The Longest Ride

mouth. Most spilled, but the drops were enough to wet his lips and he was able to choke down a swallow.

“Who are you?” Luke inquired gently. “What’s your name?”

The man made a sound that came out in a wheeze. His half-open eyes were unfocused. “Ira.”

“When did this happen?”

It took a long moment for the word to come. “atur… day…”

Luke glanced at Sophia in disbelief before focusing on Ira again. “We’re getting you help, okay? The ambulance should be here soon. Just hold on. Do you want some more water?”

At first, Sophia wasn’t sure Ira had heard Luke, but he opened his mouth slightly and Luke poured another capful, dribbling in a small amount. Ira swallowed again before mumbling something unintelligible. Then, with a slow rasp, the words separated by breaths: “Edder… Fo… I… ife… Roof…”

Neither Sophia nor Luke could make sense of it. Luke leaned in again.

“I don’t understand. Can I call someone for you, Ira? Do you have a wife or kids? Can you tell me a phone number?”

“Edder…”  

“Better?” Luke asked.

“No… Edd… edder… in… car… roof…”  

Luke turned to Sophia, uncertain. Sophia shook her head, automatically running through the alphabet… getter, jetter, letter…

Letter?

“I think he’s talking about a letter.” She bent closer to Ira, could smell illness on his faint breath. “Letter? That’s what you meant, right?”

“Ess…,” Ira wheezed, his eyes closing again. His breaths rattled like pebbles in a jar. Sophia scanned the interior of the car, her gaze falling on several items strewn on the floor beneath the caved-in dashboard. Clinging to the side of the car, she worked herself around to the rear, making for the other side.

“What are you doing?” Luke called out.

“I want to find his letter…”

The passenger side was less damaged and Sophia was able to pull open the door with relative ease. On the floor lay a thermos and a misshapen sandwich. A small plastic bag filled with prunes. A bottle of water… and there, up in the corner, an envelope. She reached in, her feet sliding before she caught herself. She extended her reach with a grunt, grasping the envelope between two fingers. From across the car, she held it up, noting Luke’s incomprehension.

“A letter for his wife,” she said, closing the door and making her way back to Luke. “That’s what he was saying earlier.”

“When he was talking about the roof?”

“Not roof,” Sophia said. She turned the envelope around so Luke could read it before sliding it into her jacket pocket. “Ruth.”
     

     
    An officer with the highway patrol was the first to arrive. After scrambling down the slope, he and Luke agreed that it was too risky to move Ira. But it took forever for the EMTs and ambulance to arrive, and even when they did, it was clear that there wasn’t a safe way to get him out of the car and up the snowy slope on a stretcher. They would have needed triple the manpower, and even then it would have been a challenge.

In the end, a large tow truck was called, which increased the delay. When it arrived and moved into the proper place, a cable was rolled out and hooked to the car’s rear bumper while the EMTs – improvising with the seat belts – secured Ira in place to minimize any jostling. Only then was the car winched slowly up the slope and finally onto the highway.

While Luke answered the officer’s questions, Sophia remained near the EMTs, watching while Ira was loaded onto the stretcher and given oxygen before he was rolled into the ambulance.

A few minutes later, Luke and Sophia were alone. He took her in his arms, pulling her close, both of them trying to draw strength from each other, when Sophia suddenly remembered that she still had the letter in her pocket.
     

     
    Two hours later, they waited in the crowded emergency room of the local hospital, Luke holding Sophia’s hand as they sat beside each other. In her other hand, she held the letter, and every now and then she’d study it, noting the shaky scrawl and wondering why she’d given the nurse their names and asked to be updated on Ira’s condition, instead of simply handing over the letter to be placed with Ira’s belongings.

It would have allowed them to continue the trip back to Winston-Salem, but when she recalled the look on Ira’s face and the urgency he obviously felt about finding the letter, Sophia felt compelled to make sure the letter didn’t