Last Chance

Last Chance
The hour is getting late and the rain is pounding against the windshield, overwhelming the futile attempts by the washers to give me a clear view. Common sense would tell me to pull over and wait till the storm passes, but I am so eager to be in your arms again. The car plows through a massive puddle covering the entire lane and my heart skips a few beats as I feel the tire's hydroplane underneath me.

I reach down and crank the stereo up a few notches and grip the steering wheel tighter concentrating on the road ahead. Four more hours and I will be home free. So much for the accuracy of the weather report of a clear dry evening I thought as I concentrated on the task of driving.

I have driven this route so many times I feel I could complete it in my sleep and sometimes I felt I had. Tonight though my mind is wandering back to the time when we first met and fell in love. As the washers flash back and forth on the windshield I slip into a dreamlike state and see you as I saw you for the first time, bashful yet bold as our eyes met, a rush of warmth covering my body as yours eyes drift slowly down. I knew from that instant we were destined to be together.

After a few months of dating, we found that we were deeply in love. It was a romantic's dream come true. Quiet nights spent snuggling in one another's arms, picnics in the park, candle lit bubble baths, entire conversations communicated with the meeting of eyes and a passion matched by none. My heart races at the thought of our first night spent together, the tenderness we shared as we first explored one another's body and the restraint it took to make it a night to remember for lifetimes to come.

A sign flashes by for an upcoming rest area and I pull in to take a break and to call you and let you know I am on my way. As I pull into the parking spot the rain lets up for a moment, and I run quickly inside. After a stop in the facilities, I locate the pay telephone and my fingers race through the numbers. After several rings, the answering machine picks up playing our prerecorded message...sorry we can’t come to the telephone right now, blah, blah, blah.

With more than a little disappointment I leave a message telling you I should be home in a few short hours and not to wait up on me, though I know you will be awake when I arrive. With love and kisses I hang up the telephone and make a frantic dash to the car, lighting a smoke and popping in a fresh CD.

I pull back onto the Interstate and the downpour resumes as if waiting my return. Listening to the thump of the washers, my mind drifts back to the day we were married, standing on the sugar white sands of the beach surrounded by friends and family as we shared vows of an eternal love and commitment to one another.

A semi blows passed me on the road, spraying a wave of water onto the car that sounds like a bombshell exploding and I feel the car swerving off to the right near the shoulder of the road. I take my foot off the gas pedal and resist the urge to hit my brakes knowing that doing so would create a worse situation and slowly the car settles back into the lane safely. A few choice words were blurted from me directed at the truck driver for his carelessness.

Another thirty minutes and I would be off the Interstate, onto a two laned road and I hoped lighter traffic. The area had suffered a drought over the summer months and the intense rainfall had nowhere to go but rolling off the heat baked soil in a flash flood.

Without further incident, I made it to the county road and continued my southbound journey through the monsoon. I traveled for nearly a half hour without encountering any traffic and I felt that the rain was beginning to lighten. With a glimmer of hope, I thought that I would arrive home to a clear dark sky after all.

I saw headlights approaching me from the oncoming lane and immediately recognized the multitude of lights of a semi tractor. The distance between us closed too rapidly for reality as I watched his approach cautiously. The man driving the truck was probably just as tired and eager to arrive safely at home as was I and was pushing the limits a little too hard.

As the distance between us closed I could see a wake of water headed in my direction. Instinctively, I slowed and moved as far right as I dared, however, at the same instant he veered into my lane, perhaps in a dream of his own. My response was a hard turn to the right as I made an effort to prevent a collision, but I was not quick enough to be missed entirely. As my front wheels left the road, the semi clipped my rear panel sending me tumbling down the embankment rolling over and over.

A bright light flashed before my eyes as the car continued its descent and when it finally stopped there was only blackness.

When I awoke, I could hear the whirling sound made by the rotors of a helicopter somewhere veryclose to me. I could feel the sensation of being lifted and carried by someone, the cool rain pelting down onto my body. I felt the rain as it coated me, but I did not feel any pain or discomfort. I could see strained and worried face's hovering over me and I opened my mouth to speak, but there were no words coming from within. Then, the darkness overtook me.

The next time I awoke, the bright lights of a hospital emergency room were glaring down at me. I could see people working feverishly about the room but could not hear what they were saying. In the distance, or what was in the back of my mind, I could hear music playing faintly and I turned my eyes in the direction I felt it coming from.

In the corner of the room, I could see another light, faint at first and a figure slowly starting to emerge.

