Short story

Dedicated to the BMW driver who did indeed overtake me on the A43 the other day...revenge will be mine!


Overtaken!


There he was again! Laura watched, amazed, as the brilliant red BMW swept past her, gravel and dust flying  This time, as she turned her head to glare at him, she was sure he was on his mobile, his face set in grim determination as he manoeuvred the powerful car past her smaller, slower Beetle.

This was the third time this week that he’d overtaken her on the narrow country road. Usually he would loom up behind her, seemingly inches from her rear bumper and then abruptly swing out and roar past, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. She would watch him speed off into the distance, overtaking anything slower that had dared to hold up his progress.

The first couple of times, Laura had thought nothing of it, but this morning he was driving dangerously and she was angry that he had so little thought for the other drivers on the road. It was now well into Autumn and the light in the early mornings would get worse as the season wore on. Before long Laura knew that the untreated roads would be frosty and she wondered whether he would still drive with such careless thought for safety.

Laura drove the same route every morning on her way to work. She normally loved the early start and the way the sun came up over the fields and woods. But ever since the demon driver had appeared on the scene she felt nervous and anxious. Her little Beetle was her pride and joy; she’d had the beautiful green colour customised with flowers and loved how bright and happy it looked. She winced every time the BMW overtook her, noticing how the stones and dust he threw up rained down on her shiny bonnet like missiles. She watched him disappear into the distance and tried to forget about the anger welling up inside her. Short of phoning the police, who wouldn’t be interested, there was nothing she could do.

A few weeks later, Laura awoke to a hard frost that coated her little car with a sheen of ice. Overnight the temperature had plummeted and although it was cold, the surrounding fields and woods looked magical with their layer of white. She gingerly made her way out onto the country road that led to the small town where she worked as a Receptionist. It was her job to appear polite and friendly at all times, a career that suited Laura perfectly. She was always smart and her small, neat cottage where she lived with her cat for company and her little colourful car reflected her attitude to life.

The roads felt crunchy under her wheels and the surface glistened in the sunrise. The small country lane had clearly not been gritted overnight and Laura tensed as she realised just how dangerous it could be to drive too fast. Praying that this morning she wouldn’t meet her nemesis looming up behind her in the BMW, she eased off the accelerator and crawled slowly along the road, concentrating solely on making sure she didn’t send her little Beetle into a spin.

She’d almost reached the main road into town when she saw him zoom up behind her. There were just a few miles to go and she would have been on the dual carriageway, but he had chosen this moment to tail-gate her. He was so close she could see the anger in his eyes as he tried in vain to pass, his manoeuvre thwarted by an approaching car. Laura could see a bend in the distance and slowed down even more, praying that he would take the small window of opportunity to pass and be gone.

He did. With a surge of his powerful engine, he pulled out and passed her, a slight wobble from his car making her gasp with fear. He had no thought at all for either of their safety and again, Laura was forced to watch as he roared off into the distance, a plume of black smoke coming from his exhaust. She breathed a sigh of relief and decided that when she got home that evening she would try and work out another route to work. She couldn’t face this every day through the winter. As she relaxed slightly she heard the bang. It was a terrible noise that Laura knew she would never forget. A flock of birds flew up from a nearby field in fright and Laura gasped as she slowly rounded the bend and saw the red BMW impaled on a tree.

“Oh no,” she groaned, her hands shaking with fear. She brought her car to a halt some distance from the wreck and turned her warning lights on, in case another driver had an accident while trying to avoid them both. Fumbling for her mobile on the seat next to her, she opened the car door and, on trembling legs, made her way over to the driver’s side of the car. Steam was coming out of the crushed bonnet and she could see the man inside slumped over the air bag, his face a deathly grey.

“Ambulance, please!” she almost shouted into her mobile as she connected to the emergency services. “Quickly!” Giving her location to the person on the phone she opened the door and touched the driver on the face. He moaned a little but she could see blood seeping from his ear. Not daring to move him, she explained on the phone what had happened and was assured that the ambulance was on its way.

