The Drive Home

                The Moon was up, a bright beacon in the otherwise dark and cloudy night sky. He couldn’t remember what time it had been when he left, but the moon hadn’t been in the sky yet. He had long ago turned off the radio in an effort to stay awake. Talk radio was the Sandman of the modern age, he always said. His iPod was doing its best but after so many hours behind the wheel it was slowly losing the battle with gravity as to where his eyelids should be. In normal situations he would have stopped at a hotel for the night, but no way was he going to put off seeing her for one more night. It had been over three weeks since last he had seeing her. Her skin, like fine Chinese silk, naturally tend to perfection, Her waves of multi-shaded blond hair that always seem to glistened whenever she moved her head. He could almost feel her in his arms, her curves fitting his body like a glove. The smell of her perfume invading his senses sending shivers down the spine, a prelude to other more sensual sensations. His body already tingled from the feel of phantom nails running down his back. Her nails, of course, published forest green. She always had some shade of green on, it was his favorite color and she knew it drove him wild to see her in the color of his soul.

            Beep!!! The sound of the horn from the car next to him brought him back to earth with a dreadful lurch. He hadn’t been paying attention to the road and had almost drifted into the other lane. He looked at the car as it passed him, and with a nauseated spasm in his stomach realized how close he had come to nearly killing himself. The car was a Chevy truck, an old one, the kind of truck that could crush his rental 1980 Buick regal with little to no damage to itself. He and his car would’ve been left in an embrace to intimate for his Christian sensibilities.

              “Man, I need an energy boost!” He said with a deep sigh. He quickly opened the glove compartment grabbing one of the tiny yellow and red bottles from within before it could fall to the floor. One quick twist and the dark colored liquid was gone down his throat. It tasted horrible would it was the best way to stay awake short of a coffee I-V sending the wake-up juice directly into his veins. He had to stay awake, the clouds were thickening in the sky, and although the weatherman has said it would be a dry night he had no doubt it would start to rain soon.

              “Just my luck!” He said rolling his eyes to the heavens.

              The rain started slow, a drop here, a drop there, but soon was coming down in sheets. He could hardly see where he was going. If he hadn’t known the way by heart he would have been in trouble. As it was he only had to slow his speed so as to not hydroplane. A graded, but he was not about to risk his life. The whole point was to get home to her not die trying.

With a laugh at the idea he did a quick search through his playlists on his iPod, switching from Mumford and sons to Cloud cult, a more upbeat group to get the blood flowing.

              Pop!!! The sound of a tire popping flooded over “Journey of the featherless” making him jump and nearly skid off the road. He managed to pull the car to the side of the road amidst strings of cursing, each string broken by his intake of breath. The Fates’ sense of humor was going through a dark streak, He thought as he let his heart slow from its mad dash to vacate his chest cavity. He stared out into the rainy night not looking forward to being cold and wet. Sighing with dreary acceptance he dashed out of his car heading for the trunk. The raindrops felt like little pins of ice to him as they quickly soaked his thin sweater and slacks. He opened the trunk and quickly found where the car jack and wrench were stored. He had little experience with repairing flat tires, and he had watched her repair flats often enough that he was fairly certain he could do it with little difficulty. He set to work and soon found that she had made changing a tire look easy, although he had to admit she’d never had to do it in the rain. It was slow miserable work, with each passing second he began to feel more and more like a sponge.

            Finally he got the last bolt on just as the storm began to slow. By that point he was beyond caring, but he did spare a short chuckle at the timing as if the weather had just decided to rain to make a bad situation worse. He cleaned up and was soon back on the road, now more tired than ever. He didn’t think he could last much longer and he still had two more exits to go before he reached his. Good old exit 42, when she reached that he was an hour away from home and her loving arms. But first he had to get an exit, hopefully without any more mishaps. He reached for another energy boost just as a big yawn raked through him. That was a bad sign, whenever he started yawning sleep usually wasn’t far behind. Without hesitation he downed another tiny bottle.

            Time blurred for him, he couldn’t say how he made it to exit 42. For all he knew he had slept the whole way there, although his car hadn’t been wrecked so he had to have been awake enough to stay in his lane. He didn’t really care he was only an hour away from home, so close, yet so far. He checked his gas gauge and cursed. He didn’t have enough gas to make it home. Curses luck, he thought as he continued down the deserted road. He had left the other cars back on the highway. Hardly anyone in this area would be out on the road at 3 AM. It just wasn’t done, but he had always played his life to a different beat. Only last month, he had been out to near dawn with her. They had gone to their spot out in the cornfield. With such a clear night they had made love under the stars. She had done things to him that had nearly sent him into orbit, or at least it felt like he was blasting off like a rocket. Her screams of pleasure had almost caused Farmer Ryan’s cattle to stampede. It would have been funny, but he was glad they hadn’t. The consequences would have been anything but funny…at least not right away.

