Life Twist

Friday after work, the shiny new truck jammed with the stereo up full blast. The driver was feeling on top of the world and celebrating the coming weekend.

Driving through a rough part of town there were homeless souls walking in the darkness. Some met to make drug deals and some were just on their way to the corner market. The road had four lanes and few street lights. The headlights of oncoming cars looked like huge stars approaching the truck.

Then the unreal happened. It looked like the silhouette of a large doll's head flipped in front of the car coming toward the truck in the opposing traffic lane.

It was hard to believe that anything bad had happened. Perhaps someone was sprinting across the street. Surely they had made it because the car was not slowing down. Then the headlights of the car bounced up and down as if there were hydraulic shocks in the front end. The car still continued and accelerated past the truck.

There it was. It was a woman’s body!

The mind slowed down... 1. Stop the truck. 2. Turn down the music. 3. Emergency lights turned on. 4. Stop all traffic.

Waving down traffic, people calling 911 on their cell phones. Homeless souls slinking into the dark shadows.

There was a mass of curly brown hair mostly obscuring her face. She was thin and her legs were bent at impossible angles. One arm looked fine but the other one looked like it had been wrung out like a dishrag. Surprisingly there was very little blood. The worst of it was that her torso was face down, and her face was not. Some things are hard for the human brain to comprehend the first few moments that you see something. Her head was twisted around completely backwards.

She tried to move, but quiet whispers told her just to breathe and be still. Help was coming.

The ambulance arrived and filled the road with red and white flashing lights. The light only added to the distortion of her body. When the paramedics looked at her they took steps back. Talking in hushed tones as one of them held the backboard. It took considerable time to secure her on the backboard and into the ambulance.

After the ambulance took her away, there were several remains from the accident. Her shoes had flown in opposite directions across the street. Her purse contents and weed bag were scattered near where she had lain. A lipstick case had rolled to the gutter.

The damn car never stopped even though they had to four-wheel over her body! The driver was caught and was drunk, but that was small comfort. Joy can be so fleeting, and so can life.