Today’s Tomorrow
The joyride of endless worth,
Such is how I remember awakening from this lucid dream.
With Dad at the wheel of a ’41 Ford sedan,
Mother beside him,
Picnic napkins folding,
I in the back seat,
Festive picnic basket at my side,
My dog sleeping on the floorboard,
All was good.
Like a chariot from Classic Comics,
Down the road we rolled,
Sunset straight ahead,
Flies,
Grasshoppers,
Cicadas dotting the windshield,
Until…
Veering off the highway onto
A well-travelled dusty road,
Dad shot to the north,
Heading for the forest of Boxelder,
Rolling past beer cans,
And Twinkie wrappers,
Until coming to a stop
Beside a lazy creek.
But…
My reverie took on chimera-like intensity.
First the radio’s Bible thumping preacher
Lost his voice ‘cause…
Who knows?
Such panic in their faces.
Oh, dear Lord,
Came the duet of parents
What next?
All four tires deflating flat?
Springs popping out of the simple flannel upholstery
Like a nest of deceitful snakes?
My little mind was imagining too much.
Trying to remain calm
The picnic provided solace.
Later that night,
Driving home past a field of weeds,
Dad swore he heard giggles
Coming from an abandoned hearse.
After stopping…
Not a peep.
Bedside prayers
Asked all be forgiven,
Dad particularly contrite
For the souls giggling.
They’ve a long way to go
‘til the day of resurrection,
Right Mother?
Son?
But I was graduating into a nocturnal dream
Remanding daydreams until…
Today’s tomorrow.
Some flash fiction (or, to coin a phrase: flash fact) to recall at a young age, Sunday School caused strange imaginations in my brain. Perhaps certain imaginations are perpetual unless some were real and not imagined. Shrinks love that kind of stuff, you know? And one mustn’t forget, ignis fatuus needn’t sleep. Your nocturnal brain, loving lucidity, makes sure of that. (Image by pinterest)
I'm having a little trouble since this is a true account. I think that you were daydreaming going down the road, but was your father, too? I think I understand why the preacher stopped on the radio. It was common in those days with AM radios, to lose the signal even with very fine Ford radios that my father really liked.
I believe your father had a lot of biblical ways of explaining his experiences. I like how you thought the possible calamities that would follow in the Ford after the preacher quit.
Ron