A Pleasant Drive Part 2 (part 1 may be found here)
For the first time since leaving the dealership, Lynn eyes her husband closely. Sweat drips from his face. It’s not hot. His eyes are set firmly on the road but there’s a wildness to them. His hands grip the wheel at 10 and 2 o’clock but his knuckles are white. “Steve what’s going on?”
“Nothing’s going on. We’re having a family drive. Why are you freaking out on me?”
“This is not a family drive. This is insane. You’re not at all yourself.”
“Maybe, Lynn, this really is me. Maybe this has been me all along and you’ve never really taken the time to find out who I really am? Maybe you’ve just been going along with your little picture image of who I am and what our life is together…husband, wife, two kids, one on the way, nice picket fences…all of that crap, when all along I haven’t wanted that. I’ve never wanted that?”
“I don’t care about picket fences Steve. I care about you, I care about my kids, and I care about this family. We can talk about who you are and what you want. We can talk about everything. But it’s hard to have a really deep and lasting conversation while we’re hurtling 130 miles per hour down the highway and you’ve got that completely mad look in your eye. Slow down. Let’s go home. Let’s get the kids in bed and then we can start to have the ‘deep’ conversations.”
“We’re not going anywhere but down this road and we will stop going down this road when I say we’ll stop. For heaven’s sake honey, why on earth would we invest so much money in a car designed to do what we are doing and then not do it?”
“Steve, I’m sure this car can and should do amazing things on the right road. This is not the right road. There is a road in Germany where you can let this car do what she was designed to do. But if you do it here you’ll get killed or arrested.”
“Don’t lecture me about safety. Look, you have your seatbelt on. The kids are strapped in their car-seats. We’re safe. As far as German roads go, you know we’ll never get there. That’s great for Germans, what about us. We’ll always be here. If we don’t do what we’re doing right here right now, we’ll never get to experience it.”
“Steve, you didn’t have to buy this thing. You could have settled for a Taurus.”
“I don’t settle.”
“I know.”
Looking back, Lynn notices the lights.
“Now look what you’ve done. There are at least three patrol cars behind us.”
“I know. They’ve been there for the last five minutes.”
“And you haven’t pulled over?”
“No.”
“Steve, pull over now.”
“Why should I. I’m not doing anything wrong.”
“They already pulled you over once and gave you a ticket this time they’re going to arrest you.”
“Let them try. They don’t have the power. They don’t know who they’re messing with. Without my money our state governor would still be stuffed in his tweedy jackets teaching snot-nosed freshmen how to think their way out of paper bags. I own the guy. One call is all it would take and I’ll have these civil servants washing this car for a living.”
“Don’t count on it. I’m beginning to think your governor is a better man than you give him credit for. Money can’t buy everybody.”
“We’ll see.”
“Yes, we will. In the meantime, if you insist on this you’ll have to do it without me and without the kids. I want you to stop the car and let us go.”
“You want out here? We’re at least 60 miles from home.”
“We’ll make it back one way or the other.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. For one, the kids obviously want to stay with me…right Jimmy?”
James, asleep in his car-seat, doesn’t answer but two year old Gwen is wide awake. Steve smiles back at her.
“Hello princess”
“Hi daddy”
“We may drop mommy off. Do you want to drive in the fun car with daddy or go with mommy?”
“This is ridiculous Steve. She’s two.”
“You know that the kids are loving this. You’re all by yourself.”
They drive on. The state patrol cars follow behind but keep their distance. They know there are kids and a pregnant woman in the car and they don’t want the driver to become even more reckless than he already is.
Listen.” Says Steve, ”I’m not going to pull over. But if you want I’ll get some distance on the cops, slow down and let you out.”
Relief flooded Lynn’s heart, “Thank you Steve. I…”
“But the kids stay with me.”
“What?”
“You heard me. The kids stay with me. I’m not letting them go. You leave me, you leave them.”
Lynn sits back in her seat. She feels as though she’s had the wind knocked out of her. She has an awful decision to make. She can stay with Steve for the sake of the kids in the backseat, not knowing how any of this will end. Perhaps she will eventually be able persuade Steve to slow down or pull over before something horrible happens? Or she can get out of the car now, ensuring the life of the child in her womb, and trusting her other children to the state police.
She sits for a moment, wrestling with herself.
But she doesn’t have much time to decide.
end
53 Comments •
I get your point, Matt. My story is a bit different as we have attended two Episcopal churches in the Diocese of SC for only the last 4 years, so we don’t have the long history or even years of friends and fellowship others have. However, we tried many churches in the area and never felt as much at home as we have in the two DofSC Episcopal churches we’ve attended. Saying that, we realize the vast difference between a DofSC reasserter church and what is going on in the rest of the Episcopal church. When asked, I tell people I’m Anglican.
When my husband and I decided to start attending the church closer to home versus the one that brought us to the DofSC, we discussed the problems within the Episcopal church and whether we should give the Methodist churches we tried in the past another chance. The feeling we have in our local church is so strong, we decided to stay and try to fight for the love and obedience to Christ we feel in our church and this diocese.