The Dream Trip - Chapter 8

The day had been a good one for all the girls. The tour of Derry was just what Mona n Darcy were looking for. While they were at lunch they talked with some people from the Derry area who gave them a great idea for where to stay just outside the city so they could head to County Donegal the next day. When the girls met up Briana and Caitlin shared their adventure about Damain. Darcy and Mona laughed at how the two girls had made quick friends with this boy because of their love of soccer and listened to Briana mention several time how Damian had kissed her on the cheek.

They headed out of Derry to the B &B that had been suggested. Darcy had called ahead to make sure they had enough room for the girls to stay. It would take a good couple of hours to get there, but this was summer and it stayed light out almost to 10PM. The girls figured they had plenty of time. Mona had taken over the driving because of Darcy's sprained ankle. There was not too much traffic on the two-lane road and the girls were busy chatting away. Before Mona could swerve out of the way the car hit a huge rock planted right smack in the middle of the road. Mona pulled over to check for any damage. The rental car didn't have any damage, but they did have a flat tire.

“Now what?”, Mona shouted. She was angry with herself for not being able to avoid the rock.

“Guess we're going to have to change the tire,” Caitlin felt this would be an easy thing to tackle. If any guy could do it surely they could handle it.

“So who here has changed a flat before?” Briana was feeling confident that at least one of the older girls had experience at this.

They all looked at each other and realized they were in big trouble. After some discussion they decided that they would try to tackle this as a group and opened up the trunk of the car looking for the spare tire. In order to do this they had to completely unload all their luggage. So with everything unloaded they looked into the empty trunk and saw nothing. The entire time they were doing this not one vehicle had passed them on the road. They also called the rental agency and were told that if they wanted someone to come out to where they were located it would take at least 4 hours! It would be dark by then, so there was not much of a choice, but to do this themselves.

Suddenly they heard what sounded like a motorcycle engine coming down the road. But it wasn't a motorcycle, it was like a more powerful dune buggy with a surf board sticking out the back. They all turned to wave for help as the driver passed by them. He waved back and kept going! At this point they figured they were going to be stranded on the side of the road all night. Not familiar enough with the area, they had no idea how far they were from any help. Fifteen minutes must have passed when they heard a bigger smoother engine and saw a huge red 4WD coming from the other direction.

“Hey girlies!” the driver shouted as he pulled off the road in front of the rental car. “What's the craic?”

The girls were not quite sure what this tall blond haired lad was asking.

“Sorry it took me so long to get back, but I figured Big Red here was needed. Yeow, what a flat!”

And immediately the girls realized that this was the guy in the over-sized dune buggy. He looked so out of place here in Ireland. Seems he should have been on the beaches of California surfing with his long blond hair and trim good looks. While the other girls were still trying to collect themselves over the whole situation, Caitlin stepped up and explained their situation.

“It appears we don't have a spare tire. We're more than capable of changing it ourselves,” she tried to be confident with this handsome stranger.

The lad burst out laughing as he walked over the to rental car and lifted up the carpet pad to the trunk to reveal the spare tire. “Is this what you are lookin' for? Seems as long as I found it, I might as well help you out here.”

He didn't wait for a reply as he removed the jack and the spare. After a quick look at the jack, he walked over to his vehicle an pulled out a jack that was amazingly more substantial, chuckling all the way and shaking his head. As he did this, Caitlin only got angrier as she felt he was making fun of them.

As he passed the girls heading to the flat tire he said, “So's I'm Keith. How about a hand over here,” he motioned to Caitlin. “Good thing all those heavy bags are out. This will be pretty quick. But this spare is not for long trip drivin' ya' know?”

“We'll just have to find a gas station and get it fixed. Is there one down the road?” Caitlin asked as she grudgingly held the lug nuts that Keith removed from the wheel.

“Love, you'll not find one open tonight. And from the looks of this tire, you are goin' to need a replacement. The shop won't be open until tomorrow morning and that's if they have the right size.”

The girls turned to each other surprised. They had not expected to have to replace a tire and were worried about finding a replacement. Things were not going very well at all at the moment and Mona was feeling worse about hitting the rock.

“Where you'll be tonight?” Keith asked.

“We're staying at a B&B about 10 miles form here according to the directions we have. Why do you ask?” Caitlin was curious but cautious.

“Well, if you want, I can take this bad tire in tomorrow for you. But one of you will have to come with me to make sure the new one is ordered. I know the lad who owns the repair shop. Don't want him to give you any trouble,” Keith truly sounded like he knew what he was doing and at this point they had no other choice.

Once the spare was on, luggage put back in the trunk, and the flat loaded in Big Red, Keith followed the girls to the B&B to make sure they got checked in okay, even though they felt they could handle this part. As they entered the B&B they were surprised again.

“Well, hey, Keith, how's it going?” the B&B owner greeted Keith.

“Siobhan, yeowwww, surf was great today! Got me a good ride. These girlies here from America got a flat a ways back and I helped them out. Now delivering them to you for the night.” again he chuckled. “So Caitlin, I'll be by about 10 tomorrow mornin' with Big Red, be ready!” And Keith was out the door.

Siobhan, welcomed the girls and got them settled in their rooms. Briana could tell that Caitlin was taken by Keith and his handsome blond good looks, not to mention his dimples, even though she pretended to be put off by him and his mannerisms.

“See Caitlin, I knew you would meet someone,” Briana teased Caitlin.

“Right. So he was here and gone,” Caitlin was not too impressed by her short meeting, although she did say that the surfer look on this guy was pretty impressive for Ireland..