Saturday, August 20, 2016

Just Jesus and Me

Happy Saturday, everyone. Get your coffee, tea, juice, etc. and hurry on back, okay? I have a story for you today. I'll wait for you.

Okay, so most of you are back. So, let's start the story, shall we?  Several years ago, my husband and I were on our way to Charlottesville, Virginia, to visit our son. We have always liked to travel a bit, so we were excited about getting to see bits of the countryside on our 12-hour drive. We had purchased a new GPS system for ourselves about six months prior to our trip. We were ready for travel. We had a good spirit of adventuresome camaraderie in the car as we headed off. The lady on the GPS told us when to turn left, go straight or to hang a right.

This next part of the trip, I will never forget. We had been traveling for about eight hours when we finally got to Virginia. Whew, we were beginning to be tired, but we didn't have nearly as far to go as we had had. We were clipping along on the highway at  a nice speed when the lady on the GPS said to turn right in so many miles. We watched the road on the GPS monitor so that we could see when we were approaching where she wanted us to make the right turn. When we got to the road, we turned right although we looked at each other with incredulity and some doubt. I was thinking to myself that it surely had been nice having had the wide-open spaces and convenience of the four-lane highway that we had been on.

We turned onto a secondary road that looked well enough maintained. We were catching the images of rural Virginia in the late evening sun. We had been driving east for about 15 miles when the GPS lady told us to go 50 feet and make a U-turn. My husband looked at me and shrugged. He drove to where he could make a U-turn and turned the car around. We were headed back west. He drove at a moderate speed with his and my eyes glued to the GPS monitor.  We drove and drove until we came back to the four-lane that we had left thirty miles ago. The GPS lady told us to make a u-turn. My husband, who was having none of that, instead floored the car and shot onto the four-lane with the GPS lady constantly saying make a U-turn. After driving for about a mile to reach a place where he could turn off and make a U-turn, he did. He drove tight lipped until he reached the same intersection that we had originally turned on. The tension in the car started to become palpable, somewhat.

Once again, we were headed east on that highway. we drove and drove until we came to the same spot where she had told us to make a U-turn before. Sure enough, she said the magic words, "Drive 50 feet and make a U-turn."
With a tight lip, my husband muttered, "Not today Susie Q, not today!"
That man floored that car like a person possessed. The road had narrowed quite a bit and we were going fast enough that it felt like we were leaping from hill to hill.
I looked at him.
"I was hoping to get back to civilization before it got dark."
"Well, you didn't, so you might as well slow down in case you run up on a stalled tractor or one trying to pull out onto the road."(softly)
"I'm driving!"
The car careened around the next curve, and we hit an even less wide stretch of road that looked like a tunnel. The trees on that part of the road were so overgrown that the treetops from both sides of the road had meshed and formed an eerie tunnel. He was forced to slow way down and throw his headlights on bright. Around the next bend, he brought the car to a shuddering stop.
"Where did this detour/road closed sign come from, you tell me that?"
We both eyed the GPS, but the GPS lady remained silent.

He got out of the car and got his big flashlight from the trunk. He shone it on the sides of the road and groaned. He toed the side of the road with his shoe and nearly slipped on the mud and mildew that was so prevalent.
He got back in the car but left his window down with the motor turned off.
"What was that?"(whispering)
"Nothing but a wolf or a coyote. They have introduced them back into these parts."
I noticed that he did start the car and power lock the doors and roll his window up almost in one motion. That's all it took for my writer's brain to take off. I was thinking several kinds of thoughts concerning wolves and coyotes when the air was pierced with a woman's blood-curdling scream!
"What in the blue blazes?"

I think that I have whetted your appetite enough for this story. We will finish it on tomorrow if the Lord wills.  Do I have a point to this story? Don’t I always? (Tee hee)

Doing What I Can, While I Can,
Alma Jones

Aside - I had this story finished early this morning but my computer ate it right before I finished it, yes, even ate the saved copy. Sheesh! Go figure.



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