Dust Devil Dimensions

Chapter 1 – The Dust Devil

It was a sunny day and the long, boring road across the flat plains was broken only be an occasional antelope scampering across the highway. Fluffy cumulus clouds drifted lazily by overhead. My wife was listening to the radio while I kept my eyes on the hypnotic white line that divided the two-lane expanse of pavement.

I slowed down a bit as I saw what looked like a tall dust devil across the road about 100 yards ahead of us. We were the only car on the highway. I was looking for a coffee shop or restaurant. Sips of water from a warmed-up bottle just did not cut it. I needed something to keep me awake at the wheel. Little did I know…

The dust devil was right where the highway intersected with another county road.

My wife saw the pickup truck motoring along the county road, coming towards the intersection. It would get there just before us.

“Watch out for that truck over there!” she said, pointing to a bright red pickup coming from the south.

There did not appear to be any stop signs on that crossroad. I slowed to let the pickup cross in front of me. By the speed it was traveling, I could see it was not about to stop anyway. It went right into the dust devil and disappeared. It did not come out the other side as it should have.

I braked and pulled off to the side of the highway.

“Where did it go? Honey, did you see where that pickup went?”

She looked at me. “What pickup?”

“The one that you just told me to watch out for. It just went barrelling through the intersection and into the dust devil. It went in and it should have come out and be going on up that road over there.” I pointed to where the other road let northward.

“Did you see where it went, Shirl?

“No, I saw it coming up to the intersection but then I was looking in my purse for my…”

“Never mind. It did not come out of the dust devil is what I am saying. Where could it have gone? It just doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, never mind, Harry. Just go on through. We are supposed to be at Billy and Joanne’s house around noon. We don’t have time to worry about where some pickup truck went.”

I just sighed, shook my head, checked the rear-view mirror, and pulled back onto the road. I kept my speed around 40 mph as we went into the dust devil and out the…

…other side. We were no longer on the highway. We appeared to be on a bumpy, unpaved road like one you might expect to see in an old western movie where the only traffic you saw would be buggies and horses.

The landscape was different as well. Where did the rolling land go? What lay ahead of us now was mountains. There was no where to pull over, so I just stopped the car.

“What’s the matter now, Harry?”

“Look out your window and you’ll see what the matter is, Shirl.”

She glanced out the window at the mountains. “Where did those mountains come from? Did you take a wrong turn, Harry? I don’t remember any mountains being here.”

“There aren’t any mountains here, Shirl. I mean, there are not supposed to be any. I went through the dust devil and when I drove out of it, everything was different. How could that be?”

“You must have turned off somewhere, is all I have to say.”

“How could I have turned off anywhere? You saw me pull back onto the highway and go into the dust devil. I have no idea where we are.”

I took out my cellphone and dialed Billy’s number. The line was dead.

“Oh, wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. My phone is not working. Try yours. What happened to the music?”

“The radio just went off. My phone is not working either. What is going on here? I need my phone.”

I got out of the car, stretched, and looked around. There was no sigh of the dust devil or the intersection.

I rubbed my eyes and peered around again. Same view. Nothing looked familiar. I leaned back against the car and considered our situation.

Then, in the distance, I noticed two riders coming slowly along the road. I waved at them. One looked toward us and waved back. They continued toward us at their slow pace, reaching us a few minutes later. It was two men, one older than the other. They were in uniform, of sorts. Nothing familiar and each one was carrying a sword.

I smiled and asked, “Are you fellows in a play? A medieval tournament?”

The two of them looked at each other and one asked, “Burrs var neh?”

One pointed at our car. Shirley got out and came around to stand beside me.

“Qud unneh trek?”

I looked up and held my arms up, suggesting, “Sorry. I don’t understand. We are heading towards Nevada. We must have gotten on the wrong road Can you tell us which way of is?” I looked around.

The pair looked at each other and it was obvious that they did not speak English. One asked the other, “Dorvat hes nich?”

The other shrugged.

I looked at my wife. “I think we should just get back in the car, turn around and see if we can go back the way we came. Walk slowly around to the other side and get back in the car. When you are in, I’ll get in my side.”

She started to walk around the back of the car. The pair watched her as she got into the car from the other side. She waved to them through the window.

I looked up at the two of them and said, “Thank you. We’ll be going now.” I got back in the car, locked all the doors, and started the engine.

As the car started, the horses bucked at the noise, and the pair drew their swords. They sat quietly on their mounts and watched as I backed up until I found a place where the land was flat enough to turn around, which I did.

They continued to watch us from their horses but did not do anything. I turned the car around and we slowly drove along the rutted road in the opposite direction until we went around a bend and they disappeared from view.

“Who were those guys on the horses. Was that costumes they were wearing?”

“This is going to sound ‘out of the blue’, Shirl, but I think we somehow crossed into another dimension.”

My wife gave me one of those looks suggesting that either I had been drinking, was loony as a cuckoo bird, or needed psychiatric care.

“Sure, we did, Harry. Now, try to figure out what really happened, will you? Get us back on the right road this time.”

Watch for Chapter 2 coming soon…

©April 2021 Robert W. F. Taylor