Coincidence? (687 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.08 on 12 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by AshK <alkite at gmail.com> (View user info) at 2007-06-17 15:35:16 EDT
Miles of interstate had passed behind me and there were still a lot of miles to go when I first considered ditching the interstate for some 2 lane driving. Tom Petty was telling me to "Breakdown it's alright", which I replied that it truly wasn't all that alright. I'd been talking to the, sometimes fuzzy, classic rock station for miles, sincerely wishing I had asked for XM radio at Christmas instead of that camera.
It was only 9, just seeping from twilight to dark, and the interstate seemed like a weight, dragging my eyelids down. The lure of fewer big rigs and a different hum of the tires, invited me off 70 at Vandalia, but rout 51 past the prison was hilly and heavily wooded. I wasn't looking to bag a deer with my minivan.
A few miles past Vandalia, the low fuel light grabbed my attention away from Rod Stewart, who was gonna "steal my daddy's cue and make a living out of playing pool." The next exit was St. Elmo, a pretty good spot for interstate ditching. I could be home within the hour.
The opening riff to Twilight Zone accompanied me out of the gas station, and out of St. Elmo. "...my beacon's been moved under moon and star, where am I to go now that I've gone to far..." I was just south of Wright's Corner when it happened. I'll say "it", because I have no better description. My stomach flipped, it was that tight fear from seeing an animal jump too late to stop or feeling your car slide on the ice, although nothing had jumped and there was no ice.
I swerved toward the shoulder breathing hard, my hands gripping the steering wheel in panic. I somehow safely stopped the van well off the road, but I couldn't say how. A feeling that was practically a voice shouting in my ear was saying GET. OUT. NOW!
My hand grabbed for the door handle, but the door was locked. Of course it was, they don't unlock until you put it in park, Ash. Put. The. Van. In. Park.
I was reaching for the gear shift when headlights coming down the road in the opposite lane took my eye. The driver of the truck pulled over a little past me and reversed back toward where I was parked. I gathered my senses and remembered that I was alone on a country road and I was about to hop out of my van for absolutely no sane reason. I was loosing it.
I glanced over and saw two young men in the truck, good Samaritans or boys looking for trouble? I let go of the gear shift and gave a little wave as I took my foot off the brake, the driver nodded and smiled as he put his truck in drive and pulled away. Just some concerned kids in a truck.
I took a breath, and another, and then one more. I slowly increased my driving speed back to the speed limit, feeling the trembling of adrenaline in my arms and the pounding of my heart. I turned off the radio and thought about it for miles. Turned it over and around and upside down in my brain. I think I even dreamed about it last night. By this morning, I had chalked it up to a long day of driving. Just one of those odd things, that had never happened before and would hopefully never happen again. That was before breakfast.
On Sundays we like to go to the local greasy spoon and have breakfast with a group of other people who also have nothing better to do on Sunday. It's called the liars' table, and we love to sit there listening to stories and gossip from the community. Jimmy jumped in during a lull in the conversation and asked if we had heard about "that one girl". Jimmy isn't very descriptive. Someone asked "which girl" and Jimmy said that he heard it at Grandma's Cafe early this morning, a hunt for a missing woman started around 4 A.M. and one of the dogs had found her off in a field, mostly dead, just outside of St. Elmo. "It was the big wheat filed just South of Wright's Corner, she's in a coma, they say someone beat and stabbed her, they don't know much else I guess."
I can't get that damned Golden Earring tune out of my head.
User Reviews
Submitted by Zeglamancer (user info) at 2007-06-18 15:45:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
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Submitted by SgtHartman (user info) at 2007-06-18 15:37:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
nice
Submitted by Void_Where_Prohibited (user info) at 2007-06-18 14:36:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2007-06-17 23:21:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
whoa
Submitted by BeaverDamn (user info) at 2007-06-17 23:18:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
My ex-girlfriend was from Vandalia.
I wish she would have stayed there.
Fuck 70
I-75 KICKS IT IN THE HYMEN
Submitted by i_can_get_you_a_toe (user info) at 2007-06-17 19:26:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2007-06-17 19:03:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-06-17 18:46:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-06-17 16:45:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Ilikesteak must of had too much PCP on his corn flakes this morning...
... 'cause this kicked my ass.
Submitted by ilikesteak (user info) at 2007-06-17 16:27:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Could have made a title pun, but no. This was awful.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-06-17 16:09:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by Maddog (user info) at 2007-06-17 15:41:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Would've been +2, but you drive a minivan.