Breck wiped his brow and slumped against the upended frame of his jumper. The intense glare of the noonday sun bore down upon him and he leaned against the vehicle in a vain attempt to hide from its wrath.
Smoke poured from the jumper’s engine. It lay on its side with the front passenger tire extended upward as if pleading for help.
“Grizzle-grumping pile of bolts” Breck muttered, kicking the jumper with a long brown foot and instantly regretting it.
“AAG!” He yelped, hopping on one foot in a circle around the vehicle.
He stopped, overbalanced and fell hard on his rump.
Squinting up into the unforgiving sunlight, he sighed and got slowly to his feet.
This morning he’d decided to give his dying jumper a proper send off, driving her as far as she would go without stalling out, then wheeling around and heading back to town at full speed.
The first half of this plan had gone off without a hitch. The old girl had gurgled and groaned but she’d eventually started up and rumbled through the city of Habiun and our past the city limits. The noise had drawn out a crowd of confused onlookers which was just what Breck had hoped for.
He lurched forward, whooping and urging the jumper on whenever she seemed ready to falter. He was able to get her so far from the city that it looked like a distorted dot on the horizon.
“Let’s do it, gorgeous!” He said, cutting the wheel and flipping the jumper back around.
As he turned the jumper roared, coughed, and then burst forward like a thoroughbred. Breck was pressed against the rumble seat, hollering like a mad beast as the jittery jeep shot across the open terrain.
The outline of the city began to wobble into view. Breck grinned maniacally and mashed the pedal down further.
Then he heard a sickening crack and his whole world lurched up and tilted left before smashing back to earth. The jumper’s momentum carried it forward several feet, churning the earth underneath it like a tractor.
The wrecked chassis finally slid to a halt, leaning at a crazy angle against the trunk of a scrub brush tree located just off of the main road. A few moments later a dejected figure crawled out of the upward facing side and landed in a heap on the ground.
Moaning, he rubbed his face with a paw and sighed deeply. Then he pulled out his taptak, flipped to the right number and mashed the button.
After a few seconds a voice appeared on the other side of the line. Breck rubbed his ears and said,
“Flop, my man! How are you? Great great so anyway funny thing..”
Flop rolled his eyes and cupped the receiver.
“I’ll bet it is. Tell me where you are, Breck.”