Till death do us part
Hi I’m Jesse. What seems to be the problem?” he asked.
“Well I hit that puddle back there and the car just stalled,” she said.
The rain had let up to a sprinkle as Jesse walked around to the hood of the Caddy. After popping the hood, he asked her if she could hold the light. Jesse thought if he could fix it there, he could save her a tow bill. Bob’s prices were brutal.
Amanda opened the door and jesse could hear the click of her high heel’s work their way to the front of the car. She held the light and watched jesse take off the distributor cap. He dried it out with a rag the best he could and cleaned up the rotor button with his jack knife.
Jesse noticed the light was moving as she shivered. He gave her a smile and took off his coat and placed it on her shoulders. He then went back to working on the car.
Amanda took in the view of the steam coming off his back. His jeans fit just right and his damp shirt outlined his muscles. His sleeves were rolled up and she spotted a few tattoos with on his forearm. The dim light glistened off of his shiny dark hair, which was faded into a nice crew cut. Fadded nicely just a little above his collar. His 5 o’clock shadow made him look rugged. When he caught her looking at him, she returned to being timid real fast realizing she looked like a school girl in puppy love.
Jesse had her get in and give it a try. The Caddy fired up and fired right up, the sound was like it perred like a kitten. He shut the hood and returned to her window. "That should do it" he said with out making eye contact.
“How much do I owe you?” Said Amanda, while reaching for her purse.
Jesse wanted to say, "nothing how about a cup of coffee, and some dinner at the diner down the road?” However, common sense told him, “why would a pretty girl like her want to do anything with a greasy bum like him?”
“Fifteen would be fine,” he said instead. Amanda handed him a twenty and gave him a smile. “Thank you,” she said. And they parted ways.
Jesse returned to the station and finished the oil change on his 64 Ford. This car was his baby. It was the only thing that brought him comfort. Well now besides the beautiful face that was eached in to his brain.
It wasn’t until about ten miles down the road that Amanda noticed she still had Tommy’s jacket. She made a U-turn and headed back down the way she came. She had been thinking how nice it would be, to be loved by a guy like jesse. She was tired of being alone. Visions of his handsome rough face were going through her mind, driving her crazy with anticipation.
It had been only about twenty minutes when the phone rang again. "Hey jesse, Trooper Briggs here again. We need you at the railroad crossing north of 99. There has been a terrible accident.”
Jesse closed up the station once more and headed north to aroura. He had thought, (Could this be the caddy?) Then he realized, she would be a lot farther than that by now. When he arrived to the scene, blinding lights were flashing on fire trucks and police cars. As he walked towards the accident he overheard the engineer say, “She just crashed right into us.” When jesse got to the car, sure enough it was the 67 gold Caddy convertible. His heart dropped and while they extracted the girl, he paced around in circles with his face in his hands. Tears ran down his cheeks as he hooked the chains up to haul the car away.
The next morning, Bob arrived at the station. Jesse’s car was still in the garage and the tow truck was missing. Bob then called Jesse’s cell phone and there was no answer.
After arriving at Jesse’s residence, Bob found his tow truck. The gold Caddy was still hooked up. Bob glanced inside and saw a large amount of blood. Jammed under the brake pedal was a red high heel shoe, and on the passenger side was Jesse’s coat. He went up on Jesse’s porch yelled out a few profanities and pounded on the door. There was no answer, so he tried a few more times. After no answer again, he broke the door down and proceeded inside. He found Jesse in his living room chair with a large empty bottle of Jack at his feet and a partial bottle of Wild Turkey in his hand. Jesse had died of alcohol poisoning. Apparently losing Amanda brought feelings of a love lossed before he would even get a chance to receive it.
Author's note:
I know why didn’t I write a better ending? (If he just would have asked her to go for that cup of coffee.) The timing of the train would have been different. But you see the real truth is… we live in a world of Broken People. Missed chances, and unspoken words. We walk by that homeless man needing help. That person who’s car won’t start. We are shallow detached souls.
