car

The blue-tipped fire raged, clawing in every direction as it engulfed I-95 in its entirety, and stalked across the surrounding landscape. The flames leaped towards West Virginia, almost immediately consuming it and Ohio, with no remorse. David just stared, emotionless and speechless, choked up on tears and apathy. The light from the highbeams of his ’93 Toyota Camry flooded the parking lot, almost as if beckoning the arrival of angels to this desolate place. David knew he wouldn’t that lucky. Not on a day like this. The rustle and crunch of leaves to his left abruptly diverted his attention from the burning US Highway map in his hands. He knew what was to come, as a woman in a white dress approached him.
“Great,” she said. “Not only do you refuse to ask for directions, and you just burned our fucking map. Sweetheart, sometimes your penchant for dramatics really pisses me off, do you know that? This is a great fucking honeymoon…”
***
Dave blinked twice and sighed as his grande vanilla latte spilled over his hand and burned his crotch and stomach. He couldn’t even bring himself to move, let alone flinch. He was too concerned about his car to notice the brunette with those cute horn-rimmed glasses tapping incessantly at his window. Once her legs barraged his driver side door through those stiletto boots, however, he decided it might be time to act. Of course, as soon as he got out of the car, her heels caught him in the shin.
“What the hell, lady?” he whimpered in pain, doubled over and massaging his shin.
“Maybe you should have pulled your car all the way into the fucking space! Other people use this parking lot, pal, and we need room to drive! Asshole…you should be glad, I did this piece of shit Camry a favor by tearing off that ugly bumper.”
Dave stood up and sighed again. He looked to the rear of the car, deciding not to point out that he was completely in the spot, with three feet to spare. “Actually, I think that’s your bumper on the ground right there…” he said, pointing.
The woman turned and looked to the fallen bumper on the ground. She kicked David one more time in the shin, and walked back to her car.

April '06