The Long Ride
By Jennifer Haynes

It was a bright, sunny Sunday afternoon. It was warm outside and quite pleasant. But I, on the other hand, felt gloomy and dark, and no cheerful weather was going to make me feel better.

Little things that I had been warding off the past couple weeks somehow broke through my shield, bombarding me and knocking me to the ground, and I was having trouble getting up. Everything seemed to pile on top of e, making it harder for me to dig myself out. My normal optimism had been mostly destroyed by recent to pessimism took over, making me feel that much worse.

But I did not show this to anyone. To everyone else I acted normal; the sudden rain clouds that would sneak up on me would be concealing, and I forced myself to stand up straight, instead of dragging on the ground. Today was going to be an active day; time to act happy.

In the shape I was in, my mind was very susceptible to what it heard. It was so preoccupied with keeping that happy face on show that it didn’t have time to worry about whether or not what I was hearing was actually probable, and that caused some problems.

We were out for a family drive. I listened to Everclear with some relief and stared out the window. I was starting to feel a little bit better, as though I had left all my troubles at home so I could enjoy myself. It was nice.

We pulled into Sonic’s because it was hot, and slushees sounded good. Like usual, our orders were messed up, and the intercom was messed up.

“I’d like 4 lemon lime slushees. That’s all.”

“4 lemon lime slushees?”

“Yes.”

We waited and waited, but no one came. Then we noticed we had forgotten to bring spoons.

“Excuse me? Could I have 3 plastic spoons, also?”

“Have you gotten your order?”

“No, not yet…”

“Sir, are you there?”

“Yes.”

“Sir?”

“Ma’am?”

No other words were spoken. We left it at that. Didn’t want to make them mad and have them spit in our slushees or something. And then, thankfully, a woman came out to our car. But wait, she only had 3 slushees.

“Well, I’m sorry.” She sounded sincere to me. “I’ll go inside and get that other slushee. Here are your spoons, too. Since it took so long, I’ll give these to you all for free. Have a happy Valentine’s day.”

I watched the woman leave, thinking how nice of her it was to do that. She brought the last one.

“Wonder what that lady did to our slushees,” they joked.

“Yeah, maybe she poisoned ‘em or something.”

I looked at them. Could she really have poisoned them? No, of course not. That doesn’t really happen. But I found that when I went to take a drink, I was reluctant to do so. What if she really had?

I was being silly and I was determined to prove it. I took a big drink. Almost immediately the "brain freeze" started, then faded, and went straight to my back, right between the shoulder blades. And there the pain sat for a minute, so intense it was like having someone drive a spike through there. Finally, it disappeared and I took another drink. It was stupid thinking things like that. Can’t anyone do anything nice without being suspected of a crime?

Suddenly, I knew we were all going to die. The lady had poisoned our drinks, and we were doomed. Someone made a joke and I missed it, although I looked around and everyone was laughing.

I was filled with tears, but I did not allow them to flow. Everyone was happy, and I would look weird bursting out like that. But this could have been the last time. I’m never with these people, the last time I ever laugh with these people, and I kept the picture in my mind and wanted to cry like a baby.

An image flashed through my mind. We were going to die in a car wreck. The poison was going to affect us just like that, and boom, we were going to go up in flames. I knew it. I didn’t suppose it…I KNEW it.

I didn’t enjoy much of the rest of the ride. I was busy making sure I didn’t feel funny and no one else acted funny. I was also on the lookout for stray cars that we might hit, because maybe, just maybe, if I yelled, “Look out!!” soon enough, we’d avoid a crash. Maybe.

When we got back home, I was never happier to see home. I felt happier than I had when I left. We all went upstairs and watched TV together. We were okay, and once again the world was right.

2/11/98