Your Sister's Place

Of course! Your younger sister Grace lived very near here. As luck would have it the turn off was just 5 miles ahead. Stopping there would mean a warm meal, a proper bed, and you would be able to phone the office to let them know what happened. Heck, if you were really lucky her tv antenna might be able to pick up the local Fox affiliate and you'd get to see The X Files afterall

While Grace would definitely let you stay the night you knew she wouldn't be happy to see you, not without warning like this. Your sister was a recluse and a hermit. She had always been shy growing up but it had only gotten worse as she got older. She had what they called "social anxiety" and she had it BAD. She had few friends growing up, she had never had a boyfriend that you knew about, and it was only thanks to her talent as an author and her saint of a publicist that she was able to be a functioning adult at all. She wasn't quite a crazy hermit or obnoxiously antisocial, there was no spitefulness or ill will about her. She was simply ridiculously shy. Even get her out for Christmas was difficult.

Grace liked her privacy and insisted on at least a few hours warning before stopping by. She HATED surprise visits, even by the family, but given the circumstances you saw little choice. You wished you could phone ahead but there would be no payphones between here and there. You kept meaning to pick up one of those cellular phones but just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

She would be upset for a little bit but come around quickly enough. Despite the 5 year age difference the pair of you were close. The more you thought about it...you were actually glad this happened. You didn't visit Grace nearly often enough and it would be nice to see her again and reconnect.

Slowing your Peterbilt down you take the turn onto the narrow highway that would take you to Grace's lakeside home.