Name the Day: recovery day approximately 972
Today I get to: sleep/ rest/watch TV/ RECOVER
I am prompted to write a story using words from a long list of random items/words so here it is.
I sat in the car with the windows rolled down, it was a warm day for February--in fact it had been unseasonably warm all month. My car was stopped by a small farm, the fields were muddy from all the recently melted winter snow. My gazed moved further away and across the pasture where there was a corralled area with at least twenty-five cows standing with heads hanging low and tails switching as they chewed slowly on their cuds. They must run a small dairy business here I thought, that explains the flies. I guess it has been warm enough to hatch out the first spring batch of the pesky black insects. I laid my head back and closed my eyes, listening to the deep rumble of the cows as they talked among themselves. The quiet lowing was interrupted by the high pitched buzz of a fly that was determined to check out my nose, look me in the eye and drink from the drop of sweat on my brow. I shook my head and waved my hand around like a crazy man. I sat back up and contemplated rolling the windows up again but decided against it, I had had them rolled up for a while but the heat from the late morning sun shining through the windshield had heated up the interior to an unbearable stuffiness. It had already been almost two and a half hours since the line of cars slowed and we haven't moved in over 2 hours. I listened to the radio for a while until I was afraid I'd run the battery down and I can't really keep the car running since I passed up the gas station in the last town believing I could easily reach the big modern one on the edge of the next town where the price is competitive and the bathrooms clean and bright. Luckily I still had a bag of sunflower seeds in the car left over from my last sales trip. Unfortunately it was just a bag of plain salted seeds and lately I have been preferring the new dill pickle flavor. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. So here I am just sitting and spitting. It takes the edge off my growing hunger, Now I wish I had taken time for breakfast before I left but I was in a hurry to get on the road, and when I gassed up this morning I had eyed a big sticky bun and a bag of almonds I saw near the cash register but I passed because they were overpriced--even for gas station pricing. I gazed out over the fields again and noticed an old mule was wandering through the wet dirt, head low, searching, and then grabbing up the occasional green shoots with his soft lips. I closed my eyes again, I doubt in the olden days there many "mule traffic jams" I mused. How much longer is this going to last!!!!
An hour ago the radio reported that some drivers had played bumper cars near the small town of Maurice. That's at least sixty miles ahead and the announcer had estimated that the traffic was backed up for about 75 miles. That's another 15-20 miles behind me and I imagine it is still growing. It's sure to make the record books! I looked in the rear view mirror at the car behind me. A middle aged man was in the driver's seat and the woman in the passenger seat was leaning away from him, her shoulder dug into the door frame, her eyes staring blankly out the window. Suddenly, I see the man pound on the steering wheel and his mouth opening and closing, his face contorted as he yelled over his shoulder at the unseen persons in the back seat. I see his wife's mouth move without ever turning her head or changing position. The man gave one more slap to the wheel and then pushed the door open and got out. He looked up and down the long line of idle cars and then his eyes met mine. He briskly walked toward me, I thought of frantically rolling up the window but he was there before my hesitant hand reached the crank. "Hey buddy" he said then wiped his hand across his brow. (I knew he hadn't rolled down his windows because otherwise I would have heard his outburst) "Damned hot for this time of year! I wonder what those screw-ups are doing up there! How long do they thing they can keep us roasting out here!" His eyes wandered around the interior of my car. "you're one lucky SOB. You don't have a shrew and couple of spoiled whining brats yappin' at you every other minute!!! He looked up and down the line of cars again, "you'd think there would be some official response, you know some one bring water or food or at least information! these government types don't know a damn thing, they sit in their air conditioned offices like gods and do nothing while we rot out here!!! His eyes returned to looking at me "you wouldn't happen to have some water or anything to drink that I can give my kids, They won't shut their mouths and my wife is blaming me because I wouldn't stop at that last town and get lunch like she wanted" I did feel a bit of sympathy for the man and I did have a couple of gallons of water in the trunk for emergencies, so I got out and gave him a gallon, He turned without even acknowledging the gift, "hey, wait" I called as I grabbed the open bag of sunflower seeds off the seat and handed them to him. He took it, gave it a shake and again turned and returned to the car without even a thank-you. Well, I thought this must be "do a grouch a favor day" The rest of the day passed in a tedious round of naps, waving off flies, day dreaming and some grouchy words of my own. Finally, after the sun had set and I was starting to wish for the heat of mid day again, we started to move. Later I found out the traffic had been backed up 109 miles definitely a record!
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