Benjamin was accelerating more this time as compared to their travel experience with the previous lane since he had lesser number of uneven patches to deal with.
The car was yet moving at a quite slower pace than what it usually maintained upon accelerating the engine. Earlier too, Martha had noticed this dilatory movement but wasn't able to figure out the reason behind it.
However, this time she could give a guesstimate that the slow movement of the vehicle could be credible to the heavy trunk of the car where a lot of things have been kept.
"Daddy must have brought those things on purpose since why would he otherwise bring so many heavy articles on such a long trip? Also what is the purpose of bringing so many things, if the heavy trunk is indeed a true theory for the slow movement?" thought Martha, her mind having shifted from autopilot to self control now.
She began to wonder all the rationale grounds for this trip to some unknown and of course desert place with no inhabitations.
"First things first, what sort of a person lives in such a vegetation where he could possibly not have access to basic resources since so far I've observed the surroundings, there doesn't seem to be any.
Even if there was a habitation on the other side of where we would be finally reaching, why not prefer to go from a path that is travelled often by people.
I am sure there would be one, provided there is a habitation somewhere nearby their destination.
Another question that conquered her mind was why they had been fighting in the morning. And if that wasn't enough, they had remained silent during the entire journey just after having a gruesome verbal fight at home.
"An argument arise among two parties when either one of them is not convinced with what the other has to say and make them believe into. Only an agreement would come to a halt when one of the parties gains a dominant position and persuades the other to act as per their accords. In this case, mommy seems to be in a dominant position since she's been issuing all the instructions so far. Now what is it that mommy convinced daddy about."
She was only analyzing everything when suddenly the car kept decelerating and finally it came to a halt.
Her father realized that one of the tires was got punctured. It was the rear left tire. "I can see the rear tire is flat" said Benjamin as he peered out of the window to look if the puncture was on his side which turned out to be true; the rear tire on his side was flat.
He got out of this car and so did the two ladies. It was getting dark and there were no street lights present on the road except for the head light of the car that brought to light the road in front of them till a few meters. Benjamin kicked the tire hard, wondering how it got punctured as he serviced all the tires only a week ago and they weren't supposed to go flat for the next few months for the least. Even Cindy was stressed that the change of tire would further delay their arrival at the destination. Benjamin, without any further due, unloaded the spare tire which was attached to the outside of the trunk.
Martha knew very well why the tire got punctured since it was her plan only to puncture the tire. When they were about to resume the journey from the barren lands, Martha was the last one to board the motor car as once both of her parents settled themselves inside the car, she surreptitiously bent down to penetrate her hair pin into the rear left tire. She left the hair pin half penetrated into the tire because the way she had left it, it would mechanically go further deep into the tire once the vehicle would start moving and tire would start moving forward.
Her objective behind causing the nuisance was to find out what was kept inside the trunk.
Benjamin finally succeeded in his pursuit of unloading the spare tire but here's where the real trouble began. To take out the punctured and fix the tire that was in good condition, he needed to take out the car jack. Therefore, the car jack was kept inside the trunk.
Not just inside the trunk but beneath the general space where one keeps his belongings in the trunk.
Now the trouble for Benjamin was to unload – if any – the luggage from the trunk to the ground. Martha keenly knew where the car jack was kept and hence planed things accordingly.
Benjamin realized the problem and exchanged eyes with Cindy. Cindy needed no verbal translation of the thought that Benjamin had to convey and understood the situation.
She tried to take the situation into her own hand and said to Martha, "Martha, you should go and seat inside the car while your father and I figure out what needs to be done.
Go." Martha had placed herself in a position that it was difficult to instruct her to do anything. "What are you even saying mommy? There's no need to figure out things right now.
Just pull out the Car jack and start unscrewing the punctured tire and then fix the spare tire to its place.
What is it you want to figure out in that?" asked Martha. Cindy, for the first time today, was at a loss of words.
Martha, realizing that, further added, "Also, you want me to be sitting inside the car while daddy do lift the car with the jack.
Wouldn't that be burdensome for him?" Cindy was clearly bewildered as to what should she even reply to her valid arguments.
Martha finally spoke, "What are you two hiding inside that trunk? I have already seen my travel baggage there.
What else are you two hiding." Her parents exchanged a look at each other and were clearly now in a state of bewilderment. Martha, realizing it is the perfect time to find the secrets out, quickly went and grabbed the handle of the trunk.