I awoke the next morning to Connie pounding on my bedroom door.
"Jules, get up! It's 10 o'clock, and we need to leave for Whit's End soon!"
I fumbled for my phone, realizing I had overslept my alarm by over an hour. Connie's Bible lay open next to me on the bed. How late had I stayed up reading, anyway?
I sat up on the edge of the bed and rubbed my eyes before stumbling over to the closet and throwing on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
Connie was waiting for me downstairs with a bowl of steaming oat meal.
"Thanks, Connie. But you didn't have to make breakfast for me. I can…"
She cut me off. "After last night, I figured SOMEONE ought to make sure you ate something healthy for once."
"What? Oh…uh…thanks," I stammered, remembering my fib about the cookies from the night before.
I picked up the bowl and blew on a spoonful of the hot cereal.
"Uh-oh." Connie was frowning at her phone, which had just pinged several times.
"What's up?"
"It's Whit. He said the supply truck that came in on Saturday brought the wrong shipment, so he's up to his ears in dill pickles and maple syrup, but he's out of almost everything else. On top of that, there's still a lot of cleaning up to do after all those birthday parties on Saturday. He needs us to get over there right away."
"That can't be good. If Whit's asking for help, it's got to be pretty bad," I speculated.
"You're probably right," Connie nodded, grabbing her purse and herding me toward the door, oatmeal still in hand.
We arrived at Whit's End to a scene of utter chaos. There were dirty dishes everywhere, and an enormous puddle of sudsy water was seeping out of the kitchen and into the main dining room.
"This place is a mess!" Connie exclaimed. "It looks like a dishwasher exploded in here. What happened, Whit?"
"Well, that's nearly what happened," Whit chuckled, halfheartedly. "I put in a load of dishes to run overnight before I left on Saturday and decided to finish the rest this morning. But something must have gone wrong with the dishwasher, and this is what I found when I came in this morning. Eugene should be here shortly to help me get this thing back up and running, but until then, I'm going to need some help getting this mess cleaned up."
Connie set to work hand-washing the dishes, splashing sudsy water all over the counter in her haste.
"Urgh!" she groaned, as she accidentally backed into the table behind her, knocking over a tower of pickle jars, which shattered all over the floor.
I need to get out of here before one of us loses it, I thought.
If I'd learned anything from Connie teaching me to drive, it was that if she was stressed out, that meant that I was going to be stressed out. And nothing good could come of the both of us being stressed out together in a confined space.
"I can drive to the store to get whatever we need to hold us over until the new shipment gets here," I volunteered, in what I felt was a stroke of genius.
"Well, thank you, Jules," Whit replied. "That would be helpful. I'll get a list together for you."
While Whit worked on the list, I busied myself with trying to mop up the soggy, grimy floor.
"That should do it," Whit said a few minutes later, handing me a list that rivaled a CVS receipt for length. "Just call us here if you have any questions."
I rummaged through Connie's purse for her keys, then half-jogged for the door.
"Drive safe, Jules!" Connie called after me. "And remember, the phone stays IN the glove compartment while you're driving!"
"I remember, I remember," I hollered back.
Traffic seemed lighter than usual for the typical summer Monday morning in Odyssey, and before I knew it, I was sitting at the stoplight waiting to turn into the parking lot at Jenkins's Market. The green arrow light came on, and I began the turn into the grocery store parking lot.
Suddenly, I saw a flash of movement to my right. A car was speeding right toward me with no sign of stopping. I punched the gas pedal to try to get out of the way, but it was too late. I heard the sickening crunch of metal against metal and felt the bone-jarring jolt. My head slammed HARD against the steering wheel, and everything went black.