They met each other as teenagers at a dance. It was at one of those country town halls with creaky floorboards and twenty foot ceilings that were always chilly cold in winter. The bar heaters lined along the wall worked in vain to take the ice out of the air. She was dowdy pretty, and he was awkwardly handsome. They were clearly a good match. She rode horses and he fixed tractors. She portrayed normal feminine emotions and he was gentlemanly enough to never berate them.

Years later a traveller met them after he saw their advert reading "station wagon - regrettable sale". It was the car in which they had first kissed; the same car she had taken to the dance.

It was already dark as she drove along the dirt track on the way to the dance. She noticed an unusual vibration coming from the front of the car and pulled over to discover that one of the tyres had gone flat. She had changed tyres before but never in this car and so began to investigate the process. As she was searching through the rear of the car a man approached in a Ute, wound down his window and asked if she needed a hand. She accepted his offer and they went about the task together while striking up a conversation. He told her that her dress was pretty. She blushed through a smile and explained that she was going to a dance. He discovered that she had grown up in the area and loved the country life. He told her that he was from the city but that he found something enchanting and pure about the isolation away from the big lights. It was a shame, he said, that he needed to be home that night otherwise he might have considered going along to the dance with her. When they finished she thanked him for his kindness. He told her it wasn’t a problem and they smiled at each other. As he drove away she wondered if she might see him again. His thoughts went to her party dress and of how his gesture might have helped to prevent it from becoming covered in stains. He too wondered if he would one day see her again.

The directions said to travel 4.7 kilometres off the highway. It was the first farmhouse on the right with a sign at the gate that read “JP & TM Knight”. He had driven there in a borrowed car and was met at the beginning of a long driveway by a curious looking dog who chased him all the way to the house. A man greeted him and started going over the details of the car that was for sale. He also explained how it held a lot of emotional attachment for his wife but didn’t go into any details. A lady appeared holding a baby and with a look of apprehension went on to describe further their reason for selling the car and of how to use some of the features. He had been concerned about purchasing a vehicle from strangers but within a few minutes decided to rely on his instinct that they were trustworthy and agreed to the advertised price. He paid them and said that he would return in a few days to collect the car. He explained that he was visiting from a seaside town three hours away where he’d lived for fifteen years after escaping the city and that he might need some time to find a way to get back to the farmhouse. On the long drive home he couldn’t escape a feeling of familiarity that both the car and the woman stirred in him.

He stood on the highway verge with his thumb out for about an hour before he got a lift. It was the first of several rides that day, the last being from a farmer who dropped him at the gate where he was once again greeted by the dog. The car was parked up in a large enclosed shed and this made him think about the attachment the woman held for it. It had been sold but she was still hanging on in some way; still looking after it like a memento she never wanted to lose. They talked for a little while as she was saying goodbye to the car. She couldn’t help but offer him a few emotional details; details that he had now begun to become curious of. She explained how it was the car that her and her husband drove out to music festivals and rodeos in and how they would throw a double swag in the back with the rear door open so they could stare at the bright country starscapes. It was the same car that her husband had driven her to hospital in on the night when they had their first child. She also mentioned the only time she had ever needed to change a tyre on the car and talked about the kind stranger who had helped her on the way to a dance. She told him that it was the night when she had first met her husband and then spoke a little about fate. He suddenly realised their brief connection from the past and thought about saying something but then chose to keep it to himself.

As the dog followed him down the drive away from the farmhouse he looked in the rear vision mirror and thought that he noticed a tear in her eye.