I load all the bags into the trunk of my car and drive away.
I’m ten minutes away from my house when the radio shuts itself off. I keep driving, wondering how that’s even possible when suddenly the lights on the dashboard turn off. Out of fear that something’s really wrong with my car, I take the first exit off the highway. It’s not the one I normally take, but it’ll still get me to the same place, just locally.
When I leave the off ramp, I pull over on the side of the main road. Shutting off the car, I get off and start walking all the way around it. I try to figure out what could possibly be wrong with it. I burst out laughing at myself because I know nothing about cars and wouldn’t be able to figure out what was wrong if my life depended on it. I mean, all I know is that the radio and lights are turning themselves off.
“Whatever it is it probably isn’t serious,” I say to myself out loud, hoping to speak that into existence. Then, I get back in the car, put my seatbelt on, and turn the key.
“Are you kidding me?!” I shout when I realize the car isn’t turning on. “Maybe I shouldn’t have shut it off in the first place,” I tell myself, like that’s going to help me now.
I try turning the key again and again but nothing happens. No clicking sound. No indication that the car even realizes there’s a key in there.
Nope. Nothing.
I take the key out and try again.
There’s a small sound like a tapping way in the background, but after a few seconds nothing happens.
Taking the keys out of the car entirely, I get out of the car again and look around, for what? I have no freaking clue. This isn’t an old car, it shouldn’t be giving me troubles, it never has before. But I guess when it rains it pours, so why not keep adding complications to my life? Why not break down on me when I’m not feeling my best?
I get back in the car again, throw up a small prayer, and try the key one more time. When the car’s response is nothing, I become more and more frustrated.
Screw this.
I search through my bag for my phone so that I can google whatever the nearest mechanic shop or tow truck or whatever is. Triple A doesn’t really come out here, Forest Pines being a small town and all, and even if it did, it would take a couple hours for them to arrive. I don’t have time for that.
Did I mention that when it rains it pours? Well, let me say it again… life has a way of kicking you while you’re down because the moment I grab my phone it does what my radio and dashboard lights did, it shuts off. Literally the moment I unlock it, it shows the low battery symbol and then goes dark.
I try turning it on again, but the damn thing refuses to come back to life. I throw my head back on the headrest and laugh. “Seriously?!” I ask whoever is sending all this bad karma my way.
I stay in the car for a few minutes trying to figure out my options. I guess I could also wait for someone to drive by and help me out. I know how to get home from here. It’s a bit of a walk, but it’s not the worst thing that could happen. I could go home and use the house phone my parents don’t want me to get rid of, while my phone charges, to call a tow truck.
That’s what I’ll do, I decide. I’ll just go home and call a tow truck so they pick up my car and maybe figure out what’s wrong with it.
With my decision made, I open the trunk and take out the shopping bag with the ice cream. Today doesn’t need to be made worse by having to eat melted ice cream. Nope, it’ll just have to make the trek with me. I’m sure that it can survive the walk to my house. It’s fall anyway, how hot can it really be?
I lock the doors and start walking in the direction of my house.
CHRISTIAN
I take the exit off the highway and reduce my speed. It’s 6:00 pm and after practicing for three hours, I’m ready to take a shower and go to sleep. Luckily, Ari is at her grandma’s tonight and she’s taking her to school tomorrow morning. I can literally just go straight to the shower and then bed. With that in mind, I decide to take the highway home instead of my usual route.
Taking the exit toward my house, I slow down when I see a car on the right side of the road. There are no hazard lights on and as I drive by it, I glance in its direction to make sure everyone’s okay. I realize there aren’t any passengers in the car, which immediately tells me that someone’s left it behind for whatever reason. Maybe they ran out of gas?
I pull over to the side of the road in front of the vehicle and get out of my truck. I do a full walk around the vehicle to see if there’s any physical damage to it, but I don’t see any. The tires look fine and there aren’t any leaks, so it’s either they ran out of gas, battery stopped working, or something I can’t diagnose by just staring into it. At any rate, no one’s here, so I can’t be of any help.
Getting back in my truck, I pull back onto the main road.
“Siri, call Mom,” I instruct.
The phone rings three times and I can hear it through the speakers of my truck. “Hi sweetie,” she says answering.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Are you calling about Ari?”
“You’ve got my biggest treasure in your hands,” I tell her. Ari is the most important person in my life and any second I’m not with her, I’m praying she’s okay. She’s my everything.
“And I take care of her very well,” she replies.
“What have you guys done today?” I ask, picking up speed.
“I got her at school…” she starts, pausing enough to make me guess the next part of her sentence. “Then we went for ice cream.” I knew it!
“You can’t just keep taking her out for ice cream, Mom! She’s gonna get cavities or something.”
“Once a week seems like a good number of times to get ice cream with Grandma,” my mom retorts.
“I’ll make sure to blame anything the dentist says on you.”
“For my grandbaby, I’ll take the blame.”
“Can I talk to her?”
“Sure, one sec,” I hear my mom call Ari and while I wait I realize it’s started to drizzle and the sun is nowhere to be seen.
By the time Ari gets on the phone, the drizzle has turned into a full-blown downpour and there are nothing but clouds in the sky. Turning on the window wipers, I pay close attention to the road ahead.
“Hi, Daddy,” my daughter’s voice comes across the speaker.
“Hey princess, how are you?”
“I’m good. Grandma took me out for ice cream,” she says joyfully.
“I know, I’m going to have to stop letting Grandma pick you up,” I tell her, trying to get a reaction out of her.
“Please don’t. I like it when Grandma picks me up.”
“With all the ice cream she gets you, I don’t see why you wouldn’t,” I tell her. As I drive, I spot a woman with a bag in their hand walking on the right side of the road. I bet that she is the one with the car I ran into earlier. “Baby girl, I’ll call you as soon as I get home. Remember to behave.”
“Always do, Daddy.”
“Talk to you later, I love you.”
“I love you too.” I hang up the phone and drive up closer to the woman walking on the side of the road.