Laura ran back to her car and fetched the blanket she always carried on the back seat. Draping it over him she spoke to him in a low, reassuring voice, praying that the ambulance would arrive soon. Another car passed and slowed down, the male driver asking if everything was OK. There was nothing for him to do, so Laura waved him on, feeling the cold seep into her bones.

Before long she could hear the sound of the siren and sighed with relief when the ambulance, blue lights flashing, made its way towards them. The paramedics rushed out and Laura retreated to her car as they worked on the BMW driver, the seriousness of the situation almost making her cry with emotion.

The driver was carefully lifted onto a stretcher and one of the paramedics came over to Laura. “The police are on their way. You’ll need to let them know what happened, OK?“

Laura nodded and watched as a police car drew up and two uniformed officers got out. They spoke to the paramedics and then made their way over to Laura, their faces looking stern.

They introduced themselves and asked Laura to accompany them to their car where she gave them a statement about what happened. “How is he?” she stammered as the two men finished writing their statement. “Will he be OK?”

“We don’t know,” one of the policemen replied. “But you did everything you could in the circumstances. If we need to know anything else, we’ll be in touch.”

Laura, her hands shaking in shock again, climbed slowly into her own car and drove away, the bright sunny morning making a mockery of what she had just witnessed. Serves him right, she thought, but she couldn’t stop the tears running down her cheeks at how ill he looked when she first found him…

Weeks passed and she heard nothing from the police again. She scoured the papers but there was no bad news, just a small piece about the accident that Laura almost missed. Assuming that he hadn’t died, she tried her best to forget him and as Christmas passed and then Spring made a tentative appearance, the BMW driver was almost forgotten.

One morning, the sun shone brilliantly as Laura made her way to work and she felt so happy that she sang along to the radio in her car. It was Friday and Laura was looking forward to the weekend and the freedom that it entailed. So when the black BMW loomed up in her rear view mirror, she gasped out in fear. It was him, but Laura could see that the anger had disappeared from his face, to be replaced with a look of interest. He pulled back slightly, but continued to follow her which unnerved Laura even more. He made no attempt to over-take her and although she slowed down and moved over to the left to make it easy for him, he kept on following her, all his previous aggression gone.

Laura glanced in her mirror as she left the small country road and moved out onto the dual carriageway. He would overtake her now, she was sure, but he didn’t, he just sat behind her, the BMW looking slightly menacing as he followed her the short distance to the industrial estate where she worked.

What was he doing, she wondered as she pulled into the office car park and stopped the car. She could see him drive slowly past and then turn and follow her. Her heart started thumping as she watched him pull up in one of the visitor spaces. Was he blaming her for the accident? Because she always drove so slowly?

She turned her ignition off and got out of the car, her fingers fumbling with the lock. If he started to be nasty to her, she could always run into the building and get help from one of her colleagues. He emerged from the car and Laura was stunned to see a huge bouquet of flowers in his arms, as well as a bottle of Champagne.

As he approached, she took a good look at him. He was attractive and Laura relaxed slightly as she took in his slim build, dark hair and friendly brown eyes. The look of aggression and anger had completely disappeared.

She stopped and he smiled sheepishly at her. “I guess I owe you an apology…”

Laura smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “There’s no need.”

“There is! I drove like a bloody idiot! I suppose it serves me right.” he paused and watched her reaction. “So…can I give you these to say sorry? Oh, and this?” he handed her the bottle of Champagne. “I’m Mike, by the way. The paramedics told me what you did for me…”

Laura laughed and took the flowers which almost hid her from view. “I’m Laura. I just did what anyone would do in that situation. Are you OK now?”

He grinned ruefully. “Almost. If it wasn’t for you, I dread to think what would have happened.”

They stared at each other for a few minutes and Laura felt herself blush under the intensity of his gaze. “Well…I’d better get to work. Thank you so much for these.”

“No problem,” he hesitated. “Would you…um…I live not far from you, I guess. We’ll see each other every morning like we used to on the way to work, but would you like to go out for a drink sometime? If you’re not busy, that is?”

The hopeful look on his face almost brought tears to Laura’s eyes again. “I’d love to…on one condition…”

“Which is?”

“That you let me drive!” Laura winked at Mike and together, they burst out laughing.