No Sense

Harbor

The sound of traffic passing by on Interstate Five made talking on the phone a challenge unto itself, even if the vehicles making up the metallic flow weren't proceeding at the typical cruising speed. Between said background noise, the winching of his beloved Subaru onto a flatbed, and knowing the trooper could return to them with further instructions at any moment, plus a visibly shaken sibling, it made for a conversation Dipper wanted to end as soon as possible.

"Dad, I wasn't screwing around! We were in the right lane, heading around a curve, I was going 52 in a 60, and we hit a patch of ice," Dipper assured. "Yes, it has all wheel drive, but if three of the wheel are on ice th— (pause) yes, I knew it was icy out, but you can't see black ice. That's the idea!"

Mabel heard a longer pause and surmised a frustrated parental reply coming out of the speaker end, during which Dipper froze in place, though she had to wonder how much of that was due to the discussion, and how much was due in part to the brisk temperatures and heavy snowfall. His brow was furrowed, his posture stiff, and his eyes darted around, desperately looking for something to focus on besides the misery being metered out by the iPhone.

After a few moments, they found her, about forty feet from where he stood. She knew the last thing that felt natural for him was to smile amidst the mayhem. Yet, when they connected visually, she heard his tone relax and he even managed a grin, one that held on a bit too long to be insincere.

"The cop said he's not going to issue a citation, no ticket," he emphasized. "He says there's a place a few miles north in Medford that a friend of his works at and can have them check it out first thing in the morning. He even called and left a message with our info. It...yeah, it just looks like body damage. (pause) No, part of it's kind of rubbing against the wheel, but the officer thinks if we can get that secured, it should drive fine. Yeah...the tire's fine. I figure...yea, probably..."

The whole event happened in the blink of an eye. Dipper had been guiding the sedan down the outside lane of the freeway, traveling a bit under the speed limit due to the inclement weather. They weren't passing anyone or tailgating, and neither of them had been on the phone. Both captain and navigator were purely focused on the task at-hand.

Moments later, out of nowhere, as they rounded a gentle horizontal curve, they started to slide towards the side of the road. Dipper pulled the wheel to the left and backed off the accelerator, thinking he was merely drifting outside of the lane, but the correction caused the car to spin. The twins sucked in their breath and held it through the entire event, barely making a peep. Within seconds, they had completed nearly an entire rotation when the front passenger corner of the car struck a section of barrier, halting the vehicle abruptly.

Replaying the mortifying incident in her head, Mabel leaned against the guardrail, pulling her lightweight jacket in around her as tight as possible. The reckless teens they were, they hadn't packed with the need to wade through a snowstorm in mind. As far as they were concerned, they were taking a simple, Spring Break road-trip from the Bay Area up to see the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, spend Wednesday and Thursday nights, and then head back home in time to fulfill their weekend work schedules. Considering it was mid-March, and the warm sun was already bathing their home to the south in a daily wash of unfettered brilliance, the last thing they thought to grab was a parka and snow pants.

Fortunately, while the jacket wasn't providing much protection from the elements, the crimson crew-neck sweater she had donned that morning — upon which a heart-shaped locket rested — was doing a much more satisfactory job. Initially, she was concerned she'd be too warm on the southbound trip; holding her position amongst the thousands of snowflakes dancing in the air currents, she was grateful she had gone with her first intuition. Additionally, her jeans stopped most of the wind from targeting her smooth, unblemished skin; her hiking boots provided the requisite solid footing to deal with the ice; and her cobalt blue headband was keeping her remarkable cascade of hair relatively in place. At the moment, though, she did yearn for a stocking cap.