scan button and it diligently searched through the frequencies for him. It paused every now and again when it found a station but only got snippets of poor reception and so continued scanning. They all seemed to be eighties stations that it caught & then lost, which was a shame – most of his favourite songs came out of the eighties, when he’d been a teenager copping off with girls, trying to get into pubs and clubs with his mates. What a crack that had all been, all soundtracked by the likes of Frankie, Depeche Mode & Bronski Beat. You didn’t get stuff as good as that anymore. Mind you he didn’t have a life as good as that anymore! Tied down with job, wife and kids. The chances of going out, getting lashed & chatting up totty were non-existent. Plus all his mates were in the same boat, so if he did have a chance he’d be on his own.
The tuner found another couple of possibles, one was even playing Depeche Mode but none were strong enough signals for it to stick with them. Then it stopped, catching a plummy voiced announcer in mid-sentence “…has been closed in both directions following a serious accident. Police don’t expect the carriageways to be re-opened for several hours. Traffic is being diverted at all junctions and tailbacks are reaching…” the static cut back in suddenly & he turned it down.
Well that explained everything. The cars ahead of him had all sped away while he’d been parked at the services, those behind were caught up behind the accident. Jen slept on next to him, oblivious to all the drama. Colin was quiet in the back, which was a relief. When he got going they could really drive him mad. It was like the little pest knew that while he was driving he was immune to the consequences of his actions.
Once or twice he had punished him for his misbehaviour after the fact, smacking his butt and making sure he knew who was the boss. Sparing the rod did indeed spoil the child in his opinion. Not that you were allowed to beat kids with rods! The flat of the hand did fine. But despite Colin’s tears and pleas at the time of the spanking, he knew that he’d forget it the next time there was the opportunity to play up. Joan was never any help with discipline, it was always up to him to be the bad guy, while she made apologies for daddy being so cross. Christ, he only got cross because of Colin’s behaviour! But try explaining that to a hysterical five year old. Joan was on about having another child, but he was resisting. One was trouble enough.
The road continued to unwind & tiredness crept over him again. It was all that there was, the tarmac, the white lines streaking underneath the car. For a moment it was as if he was completely alone in the car. He looked straight ahead & Jen wasn’t in his periphery vision at all. Then he turned his head to look and of course, there she was. He reached behind him into the back seat and felt the blanket that Connor was wrapped in and his bony little knee underneath it. He smiled and relaxed a bit – getting jumpy.
He was dimly aware that the radio was clear again and he increased the volume to listen to Level 42. Another favourite. It must be 80’s night out here in the sticks. Another junction passed by and then there was another 6 miles to the services sign. He nudged Jane & asked if she wanted to stop. No reply still, she really was out of it.
The 1 mile sign had a sheep balloon attached to it. A frown creased his face and he slowed right down as he passed the slip road exit. The same pile of dustbin liners sat near the turn. He stared open-mouthed out the passenger window; the furry lump in the road turned out to be a rabbit. He felt the blood drain from his face.
No, no, no. This was silly. He’d had a long day, he was tired and out of sorts. It just looked the same. They all looked the same anyway. It couldn’t be more then half an hour and he’d be at the hotel & could get a decent night’s sleep before the conference started. He patted the briefcase on the seat next to him like a talisman.
He was falling. There was a drumming noise, then a louder thump and he jerked upright. His hands swerved the car back out away from the hard shoulder. That had been a bit close for comfort! He grinned and shook his head. Another war story to tell the guys. The BMW swept on along the M4 heading for Reading and all points west.