            With only a little over 2 miles left he pulled into the 24 hour lucoil. Like so many lucoils in the country this one used to be a moble. He didn’t know why it had to change, but luckily the service had stayed the same.

            Inside the circle K. Frank was on duty as usual. Frank never worked any shift but the late shift, because of his belief that he was a vampire. In truth he was just a silly old man with a blood deficiency and a skin disease that made it so he would burn up in direct sunlight. Frank didn’t drink blood. He had it injected right into his veins. Frank had showed him once, it was a little creepy but not overly so.

            “Hey Frank. How’s business?” It was the same question he always asked when he saw Frank. It seemed to give Frank a smile to be treated like a friend. The rest of the town only talk to Frank if they had to. Otherwise they ignore Frank for no other reason than Frank was different.

              “I need 25.00 on pump two.” He said as he put the bills on the counter. Frank didn’t speak as he took his money. Frank never did, unless Frank had something to say. With a small nod to Frank he headed back to the pump. So close to home he didn’t want to delay any longer than he had to.

              Within no time at all he was fueled and back on the road. He had nothing to worry about. The nearness to home gave him the kind of energy nothing else could produce. He was happy. He could almost smell her perfume, Ode to Ben-Gay. It was supposedly French, but in reality it was fake. You know, the kind of fake that makes one go….DAMN!!! What a woman will do to humor her man.

              When the light that marked the 1 mile to home point turned yellow his good feelings ebbed a little. More delays, why all the F’in delays. He was tempted to just drive through the light, but the cops around town were like phantoms. You just never knew when or where they would pop up. It was kind of stupid since he was the only car on the road. However officer Styles was still trying to get him for something and it would just be his luck for the bastard to come around the corner just as he went through a red light.

TAP, TAP, TAP, the sound of tapping coming from the man, who just appeared next to his car, startled him. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

              “Jesus man, where did you come from?” He asked as he rolled his window down just enough to speak from.

              “Does it matter? Out of the car please.” The man’s words were slow and calm, but the gun in the man’s hand made it so this man didn’t need to shout. He just had to laugh, what more could possibly happen tonight? He got out of the car slowly, drawing each second out as long as he could. It was the only form of defiance he had opened to him and he was going to milk it for all it was worth. If the man shot him so be it. He also couldn’t help thinking how odd it was that when he most needed the police they were nowhere in sight.

“Thank you, now back away to the sidewalk. I have a schedule to keep.” Again the man spoke slowly and calmly like the man did this every day to the point that it was just routine. The man expected to be followed without fuss, which he had to admit was exactly what was happening. If he ever saw this man again he was going to kill the man, or at least beat the man to an inch of the man’s life.

He backed up to the sidewalk, but before he had both feet planted the man jumped into the car and was off down the road, the light having just changed green. He watched as the man disappeared over the hill at the end of the road, just as the police cruiser came into sight down the cross street. He grinned at the irony.

              Not wanting to bother reporting the theft tonight he began the mile walk home. His luck seemed to be turning up since at least it wasn’t raining again. He laughed at the thought, for he just remembered that to steal his car the man had to sit on the drenched front seat. His laughter didn’t last, but it was good to think that even now there was a brighter side to the situation.

              When he finally made it to the street he was near delirious with joy. He was only a few steps from her embrace and the end of this wicked journey of his. The street was dark since there was no street lamps to light the way. His neighbors were all asleep so no lights were on in any of the houses he passed. He didn’t care really the only house he cared about was his own. The lights were on, like a lighthouse beacon calling him home from sea. He was so distracted he didn’t notice the 1980. Buick Regal parked on the street outside his house. He just wanted to get inside before any more misfortune fell on his head.

            He entered his house quietly so he could surprise her. She likes surprises in this surprise is going to shower her with the delight. Quickly checking the downstairs he made sure she wasn’t there, for the stairs creaked and he didn’t want to spoil the surprise if she wasn’t upstairs.

            When he was satisfied she was upstairs he headed up trying to make as little noise as possible but of course the stairs creaked with each step he took. He sighed with pleasure, for he could hear the loud moaning coming from their room. She was watching porn again. She sometimes woke in the middle of the night and only a large orgasm would allow her to get back to sleep. His timing was in sync tonight, even if the other times had been timed for pain whether then pleasure. He quickly made short work of the remaining stairs. His body already aching for the pleasure she alone could give him, he opened the door wide only to stop dead in its tracks.

            “Amy!” his cry cutting through the scene before him like an ax through a ripe melon. The silence that followed was deafening. He couldn’t quite wrap his mind around what he was seeing. Amy, the shade of his heart, riding the man who stole his car as if the Man was a stallion being put through his paces.

            “Amy!” he cried again as he fell to his knees his heart broken.

            “Sean, I’m sorry.” Said Amy with the look of a deer in headlights.

           

“Oh God, no….”