The Detour

          It was late afternoon when the girls reached the edge of Calib’s Mill. It had rained all morning causing trouble for unexperienced motorists, but now the sun was out in full force causing steam to rise from the hot asphalt. Men wearing two piece yellow vinyl rain suits busied about. They were stopped in the road by one of the workmen who approached cars one at a time. A crane was blocking the main road, having driven into a muddy ditch while trying to navigate the sharp corner of a side road. Two men in military uniforms jumped out of a truck and readied themselves anxiously discussing their options at having blocked a throughfare. Eventually, seeing no other choice, they were allowed to redirect traffic down the road they had been blocking.

          Several black SUVs arrived, red and blue lights flashing around them and one of them led the others through while another followed, taking traffic a couple dozen at a time. As they slowly rounded the corner, Belle’s attention was given to a tall man wearing a long dark coat. His face was difficult for her to make out, but he had locked eyes with her and she couldn’t break her gaze. Neither did the man for once break his with Belle. But as they passed him, she saw the white collar of a priest tucked around his neck. The man began to slowly shake his head in disapproval, the message to Belle only. A feeling of foreboding sank into the pit of her stomach. But as they lost sight of the man who now behind them had vanished, so had the feeling.

          Round about the halfway mark the fleet drove past a construction site. It had began to rain again and several workmen scrambled about to repair holes in the large blue canvasses that were covering their worksite. A line of dump trucks just like the ones they had been passing on the main road were waiting in a long line on the opposite side waiting to go in. Jean and Belle watched out the window of the car. They immediately started counting the trucks all the way back to the main road, fifty-six in all.

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