Lot Lizards Read Online Free Page A

halt, but now Mount Shasta was blanketed by darkness. Engines fired up again and headlights flicked on, their glow reflected softly by the snow that lay all around. The windshield had fogged up for the third time and Doug swiped a hand towel back and forth to clear it before starting the car.  
    "I wonder what it was," Adelle said quietly. She sounded as if she were yawning, although she wasn't; it was sadness and fatigue that thickened her voice.  
    Jon leaned forward in the back seat and asked enthusiastically, "You think maybe it was a wreck?"
    " Oh, Jon ," Adelle hissed disgustedly, shifting in the seat as the car began to move slowly up the incline once again.  
    The boy leaned back with a sigh.
    Ahead and to the right, Doug saw the blood red flicker of flares lined up on the freeway at an angle to guide traffic into the left lane. Fenced off from the traffic by the flares was a shapeless mangle of steel and shattered glass that had once been two cars. The red and blue lights of police cars throbbed and spun in front of and beyond the mess. It was the fourth they'd seen since they'd passed Redding. "Yep," he said, "it's a wreck."  
    Jon leaned forward again, barking, "Really?" and his little sister Cece uttered a small, breathy, "Oh..."
    Adelle sat up and peered ahead. "Jon, stop it, okay? People could be hurt, here."
    As they neared the wreck, Doug saw black splashes of blood in the snow and a lone tattered boot standing upright on the freeway's shoulder.  
    "Oh, God," Adelle said. "Cece, don't look. Turn away."
    The twelve year old groaned, "Oh, Muh-therrr."
    Doug was slightly sickened by it all: the policemen walking about in their heavy coats and plastic covered caps with flashlight beams bobbing over the steaming blood in the snow and the monstrosity of twisted metal, the domelights of their vehicles spilling the colors of tragedy over it all.  
    " Gaazvwwd ," Jon breathed in awe. "I wonder if Dad ever sees anything like this when he's—"  
    "Jon, will you just shut up !"  
    Doug glanced back at Jon. "C'mon, son. Okay? For now? Your mom isn't feeling too—"
    "Oh, please, Doug, please don't ." She seemed to sink into the sheet, cupping a hand above her eyes as if to shield them from sunlight.  
    He looked over his shoulder at the boy again and shrugged.
    Jon's arms were folded tightly and he looked out the window at his right as he mumbled, "Don't call me son ."  
    A rustling sound came from the back of the station wagon. Doug looked in the rearview mirror and saw seventeen year old Dara, the oldest of Adelle's three children, sitting up, sleepy-eyed, among the luggage and blankets.  
    "What's goin' on?" she slurred.
    Jon said, "S'just a wreck, dweeb, so go back to sl—"
    " That's enough !" Adelle shouted, spinning around in her seat. "I don't want to hear another sound from any of you, do you understand?"  
    Silence.
    Adelle settled back into her seat.
    Doug looked at her again and his heart sank. He'd never seen Adelle like this and it hurt him, not because she'd been grumpy and snapping at everyone but because he knew that she was hurting. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if Jon hadn't mentioned his father...  
    "Next place we come to, I'm stopping," he said.
    Adelle stiffened. "Why?"
    "Well, for one thing, we could all use something to eat. And we need some chains if we're going to get there."
    "We have chains."  
    "I said I'm sorry, sweetheart. I thought they'd fit your car but they don't and they're not doing any good. What do I know about chains? I'm a San Francisco boy. I've never driven in snow in my life."  
    "Well, I have. That's why I don't understand why you insisted on driving me to—"
    "I didn't like the idea of you making the trip alone."
    "I've made this trip a million times."  
    "Well, not since you've known me, and certainly not under these circumstances."
    She scrubbed her face, making a sound half way between a sigh and a groan. "They said she might not make it through the