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He was so angry he had been cut off like that. The person in front of him hadn't even signaled and was now creeping in front of him at a snails pace. As if cutting in front of him made it so they could go anywhere anyway!
She was in such a hurry! Her daughter was singing as we speak and she knew her big brown eyes were going to be sparkling with tears when she would arrive too late. She had to make it on time! But this traffic was going so slow!
She had a wedding to get to. She was the maid of honor. She was one of the most important to be there and she didn't want to let down her best friend.
He was a father of two children riding in his back seat. He didn't have a wife anymore. She had left him long ago. His children echoed each other back and forth, "Are we there yet?", "Are we there yet?", "Are we there yet?" He sighed and looked in his review mirror.
He saw her face, just looking back to the road in front of her and putting away some kind of make-up. Lipstick maybe? She looked tense but beautiful. Dressed up in some kind of formal wear. Perhaps she was late for a special occasion... How lovely she was. He wished he could meet her perchance.
Suddenly the car ahead of him took off and smashed into the SUV in front of it. What was going on? He looked through his review mirror again at the woman and she had a shocked look on her face. Was she getting out? Yes, she was getting out! "I'll get out too." He thought.
"You kids stay in the car." He told his children as he opened his door.
The man driving the vehicle in front of him was out of his car already and he was rushing forward to the SUV in front of him, shouting about being insulted by the person driving the SUV. The woman got out of her SUV now. She had tears streaking down her cheeks. They shouted at each other. Something about a daughter's school program and it went on as if nothing else in the world mattered but this instant.
The father looked back at the Maid of Honor and winked. She had stopped in her tracks, staring at the spectacle in front of them.
"I have a wedding to get to, you know." She said. Her voice was soft even in her frustration.
"Well, I'd imagine it will be a while before you get there." The father spoke back.
All cars around were still, stopped in their tracks. Their cars were too close together. There was no moving and the man and woman were now on their cell phones. The moment seemed to be a long one.
But when he looked back at the maid, she smiled. How unexpected.
"I guess we should just make the best of it..." She said, reaching into her car's open window. Out came a bottle of champagne. "I don't think these are going to make it to the wedding."
The father looked through the window at his children. They were throwing popcorn at each other.
"You have people in your car?" She asked, stepping forward to observe. "Ah. Well, champagne isn't something to have on the road anyway." She hurried back to her car, set down the bottle and withdrew a box of crackers with some fancy cheese spread.
The father smiled. The shouting behind him had risen again, but it seemed like background music in her presence. "I'm John."
"Jasmine."
Dani
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4 comments:
He was so angry he had been cut off like that. The person in front of him hadn't even signaled and was now creeping in front of him at a snails pace. As if cutting in front of him made it so they could go anywhere anyway!
She was in such a hurry! Her daughter was singing as we speak and she knew her big brown eyes were going to be sparkling with tears when she would arrive too late. She had to make it on time! But this traffic was going so slow!
She had a wedding to get to. She was the maid of honor. She was one of the most important to be there and she didn't want to let down her best friend.
He was a father of two children riding in his back seat. He didn't have a wife anymore. She had left him long ago. His children echoed each other back and forth, "Are we there yet?", "Are we there yet?", "Are we there yet?" He sighed and looked in his review mirror.
He saw her face, just looking back to the road in front of her and putting away some kind of make-up. Lipstick maybe? She looked tense but beautiful. Dressed up in some kind of formal wear. Perhaps she was late for a special occasion... How lovely she was. He wished he could meet her perchance.
Suddenly the car ahead of him took off and smashed into the SUV in front of it. What was going on? He looked through his review mirror again at the woman and she had a shocked look on her face. Was she getting out? Yes, she was getting out! "I'll get out too." He thought.
"You kids stay in the car." He told his children as he opened his door.
The man driving the vehicle in front of him was out of his car already and he was rushing forward to the SUV in front of him, shouting about being insulted by the person driving the SUV. The woman got out of her SUV now. She had tears streaking down her cheeks. They shouted at each other. Something about a daughter's school program and it went on as if nothing else in the world mattered but this instant.
The father looked back at the Maid of Honor and winked. She had stopped in her tracks, staring at the spectacle in front of them.
"I have a wedding to get to, you know." She said. Her voice was soft even in her frustration.
"Well, I'd imagine it will be a while before you get there." The father spoke back.
All cars around were still, stopped in their tracks. Their cars were too close together. There was no moving and the man and woman were now on their cell phones. The moment seemed to be a long one.
But when he looked back at the maid, she smiled. How unexpected.
"I guess we should just make the best of it..." She said, reaching into her car's open window. Out came a bottle of champagne. "I don't think these are going to make it to the wedding."
The father looked through the window at his children. They were throwing popcorn at each other.
"You have people in your car?" She asked, stepping forward to observe. "Ah. Well, champagne isn't something to have on the road anyway." She hurried back to her car, set down the bottle and withdrew a box of crackers with some fancy cheese spread.
The father smiled. The shouting behind him had risen again, but it seemed like background music in her presence. "I'm John."
"Jasmine."
LOVE this... well written and engaging.
Lita flicked a cigarette out the window, watching it roll down the asphalt.
This had better be an accident--something worth her time, not just a bunch of construction jerks slowing things down. Bruce was waiting, and he didn't wait. She touched her last bruise for confirmation. Yep. He didn't wait.
The man next to her kept trying to catch her eye, so she would let him merge. Like hell. She had fought hard for this position and wasn't about to let anyone in.
The hot Vegas sun was merciless, baking her left arm and warming the cracked red plastic in the old Mazda. The smell reminded her of her childhood, not altogther a bad memory.
Dad had a car like this, back when it was new. In some weird twist of fate Ronnie Milsap was on the radio. Lita's thoughts wandered to Dallas in the seventies and what they had all been in those days.
CA Hwy 91 was living up to it's nickname, 'Parking Lot 91'. It seems that we sat in the heat for far too long and both of us needed to go to the bathroom. Our bowels were definitely moving faster than the traffic, adding to our irritation. The worst part was the bad behavior on the part of a few drivers. One continually honked her horn (have you noticed that the most impatient--always in a hurry--drivers are females between the ages of 22 and 25?)
A heated argument was going on in the pickup truck just ahead of us; the man and woman occupants were just not on the same road but were in the same boat!
Kids in an SUV cared less about the hot sun beating down upon them as they watched their favorite shows on the CD players in the back seat.
Just when it was approaching the point of no return, cramps and cricks and comfort nicks, the traffic began to move. Ahhh, relief soon.
I don't think there's anything worse than the fear that you won't make it to the turnoff and into the first convenient (did I say convenient?) john.
Thank God the traffic beat the other movement!
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