Margot Tremont Had an Itch

On her foot.

With the road empty ahead and behind her, Margot eased her left foot onto the gas pedal, awkwardly trying to maintain the same pressure, as she pulled her right up, closer to her hand, to her fingers, to her nails. 

She sighed as she scratched, finally satisfied, and looked down to see if she’d been bitten or something, if there was a reason for the itch. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, darting from the side of the road, she saw a blur through the open passenger window, and before her left foot could move, before her fingers could move away from the swelling redness on her right, she felt the contact.

A bump, before she finally managed to jerk the steering wheel to the side and stop the car. The air was full of noise, the artful crying of cicadas and the buzz of other insects loud in the stillness as Margot turned off the car, the engine ticking as it began to cool down.

She sat with no idea what do to. If she’d hit something and it was dead, was she supposed to—she shuddered—move it? Call someone to move it? Who would she call? Would her cell phone work out here? If it did, was she going to get charged for roaming? And what about the car? Was there damage, and what would she do if there was? It wasn’t like she could drive back to her mechanic in Delaware—especially not after how she’d left things with him, his normally grease-covered hands scrubbed clean when he caressed her, begged her not to go, and Margot, wanting to make things easier, told him she’d never loved him, not really.

She opened her door, fumbled a moment with the seatbelt, then released it and stepped out onto the road. She listened, wondering if she would recognize the sounds of an animal in pain, or… dear god, what if it was a person? Margot couldn’t imagine what a person would be doing running along the side of the road in the dark, but it was a possibility. An insane jogger, maybe? Didn’t Lance Armstrong train by biking all over Texas? Had she just crippled or killed a six-time Tour de France winner?