Tuesday, October 23, 2012

(89) Never Stop on the Motorway by Jeffrey Archer

This is a typical Archer short story with a twist at the end. I suppose it was stupid of Diana to stop on the motorway to check on a road kill. But no one deserve to undergo a hair raising chase. She was dead scared of the driver who tail-gated her and was warning her to stop.

But in actual fact, the poor guy was a good Samaritan. Without him, Diana could have become the next statistic of rape and murder. This story reminded me of my friend who lived in a small flat as a young mother in Australia. During the year that her husband was undergoing training in the nearby hospital, she was looking after her first son at home.

Once her husband was away, she continued to go to her life group meeting. That night, another couple sent her home as her husband drove to a medical conference with their only car. The other couple took the trouble to go into the flat with her, look into every room, under each bed and into any big closet. You see, those were the years that windows in Melbourne were without locks and doors without iron grill. It was possible for any man with the right tool to easily break into any such a flat.

Lately, there have been many cases of men forcing themselves into single lady's car in shopping centers in my hometown. Some women were lucky, they jumped out and escaped with some injuries. Some were gang raped and lost cars too. One or two even died after being raped and were abandoned on the road side. It is really tragic that even the most independent woman who could succeed in the exam halls, board rooms, any business enterprise become quite defenseless in such a situation.

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