Maine Wilderness Radio

 

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Chapter 1

    Joey sat up slowly, spitting blood out of his mouth and trying to ignore his aching ribs. Driving through the back roads of Maine he had had his radio tuned to his favorite station when suddenly it went staticy. At first he didn’t think anything of it, assuming that the reception in these backwoods was simply a little spotty. Then he heard his name. Breaking through the static like a foghorn.

    His first reaction was to assume he had fallen asleep, so he jerked sharply in an effort to wake himself up. Only problem was he wasn’t sleeping and the only thing he accomplished was to jerk his wheel sideways, sending his Jeep into a tree. Hence the blood in his mouth and the ache in his side.

    Groaning he kicked open the driver side door and poured himself out onto the road. The cool, cracked pavement of this rural road in Maine felt comforting to him as lie there surrounded by the cool, calm night air. Not knowing what to do next Joey lie there in the road until he fell asleep.

    Joey had woken up with some bad hangovers, but nothing was as bad as waking up the next morning as the aches of the crash attacked him anew. He blinked several times, his eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness of daylight.

    “Are you okay?” a quiet female voice asked.

    Joey scrambled up to a seated position in alarm, an action he immediately regretted as the pain in his ribs doubled.

    “Who are you?” he asked staring at the plain looking woman sitting on a stump near him.

    “The Lady of Maine.”

    “What do you want?”

    “Did you hear me last night?”

    “What?”

    “On the radio. Did you hear me last night?”

    “That was you?”

    “I didn’t mean for you to crash your car. But I needed to get your attention.”

    “So you hijacked my radio signal?”

    “Oh, not just yours. Every radio around the world. I am afraid my ability to manipulate radio waves is an all or nothing deal.”

    “Why my name?”

    “Because I know you Joey. I have watched you come to these woods every week. I know you feel more of a kinship with these trees than any person you have ever met. I said your name because I need a partner. A man who can give me an heir to continue protecting the woods and wilderness of Maine.”

    “And you want that to be me?”

    “Yes.”

    “I am afraid you have the wrong guy.”

    “Why, you have no family, no lover. Nothing back in civilization waiting for you. At least let me tend to your wounds, after that you can decide what you want to do next and I won’t stop you.”

    Joey was still skeptical, but he knew the nearest hospital was miles away, and he had no cell phone with him. He needed treatment. So he followed her into the woods.

 

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