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Back A Penny for Your Thoughts Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. A PENNY
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Twenty-Four
  29. Twenty-Five
  30. Twenty-Six
  31. Twenty-Seven
  32. Twenty-Eight
  33. Twenty-Nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-One
  36. Thirty-Two
  37. Thirty-Three
  38. Thirty-Four
  39. Thirty-Five
  40. Thirty-Six
  41. Thirty-Seven
  42. Thirty-Eight
  43. Thirty-Nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-One
  46. Forty-Two
  47. Forty-Three
  48. Forty-Four
  49. Forty-Five
  50. Forty-Six
  51. Forty-Seven
  52. Forty-Eight
  53. Forty-Nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Fifty-One
  56. Fifty-Two
  57. Fifty-Three
  58. Fifty-Four
  59. A Sample Chapter of Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels
  60. About the Author
  61. Other Books by Mindy Starns Clark
  62. About the Publisher

He hit me again, this time propelling me sideways into the cement median. He had chosen the place for this ambush well; we were driving along a several-mile strip of road construction, an area with no shoulders and absolutely no way to go but forward. On each side of the two lanes were four-foot-high concrete walls with only about a foot’s leeway between them and the road.

I steered back from the median, yelling at the image in my rearview mirror. He kept coming though, so close that I could see the grin on his face. He was enjoying this.

I slammed my foot down on the gas pedal and managed to put a few yards between us. I tried to use that time to grab my phone and hit redial. But before I could press the “send” button, the truck slammed into me again. The phone shot from my hand, clattering to the floorboard on the far side of the car and out of reach.

“Stop it!” I screamed, racing through my options in my mind, desperately trying to figure out what to do. There were no other cars here, no choices but to go fast or faster. Still, my little Saturn was no match for his truck. I knew that if his intention was to kill me, he would more than likely succeed.

I thought about slamming on my brakes, but I felt sure that he would simply crush me from behind, making my car look like an accordion. We were already going about 85 miles per hour. One good impact into that cement wall and my car would be scrap metal.

I decided to take my foot off of the gas completely. As I slowed, he banged into me again, but I was ready for him. I steered against the push of his truck and then gunned myself ahead of him in a short burst. I tried that again, slowing until he almost hit me, then pressing down on the gas.

Bang!

He rammed into me hard. My head snapped back with such force that I thought I would see stars. Amazingly, my air bag didn’t deploy, but I still lost all control of the wheel. I felt myself spinning, spinning out of control, then the next thing I saw was the cement barrier rushing closer. I would’ve crashed into it if I hadn’t seen at the last moment a gap in the wall. I grabbed hard on the wheel and held on, suddenly steering to make a sharp right when I reached the break.