“Seventeen kilometres to Furusund,” it said on the signpost. I turned the car from the main road to the narrow country road, and a shiver of joy ran through my body. “I will soon be there again,” I thought, “in the little summer cottage by the sea, in the quiet and relaxing countryside.” I was really looking forward to the weekend on my own with only my two dogs as company. The road started curving. I passed fall plowed fields and meadows. On some, cattle and horses were still grazing the little that was left of the green. The trees were already naked after losing their beautiful autumn coloured leaves. The sun was on its way to set. I could see it in the distance, first as a large red ball on the darkening sky, then quickly descending only to leave its colour on the sky before the darkness fell. My mother’s words of warning for the icy autumn roads was still ringing in my ears, but the trip had gone great so far, and I had taken extra care and time and was driving slowly. The temperature was around zero, and the damp air, I knew, could leave the surface of the road unpredictable.

My two dogs stirred in the back of the car. Wendy was whining a little. She, unfortunately, used to be carsick, so she was in her cage. Emma was moving around trying to find herself a better position to lie in. The car felt warm and cozy.

A car approached behind me. Kilometer after kilometer it was there, with its lights shining at me in my back mirror. I was getting stressed. They probably wanted to pass me but couldn’t, on this narrow and winding country road. You never knew what to expect after the next bend, especially in the dark. I clenched my hands harder to the steering wheel and told myself not to care and to calm down. I started to sing softly and soon enough the other car overtook me where the road was somewhat wider. I was alone again, driving in the darkness.

The instrument panel in the car was lit, and I looked at the clock. Suddenly, I realized that I was running out of time. If I wanted to reach the 7 o’clock ferry across to the island that I had been planning on catching, I would need to hurry up. I knew I did not have far to go. I stepped slightly on the gas pedal. The road, however, turned and bent from the right to the left. I didn’t really dare to go very much faster.

After taking a sharp left turn on the road, the car that had paassed me a few miles earlier suddenly appeared in front of me. Its tail lights were shining angrily red towards me. I was gaining up on them at the same time as I was approaching a narrow bridge. My foot came down gently on the brake. What I had not counted on was the fact that the deck of the upcoming bridge would be especially icy. The gentle touch on the brake made the wheels of my car lock, and I could feel the car starting to slide forward out of my control. My hands were wet as I, with an iron grip on the steering wheel and foot off the brake, tried to manoeuver the car. I tried to avoid the unavoidable; the car was sliding forward totally out of my control, out onto the bridge, diagonally across the road towards the left hand railing. The impact was hard enough to send the little car bouncing, sliding back towards the right-hand side of the bridge and its railing. As it did, I saw a bus coming up towards me across the bridge. All of a sudden I was staring straight into its headlights, quickly approaching, closer and closer, straight towards me. A dry taste of fear hit my mouth as I thought; “My God, I’ll die!” My hands left the steering wheel as I instinctivly tried to throw myself over to the passenger side of the car, to avoid being run over. The safety belt hindered me and kept my body at the driver’s side of the car. The second impact, from the bus, threw the little car backwards, sliding into the right-hand side of the road and leaving it at a standstill, leaning against the bridge railing. The engine died.

For a second, everything went quiet. I just sat there. I was amazed that I was still alive. Then I saw the bus driver get out of the bus and run towards me. I fumbled with the safety belt and the car door. As I opened the door, the cold air hit me and I shivered. “Are you all right?” I could see the bus driver’s warm breath like white smoke in the cold air as he helped me out of my car. “I did everything I could to hit only the very side of your car”, he said, still worried about me. “There was not much I could do though, the road is so icy, and I had all the passengers in the bus to think about...” I assured him I was all right and went to open the back of the car to see how the dogs were. Wendy was all right in her box, but Emma was shaking violently. I took her in my arms and buried my head into her soft coat, speaking comforting words to her while I sat down on the bridge railing. The smell of her fur soothed me, and my words calmed her.

The so silent and dark country road suddenly buzzed with noise and lights. Cars coming up behind me slowed down to a standstill, people came running out of their warm, lit houses to see what had happened. Someone shouted: ”We need to get the car off the road before we have further accidents!”

A young man came up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. It was the same person who had shouted about getting the car off the road. He was only wearing a sweater, in the cold evening wind. “I’ll get your car off the road for you,” he said and went on; “You can come into our house and call for assistance.” I thanked him and put Emma back into the car while he backed his car up behind mine and towed it, off the road, into his yard. Slowly I followed.

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