Tuesday, August 2, 2011

A red light somewhere

The light turned red and the driver waited, wondering just how long the light would take. Without a radio all he had were his thoughts to keep him company. He saw a young woman walking down the opposite side of the street, and it reminded him of a girlfriend from almost 20 years ago. Her hair was also red and wavy, although she dressed more like a Southern California beach rat. He thought of all the time they spent doing absolutely nothing on those beaches, passing the time by smoking joints or surfing the good waves. She cheated on him with one of his surfing buddies, and this also came floating back. it usually did whenever he thought of her.

He checked the light. Still red. He quickly ran through the things he still had to get done that day, and sighed to himself. One of the cars needed an oil change. The backyard needed to be mowed. His wife needed a few things from the store. A day off ends up becoming just another workday. 

He looked out (still red) and he noticed a bug crawling on the windshield. He couldn't have told you why, but all of his attention fell on this bug. It looked like a young mosquito, so pale it was almost translucent and clearly unfamiliar with the dangers of walking on windshields when you barely know how to fly. He imagined himself at that size, and shuddered. "That bug must have no idea where it is right now walking on top of clear glass." he thought to himself, "It has no idea where it is and I'm going to start driving and the wind will probably kill it."

He didn't feel good or bad about it, but his thoughts did make ripples in his mind. He thought of himself as that bug again, and realized he also had no idea what he was doing. Sure, you drive around and you buy a house and you raise a family, but is that in any manual anywhere? "And then a wind swoops from out of nowhere and it blows you away from it all" he heard in his head.

Then he heard shrill sounds in his head, the sound of angry people in cars leaning most of their body weight on their horns. The light was green, and they had places to be. He let go of his musings and drove.

25 comments:

  1. i think this exact same thing when in my car and i see a bug on the windshield, usually an ant.

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  2. I think it's really healthy to occasionally step out of your life like that for a minute or two. Nice little story!

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  3. Thought provoking. I too sometimes have these thoughts cross my mind. Interesting blog topic; I'll be sure to keep up with your posts.

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  4. More wonderful work from you, I love how you make your reader think and look at things from angles we normally wouldn't.

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  5. awesome job. I really like the imagery and i'd like to see more of it.

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  6. Nice descriptions, pretty good!

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  7. Very nice imagery. Followed. :)

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  8. Nice one dude! I like the whole idea to your blog! (:

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  9. You can certainly paint a picture with words.

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  10. Great txt man. I loved your blog +follow

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  11. very nice stuff I've read. Followed. Check me out sometime.

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  12. Did you ever think of getting this published somewhere? It's great!

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  13. curious question, are these short stories fiction? or are they reals things that you experienced?

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  14. thats nice dude, keep it up!
    +followed

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  15. @Elliot All fiction. Sometimes its loosely based on things i come across in my daily life, but the word "loosely" definitely applies.

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  16. Excellent post, look forward to reading you're next update!

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  17. Great blog maan. I loved +follow 4/5

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  18. another x-lint story. keep em coming.

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  19. great writing. i sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a bee or a spider.

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  20. Good writing. I appreciate the telling of a story through stream of consciousness, when done well. Don't see much well-written fiction in the blogosphere, so keep it up!
    +followed

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