Previously:

"We've gone too far. We'll soon be going by the...the van is still there. Quick, Tommy, get us out of here. Quick, turn around. Don't let them see us." Liz was shivering, now....

His new friends had PTSD from their rescuing experience and because of that, it had not dawned on them, that their car was nowhere to be found. He braced himself for the moment of their realization of this very scary fact.

***********

"I hope they didn't see us. What if they knew it was us?" Liz's heart was racing.

Linda, the logical one, reassured Liz. " They never saw us with the girls. And just now, we were just a car driving by. They're probably in there, planning their next abductions.

"Speaking of a car driving by, where's my car? Where's...my...car?"

The volume rose with each word. Liz's heart was beating. Sweat covered her hands and ran in rivulets down her back. Her head was slamming with her exaggerated tinnitus.

When Liz opened her palms, Linda noticed there were nail indentations from gripping the air so hard.

Linda put her hand on Liz's arm. "We'll find it." She looked away. "We have to." Her voice was betraying her anxiety.

Tommy was lost at what to think or what to say.

"I can't do this." Liz was at a breaking point.

Tommy searched for a solution, any solution. "What about that car you ladies never checked out, back at the garage? You kept saying it looked like yours, Liz. Just maybe it is yours. I say we head back and see if it is yours."

Linda knew that was the best idea. "I agree, remember I kept saying it looked like your car? What if it is, and we've been wandering around out here for nothing?"

Liz was calming down a bit. "You're right. I don't know why we didn't just go check it out, before.

Tommy had the answer to that question. "We were a bit preoccupied with the psycho guy holding the battery charger hostage. Let's get this equipment back to him, so I can get my watch returned. I hope he hasn't taken it apart, thinking there was something secret about it or in it."

Tommy caught himself contributing to the level of anxiety with that last comment. He searched for some words of wisdom and comfort.

"We don't need to see our entire path to take the first step. We don't know where this day is going to lead. But when have you two, or myself, known what the last couple of days would lead?"

"That's for sure." Linda was quick to agree.

"That's a good point to bring me back to the moment. As Eckhart Tolle always says, ' we have only the moment.' You're right, Tommy. Thank you."

He continued, with a smile. "We can head back to the garage with fear and doubt or hope and trust. If you're anything like me, we think we need to have everything all figured out."

"You're preaching to the choir. I know I'm that way," said Liz.

Linda agreed. "Absolutely. I get it all figured out and nothing goes the way I thought it would. God has his ways. We need to pay attention."

"Amen." Tommy put his hand up.

"So right." Liz patted Linda's arm.

"As we know, the best journeys are not planned from start to finish.
"We've certainly seen that. Wouldn't you say, Linda?" In response, she nodded several times.

"Our journeys take unexpected twists and turns to lead us where we need to go. They teach us things we have never prepared for."

"I'll say." Liz, the poet saw the life metaphor at that moment. "Look at these roads, twists and turns. You guide us so we know where to go."

"I still think God led us right to your car. We'd still be walking."

Liz agreed with Linda. "It's a good thing Kai Zita told us about the sign for finding our way. She told us to look for a 'cat, dog and bear' to find the garage.

"If you hadn't helped us, we would have been further lost. Our dreams back in the car told us the same." Gesturing toward Linda, Liz said, "Your angels gave you this same message as Tommy has.

"An important crow, who called herself Aandeg, helped me, for moments like this." She lowered her head and shaking it. "Here I have already forgotten it. Thank you, again, Tommy."

As he sensed the mood tensing, Tommy knew Liz needed a distraction. He broached a topic he knew she was passionate about.

"Liz, you seem to be interested in Native History. What do you know about Lincoln?"

She didn't see the connection, but she said, "Well, I know he freed the slaves, finally after the abolitionist risked their lives, some losing them. But, as far as a Native American connection, I have no idea."

He knew he had her interest, so she would focus on something besides her abducted car.

"Well, that's the question we've all had. It was like 'save the black people and kill the Indians."

"What do you mean by that?"

Linda joined in too. "Yuh, what are you talking about? President Lincoln didn't do anything to the Native Americans, did he?"

Liz was curious. "He didn't even really have anything to do with them, did he?"

"I guess people just don't know the truth. I'm sure it was never put in your history books, along with many travesties." His voice shook as he continued.

Liz and Linda stared at each other with concern.