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A Narrow Escape

Joan Mach

    “No, it can’t be”. I stared at the black and white squiggles that had been printed words a few moments ago. Cold horror swept through me. I couldn’t believe what I was reading, Could it be true?
    “Have you ever hiked Angel Trail?” Bob asked me. “Many times,” I replied, “I think it’s my favorite”. “It’s even prettier in the moonlight. There’s a full moon tonight. Let’s try it together”. “Yes, let’s hike Angel trail in the moonlight”, I replied.
    In the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70s, we felt safe in every part of our rural town. In summer, mothers fed their kids breakfast, then opened the door for them to play outside. The kids came in for lunch, then went out to play again until supper. Nobody was afraid to walk outside. Nature nourished us, giving us beauty as well as food and water.
    I met Bob at my sister’s wedding, where he was best man to the safest, most conventional accountant I’d ever met. He called me a few days later, to ask me our for coffee. I knew engineers were boring and cold. I accepted a date for a cup of coffee, just to get a free cup of coffee. We talked for two hours, and I could have sat there for two more. “I thought engineers were cold and factual”, I commented. “We always consider the facts”, he replied. “Sometimes, though, your intuition takes over and leads you to more progress.” “Isn’t intuition the sole realm of women?”, I teased. “Oh, no,” Bob replied, “I trust my own instincts, too.” I decided I would let him kiss me, if he tried. He didn’t, but he did make a second date to walk Angel Trail.
    We drove to the trailhead. As predicted, the moon gave enough light to see most of the trail. We stepped onto the gravel surface, holding hands and chatting. Bob was easy to talk to, and I relaxed in the beauty of the scene. We looked down the trail and saw a dark patch. A tree cast an inky shadow. Bob suddenly stopped. I felt a shudder go through his body. “We’re going back now”, he stated. He put his arm around my shoulders and guided me back to the car. I didn’t question that. I thought he might try to kiss me under the tree, but he didn’t. He gently pushed me toward the car. We arrived at the car, and he seemed anxious to be away. He didn’t even try to kiss me in the car.
    What had cooled him down so fast? “Are you OK”, I asked. “I just had a feeling”, Bob told me. We were stopped in front of my house. “I wasn’t completely honest with you back there”, Bob began. “I felt something soft and flaccid underfoot and I didn’t want to be there anymore”, he continued. “Thank you for telling me that”, I replied. “I always go with those feelings, too”.
    I saw a lot of Bob after that. In fact, I married him two years later.
    In 1976, Ted Bundy was giving interviews right and left to anyone who would listen. Ted was charismatic and handsome, also the murderer of 30 women. One member of his own defense team described him as “the very definition of heartless evil.”
One reporter asked him “What was the closest you came to being caught?”. Ted replied that he was hiding a body on Angel Trail in our town. He heard a couple approaching, and drew back into the shadow of a tree. In his haste to hide, Ted left the body on the trail. The couple approached, then turned back. The date? Our second date. I read that, then showed it to Bob. We sat on the sofa holding each other, knowing each was thinking the same thing. We’ve always gone with our feelings since then.

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