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The Ride Home by David A
Friday, November 23, 2007
Rated "G" by the Author.
This was an actual event I attempted to recreate through a short story.
As I walked to my car after leaving the apartment, I couldn't help but notice the flashes of lightning in the sky. By the time I arrived at Hampton Blvd it had started to rain, light at first and then as if God himself were angry, a deluge fell with such velocity windshield wipers were practically useless.
As I traversed the middle lane of the Blvd I couldn't help but notice the right lane had turned into a raging stream which would instantly strand any unwary traveler the moment they entered the stream.
I made my way to the interstate, constant flashes of lightning filling the sky so brightly I had to occasionally turn my head to avoid being temporarily blinded by the flash ripping across the sky to unknown destinations.
The traffic was as you would expect during such an event. Cars huddled together in packs traveling slowly as though being closer together would somehow protect them from the torrent of rain and biblical lightning crashing all around them as they drove.
Some had emergency flashers on to warn other drivers that they were not only scared to death but also stupid enough to still be driving when clearly they knew they lacked the common sense to pull-over and wait-it-out. Their white knuckles squeezed the steering wheels, eyes affixed on the windshield as though if they averted their eyes, even for a second, all would be lost.
After finally arriving at home, I ran towards the back door looking back at the car pressing the lock button on the key waiting for the familiar "beep", parking lights flash, everything is secure indication. I noticed something I had never noticed before.
The grill on the Lexus, formed into the shape of a smile and it gave me a good feeling as I stopped and stared for a second thinking to myself what a great job it had done to deliver me home during such a horrendous storm.
It was at that very second, a brilliant flash of light filled my left eye and I heard the familiar "CRACK", "BOOM", as if a 5 megaton thermonuclear device had been detonated mere feet from where I stood. The ground shook as it found it's target and the sound of car alarms triggered by the sonic blast now filled the air.
Laughing as I ran into the house I could still hear the static driven impacts, car alarms, emergency vehicles and didn't really care, I was home.
Helios is an award winning novel about a brilliant inventor of new technology, a fallen CEO seeking redemption, and an idealistic youth who comes of age in corporate America.
Determined to confront the hazy memories of his troubled youth, Oliver Matthews, a retired detective and confirmed bachelor, returns to the picturesque town of Henley-on-Thames for the first time in years.
The bulk of the collection is eight short stories that are set in yesteryear. The compilation is filled out with four entertaining fantasy pieces and three poems.