Surely I was dreaming. The person slowly approaching me I recognized as my grandmother who had passed on more than twenty years ago. Then the realization hit me like a ton of bricks....I was dying or dead already and she was sent as my escort.

Struggling trying to breathe enough air into my lungs to speak, I found myself motionless, unable to make the slightest twitch of a muscle. I felt my body floating toward the growing light and into the arms of my smiling grandmother. Her warm embrace encircled me like none had ever felt before and I felt my body relax. We left the cold, harsh room behind and were slowly walking down what appeared as a country road.

As we walked, my grandmother spoke to me of how she had watched over me for many years and remarked at what a beautiful woman I had become and how she had watched me fall deeply and madly in love. When she spoke of this, the sadness overwhelmed me as I realized I would never again hold that love in an embrace or feel the caress of soft kisses against my skin and I wept.

Deeply I wept, unable to control the sobs shattering my heart as they burst forth from my body. Grandmother held me in her arms and comforted me like she had so many times as a child who had fallen or felt an imaginary hurt, soothing my ache. When I was finally able to speak, I asked her if this was truly my time and she smiled and nodded her affirmation.

I asked her if I had time to complete one last deed before moving on and she said I would have the remainder of this night, but the rising of the sun would signal my last moments on this earth. With those words spoken, she smiled on last smile and faded into the light.

I closed my eyes and imagined arriving at home and when I opened my eyes I was on our front porch, keys in my hand reaching for the lock. I rushed to open the door and walked quickly to our bedroom to find her awake, lying in bed reading, waiting for me as I knew she would be.

She looked up at me and remarked that I was early and leaned forward as I bent down to kiss her. Noticing that my clothes were soaked she instructed me to remove them quickly and get under the covers before I caught my death of cold. I removed each piece and slid into the bed next to her, relishing the warmth of her body.

I was shivering, partly from the cold wetness that had seeped deep into my body and partly from the fear and excitement of the last few hours of my life. She rolled over on top of me covering my body with the warm blanket of her soft skin and I began to feel the chill slowly evaporate.

She held me close, wrapping her warmth and love around my entire body and I began feeling sensations deeper than I ever had before. The Passion perfume she wore so enticed me to bury my face in her neck to breathe all the scent in that I could, filling my lungs deeply. My lips kissed their way up her beautiful long neck and found her lips softly awaiting another kiss.

Our mouths joined in a slow, passionate kiss which added to the growing warmth between us. With one practiced move I rolled her onto her back and lay my body on top of her, never breaking our kiss. Our bodies melted into one as we began to make love slowly to one another.

With trembling hands we touched and caressed one another, bringing our bodies together to the height of pleasure before tumbling down into wave after wave of orgasm. Something burned deep inside of me and the way our bodies reacted, was if our bodies knew this would be the final opportunity we had to share physical love. Each touch sent a new spasm of pleasure and we loved one another to sleep, tenderly cradled in one another's arms.

I awoke several hours later and lay in the bed watching the sleeping form of my love and my heart ached so deeply. My time was growing short and I reached over to kiss her before climbing out of the bed. After pulling on dry clothes, I walked into the kitchen and pulled out a note pad and a pen.

I wrote my love a brief note and stepped outside to the backyard to the rose garden she tended so carefully and picked a beautiful red rose from her favorite bush. Flower and note in hand, I returned to our bedroom and stood over her watching her sleeping form. I bent down and placed the rose on the pillow where my head had laid and gently tucked the note beneath the flower.

I bent to kiss her soft lips one last time and sat beside her on the bed stroking her hair, reveling in the softness, storing that memory for eternity.

I looked toward the bay window and I could see the first fragments of light beginning to approach the horizon and I realized the time of magic was nearing the end. Then the telephone rang and my love rolled over to answer it and was shocked to discover it was my mother calling so early in the day.

Mom had received a call from the hospital that there had been an accident and that I had not survived despite valiant efforts to keep me alive. My love was in shock as she listened to my mother, but had the intuition to roll over and touch the pillow where my head had laid until moments ago. When she did, her hand fell on the rose and the note tucked gently underneath.

She dropped the telephone onto the bed and reached for the note. She unfolded the paper and read these few words, “I will love you for an eternity” and burst into tears.

I smiled confident that she had received my last message. I knew my time had passed as I reached to touch her face one last time, wiping the tears from her cheek, though I knew the magic was gone and she could no longer see or feel my presence. I turned away silently and closed my eyes, hearing her sobs and when I opened my eyes once more my Grandmother was waiting, extending her hands to welcome me home.

I took her hand in mine, smiling as we turned and began our walk down that long country road, fading slowly from this life.