Back to the 50s

I am driving down a little side street because I have somehow managed to get off the interstate. I drive slowly down this little street and I see something that isn't too common these days, kids outside playing. I slow down to a crawl to observe these children running through the yard, squealing in delight as a little boy kicked a upside-down coffee can and ran away. It looked like there were a dozen children playing the age old game. Must be neighbors from the several houses surrounding neighborhood. The children are oblivious to the world around them and the current war that is raging over seas. I long to role my window down to hear their cries of delight, but I don't dare due to the sweltering heat. I reach for the knob and turn up the air-conditioner.
I continue to drive and a few yards down there are another group of kids playing. This group a little older. There were three boys and three girls. The boys were chasing the girls through an arc of water, they all giggled a laughed with glee. One of the girls looked to be about twelve or thirteen while the other two were maybe eight and ten. The older of the girls had blond hair pulled into two pigtails, and I could see her blue eyes from the car. They were amazing. The older of the boys looked to be close to, or older than the girl. Maybe thirteen or fourteen. I couldn't help but notice the special attention the older boy wielding the water hose was giving the older blond girl. There was a certain look in his eyes that said he was getting the first onset of puppy love. I sighed wistfully, I remember my first love. To be that young without a care in the world would be great.
I didn't linger any longer for the fear of someone seeing me and thinking I was some sort of sick pedophile so I continued down the street. The quite neighborhood gave way to what I presumed to be the business district. It was unlike any business district I had ever seen before in my life. There were only a few cars on the street and they were classic cars in fantastic condition. Must be a car show somewhere. Several of the stores looked like they needed a fresh coat of paint but they were all charming. I passed a store that read Murphy's General in faded red letters. All together it was a charming looking building. To the side of the screened entrance sat two old rocking chairs swaying slightly with the dry breeze. At the end of the porch sat two old men playing chess or checkers on a makeshift table, while an old hound lie on it's back, tongue hanging out sleeping. At least I hoped he was sleeping. One of the old men looked up and gave me a toothless grin and waved. He was completely bald and sported the ugliest pair of coke bottle glasses I had ever seen, but yet despite his appearance I couldn't help but to smile and wave back. On the other end of the porch a older lady swept the dust from the wooden porch and smiled sweetly at the old men. Married or lovers? I wondered, after all I am a writer and I study people very well.
Feeling my dour mood lift I continued down the street and passed several more shops. A smithery and a leather shop. I saw the unmistakable sign of a barber and saw another man sitting out front reading a newspaper. I came to the end of town and saw the sign I had been looking for, but in order to get to where I needed to be I had to go back through town. I turned and slowly made my way back through town this time looking at the opposite side. There were only three buildings on this side of the road. The most domineering structure was a church with a towering steeple. To the side of the church was a small cemetery with several cracked and crumbling stones. I caught myself daydreaming about what it had been like during the gold rush days. Had there be ice cream socials held in the yard of the church?
The other building that stood beside the church was a dinner. Through the windows I could see several tables with bright red and white checkered table cloths. There were a few people in there but not many. I made a mental note to go in there on my next visit or the first day in my new house.
I wasn't sure what it was about this town but it was intriguing me, and I found myself falling in love with it. It wasn't fast paced but rather slow and relaxed. There was no pavement instead firmly packed dirt roads. I could see myself living here, in a cozy little house with my computer and just writing and being forgotten by the whole world. Not that I hadn't already been forgotten. At that moment the radio crackled loudly scaring me half out of my mind. I didn't even remember turning it on. I fiddled with the knobs but there was nothing but static, then as if by magic a old song came over the waves, In the still of the night. I smiled fondly I had listened to this song when I was a little girl. My gas light sang out reminding me that I needed to refuel before I ended up walking, and that wasn't going to happen. It was way to hot. I found a filling station and the gas price said twenty cents. I laughed out loud. Gas hadn't been that low since the fifties, or so I am told. In fact it hadn't been under three dollars for three months now.
I pulled into the station and the bell rang out that a customer had arrived. A young good looking man came to my window. He was wearing a blue mechanic's jumper with the name Ben embroidered on the chest. He had sandy blond hair and blue eyes that would make the bluest sky jealous. He was indeed extremely good looking.
"How much ma'am," he asked politely. Ma'am? He couldn't be much older than myself and he was calling me ma'am.
"Fill it up please."
He placed the gas nozzle in the dry tank. While the gas was entering the hungry tank he washed my windows and asked to pop the hood of my car. He was checking my oil, now that is service, I though. I didn't know full service stations still existed anymore. The gas kicked off and he replaced the nozzle back into it's cradle.
"That's two sixty ma'am," he said.
"What? How much is gas?" I asked after I picked my chin up off of my lap.
He looked like I was about to hit him. "I'm sorry ma'am, prices went up the other day. The prices are now twenty cents. It was just fifteen. I wish I didn't have to charge you but my boss would hang me if he knew I was giving out free gas."
"No it's not a problem I was just expecting it to be more."
"Not from around here are you, ma'am?" Enough with the ma'am bit, I though.
"No. Where exactly is here ," I asked.
"Greenfield and the name's Ben," he said offering me a slightly greasy hand. He looked down at it embarrassed, but before he pulled it away I took it into mine. I don't know what it was but I felt pulled towards this stranger.
"I'm Andrea."
"Wait here," he said as he walked away. Why did he want me to wait I wondered. What was he doing. So I watched as he walked over to the side of the road and plucked several colorful flowers from the ground. He came back and handed them to me.
I was stunned speechless and for me that is a shock.
He just winked and said "I'll see you soon." As he walked away he whistled In the still of the night. I sat the flowers on the seat beside me and reluctantly left the town behind. I pulled out on the interstate and headed home, but I got a mile down the road and decided I didn't want to go home I just wanted to go back and see Ben. I turned around and went in search for the road. I drove for ten miles one way and then ten miles the other. I was confused there was no road only miles and miles of trees. I pulled into the gas station to get some directions but when I came out I am almost certain I looked as if I had seen a ghost. The clerk, in her late seventies, said that the town of Greenfield had been destroyed in a fire in the early seventies and now the forest was where the town had been. I didn't bother telling her what had just happened because in all honesty I wasn't sure myself.
Finally back on the interstate I headed home a little heart sick that it must have been the heat making me see things that didn't even exist. I watched the endless high way stretch out before me and the heat that rose from the asphalt was almost hypnotizing. The heat made it appear that the pavement ahead of me was wet, but I knew better. Then there he was, walking on the side of the road. I didn't remember seeing a stalled vehicle on the side of the road anywhere so where had come from. Maybe someone had dropped him off. I wasn't sure what possessed me to pull over and talk to a stranger on the side of the road, but I would hope someone would do the same for me on a hot day like this. I pulled the car onto the shoulder and rolled down my window and my heart leapt into my chest.
"Ben?" It couldn't be. I had dreamed the whole thing, but when I looked into my passenger seat the flowers that he had just given me were there.
"I told you I would see you soon," he said flashing me a smile full of white straight teeth. It should be a crime to have that pretty of a smile. Ben climbed into my car and I just stared at him afraid that I was dreaming again, or something.
"What is going on? This isn't real, I am dead somewhere and you are my angel?"
He leaned over and kissed me and suddenly I realized that everything that had just happened to me had been real. I don't know how and I don't think I want to know but it did. I had been praying for years that God would send me a good man. God does things the strangest ways, but who am I to question that.
I pulled off the shoulder and back onto the highway. I smiled at him and grabbed my hand. Together we drove into the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen before in my life, and I had realized I had gone back to the fifties to find the man of my dreams.