Chapter One
"This is no good," she growled, after her second attempt at loosening the lug nuts. Her first attempt had resulted in some rather nasty abrasions on her knuckles. Thinking back, the tire iron didn't seem quite set in place, but she was in a rush and needed to get back on the road. After bandaging her hand with a handkerchief, (the nice white silk one with the embroidered hummingbird and her great grandmother's monogram - it was the only bit of clean cloth she had on hand, and she hoped against hope that the blood and dirt would come out), she took a deep breath. "Can't rush like that anymore, or it'll end up just costing me more time," she told herself. She decided perhaps it would be better to try a lug nut with a bit more distance from the ground, in case she misaligned it and slipped again, so she went for the top one. No joy... the tire iron was just not ...