November 1992. Highway 101: Pacific Coast Highway. Evening.
We were on a road trip from Seattle, Washington, coming back down to Southern California, when we found ourselves in that horrible position of having driven too long without a break. I had nodded off in my passenger seat, and my friend had decided to pull off the highway to an abandoned gas station. I will never forget the feeling of waking up as the car slowed down to park, opening my eyes, and seeing that dilapidated station lit by one lone streetlight. I was instantly awake and hyper-alert.
Every sense in my body collided as I looked around the lonely, dark road spreading out to either side of the place, and said, “We need to leave. Now.”
My friend was completely shocked and asked why. She said she thought parking next to the gas pump under that one light would be safe. I responded that it would not be safe, and that we needed to go to the next city and crash there. She was one of those people who liked to be the one driving, so she balked at first, but seeing the tense look on my face, she knew I wasn't fooling around. I said, “I don’t care how tired you are, we need to go and I’ll drive.” I could feel evil all around that building, and I knew time was starting to run out.
I’ll never forget the pitch darkness, the absolute silence, and the never-ending stretch of pine trees spreading out around us. We were in the middle of nowhere. If anything happened to us, no one would know where we were or where we ended up. She started the car, and we headed out and down the road. I didn’t even look back until we got to the next town.
While editing the first draft of Welcome to Waadizi, Michigan, this event came back to mind. Maybe I had unintentionally suppressed it, but it sure came back in vivid detail as I walked the unusually quiet streets of Waadizi. The same uneasiness welled up inside me, and I remembered the sixth sense I had telling me to get away as fast as I could. Waadizi is that kind of small town—those towns off the beaten path that keep to themselves, where everybody knows each other. In Waadizi’s case, it’s both a good and a bad thing.
The final chapter launches on October 1, 2026. Get ready to fight for Waadizi.
-Rebecca
