Over the Rainbow - Book One - 'The Gathering Place' by Robert Vaughan Page B

SHIIIII-!” as
imminent death stared him in the face, and he jerked back
forcefully on the stick as he closed his eyes and silently prayed
for a miracle.
    Fate answered .
    Another puff of wind gently lifted the ruined glider
over the top of the ridge, the underbelly of the now-fatally
damaged aircraft scraping tree-tops as he spilled into a lush,
sun-drenched valley below. Chris opened his eyes to see thick
branches whipping the canopy and a thin ribbon of road flashing in
and out through the trees before him, and he could only mutter a
faint and pointless expletive as his demise became apparent.
    The glider plunged headlong
through the trees, the stout branches shearing the wings like
paper. The ruined sailplane dropped like a stone and slammed onto
the narrow dirt road and the corpse of what had once been
Schleicher’s best bounced and rolled like a NASCAR wreck, spinning
and sliding crazily on the muddy surface- until suddenly, almost
violently, it stopped.
    The roots of a giant banyan tree had snagged the
nose of the shattered craft like an arboreal net, spinning what was
left of the glider into the middle of the road and completely
blocking the narrow track. And as it did a speeding yellow Jeep and
its oblivious occupant emerged from around a distant corner, racing
unabated toward the wreckage as its driver swayed and sang to
another loud country tune, idyllically unaware of the impending
danger.
     
    Alani looked up as another unseen
pot-hole nearly jarred her hat from her head, and then a look of
shock galvanized her face as she saw the unexpected obstacle before
her. Alani slammed on the brakes of the Jeep, locking up the tires
and sending the vehicle sliding in a slow, spinning circle toward
the obstruction before her, her arms stiffened in a death grip on
the steering wheel as the Jeep careened down the muddy road. She
watched helplessly as the world slowly spun out of control, and
hissed, “OHHHH- SH-!” as she braced herself for the inevitable
collision. But just as her unavoidable impact seemed clear the Jeep
came across a swampy, sodden spot in the road and decelerated with
alarming swiftness, spraying her windshield with a blinding coating
of dark red goo as the tires gouged a curving track through the
soft mud- and just as abruptly stopped , the front bumper of the
Jeep ever-so-delicately nudging the crash-damaged and
mud-splattered side of the wrecked sailplane.
    After a silent, breathless moment, Alani opened her
eyes, one at a time. Her hands were still locked in a
white-knuckled vise on the steering wheel and she stared ahead with
a look of shocked disbelief at having so miraculously skirted
disaster. She painfully pried her hands from the wheel and crossed
her chest in a quick gesture of genuflection and relief as she
glanced incredulously to the heavens, only to have her skyward gaze
quickly dissolve into a look of rage as she leaped from the Jeep
and stormed around to the mud-drenched cockpit of the glider.
    She slapped the slimy glass in
anger and yelled at the silent form, “Are you CRAZY !? You almost killed me, you idiot!!!”
Only the whisper of the wind and the soft sound of the birds from
the surrounding trees was her reply. Alani knocked sharply on the
glass and shouted again, “Hey! Hey, anyone in there?”
    No response. Alani attempted to wipe the globs of
sticky mud away, but merely created a smeary mess of earthy
finger-painting on the glass, and leaned in closer to peer
inside.
    “ Hey! Hello?”
    The canopy suddenly burst open as Chris sprang up
with his arms upraised and shouted triumphantly, “WHOOOO-HOO!!
Ha-ha! Yeah! WHOOOO!!!” Alani screamed in surprise and fell
backward into the muddy water of the trench beside the road,
splashing wetly into the thick red muck as Chris, suddenly aware of
the startled woman who stared up at him from beside the craft,
simply gazed down at her and smiled.
    “ Oh- Hi!” he said, almost
nonchalant, his face twisting into his patented grin. And