Your True Tales
November 2006 - Page 19
Winter Storm Angel
by David
Winter storm in Nebraska, and I was returning from a business trip. I was about 15 miles outside of Omaha when my rental car ran out of gas, unexpectedly, suddenly and only about 200 miles into what should have been a 300 mile tankful of gas. Snowing like crazy, road under construction, heavy traffic, lousy visibility, late afternoon and getting darker by the minute. Very dangerous place to be outside a car looking for help. And I was only dressed for the business trip, not for the freezing weather, heavy snow, drifts, etc.
The day was much nicer when I'd left Omaha early that morning. Car sputtering and chugging, I spotted an off-ramp to a county road that crossed I-80. I swerved off so I'd be out of the traffic. As I coasted off, I saw a pickup truck parked on the off-ramp. My car stopped about 50 feet behind it. I had no idea if the truck was broken down or occupied. I had no phone so I was very concerned not just for my safety, but whether I'd be able to get any help.
Sitting in my now stalled car, I saw the driver door of the pickup open and a woman stepped out. I immediately got out, hoping she'd have a phone so I could call for help. I hurried up to her as she was opening the camper shell of her truck. The wind was fierce and the snow made visibility almost zero. As I got closer, I saw she was taking something out of the back of her truck. I hollered, saying I had just run out of gas and did she have a phone I could use to call for help. When I got close enough to see more clearly, I saw it was a gas can, a five-gallon gas can that she had some trouble removing from the back of the truck.
She talked to me, but I don't recall her words, other than she said she had spare gas and I was welcome to the can of gas she'd just taken from her truck. I carried the can and she followed me back to my rental. We talked while I poured gas, but I don't remember any of the conversation. When I was done, I walked back to her truck, can in hand. I put it back in her truck, thanked her profusely. Somehow, it never occurred to me to offer her any money for the gas. She got in her truck and drove up the off ramp.
I hustled back to my car, ground the starter some until it finally cranked up. I immediately drove up the hill, following in her tire tracks, as I had just remembered I'd not paid her for her kindness or the gas. I hoped to catch her and repay her.
As I reached the top of the small hill where the road crossed over the interstate, the tire tracks just disappeared! They weren't blown away, not covered with snow... they just stopped. I looked back and I could see two sets of tracks with mine more or less following hers. I followed the tracks up the hill to where I was and they just ended a few yards in front of my car.
I guess I kind of freaked out. I ran to where the tracks ended, shivering and REALLY cold, as the wind was steady and frigid. I knelt down exactly where the tracks ended. Up to that point, the snow was packed and I could still see the tire tread pattern. Then... they just disappeared. No more tracks. No impressions, no compacted snow... no NOTHING! I looked around. I had followed her up the hill not more than a minute or so after she drove off. There were no tracks going down the other side, which was the on-ramp back to I-80. No left turn or right turn tracks at the cross point of the road crossing the highway. No tracks at all.
She just disappeared. Her AND the truck.
I went back to the car, which was still running. I looked back down the hill, still saw two sets of tracks, the footprints we'd made walking around, even the imprint of where I'd set the can down when I reopened her camper shell to put the empty can back in. It was all there, her footprints, my prints, the tires, the can imprint, even the spot where I'd spilled a bit of gas when I was pouring it in my tank.
I got in the car and just sat there for a long time. I was just too stunned to think. I started to reconstruct the events and realized I didn't have any recollection of what she looked like. Or, how she was dressed, color of her hair, sound of her voice. It was like even THAT had also disappeared, but from my memory. Remembered a truck with a shell, but then couldn't remember the color, the make, anything at all about her or the truck. I started shivering, although the car was warm. Hair on my neck and arms stood up and I FELT very odd. Best way I can explain it. I FELT odd.
There was this moment of calm and I found I was panting for breath as though I'd run a mile. I tried to control my breathing, still feeling very strange. Lightheaded, which may have been from hyperventilating, I guess. Finally, some minutes later, I put the car in gear, drove across the road and reentered I-80. I made it to the car rental agency, turned the car in, called for a ride home. While I was waiting, the rental agency guy asked me if I'd smelled gas in the car. I said no, but I'd already told him about running out of gas just outside town. Didn't tell him about the assistance I'd received. He said there was a gas leak in the engine compartment and a puddle of gas was under the vehicle where I'd parked it.
I started to tell him about the "guardian angel" who'd come to my rescue, but I didn't. Sounded crazy to me, what would it sound like to him? I've told a few people about this incident over the years, but even with the retellings, it still gives me shivers every time I think about it. I have no lucid or believable explanation for what happened. I'm not the hysterical type, of that I'm sure. Up to then, I did not believe in "angels." I do now. I know I have one. I KNOW I have one!
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