Happy Honeydew #1
Sixty miles outside of Deming, New Mexico Lacey saw a silver minivan on fire. For a quarter of a mile she was certain that the setting southwestern sun was blinding her through a tree on the highway, but once she got closer there was no mistaking the sparkling silver mass on the shoulder of the road, and she knew that her husband saw it too by the way he slowed to fifty and turned off the radio, making the U-Haul clunking behind them audible once more.
“Do you see anybody standing near it”, she asked him, finding his hand that lay on the armrest.
“Sure don’t” Sean replied, turning his right hand over to interlock their fingers.
Outside of the speeding ticket they got in Las Cruces, this was the most eventful thing to happen on the Johnson’s relocation to Phoenix from Houston.
“I wonder how it happened” she mused, turning her head back to face the road and flipping the radio back on.
Sean placed more weight on the pedal, and relaxed after the needle on the speedometer hit seventy.
“Could have been a number of things”, Sean said as he sat up and took his hand out from under hers to place both his hands on the wheel, “There are so many things that can go wrong with a car.”
After pausing long enough to let her husband continue if he felt, Lacey crossed her arms and muttered, “How scary.”
***
Thirty minutes later the Johnson’s were passing another minivan, red this time that was ambling along at the speed limit. Lacey caught a glimpse of the Hispanic mother driving the vehicle, trying to settle her three children in the back seats.
Children were part of the reason that Sean and Lacey decided to leave Houston. After the second miscarriage their fertility doctor who had a handsome face and big sad blue eyes informed Lacey that she was infertile and to attempt to have a child now would be suicide. Eventually it became too awkward and depressing to spend time with all of their friends with small bundles of joy and the only reasonable thing left to do was to move.
Lacey unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted the armrest that separated her from her husband. He took his right hand off the steering wheel and grabbed her in by the shoulders.
As she was resting on Sean she thought about the silver minivan.
“Do you suppose we should have stopped”, she asked while she played with her wedding ring.
Sean sighed and responded, “I thought you said you could hold it.”
Lacey reached up to slap him with the back of her hand on his shoulder, “Not that” she said, “I mean the minivan. The one on fire.”
After a minute he said, “It’s too late now.”
***
They spent the night in an Econolodge in Deming.
After her husband had gone to sleep, a fact that she confirmed by his light snoring, Lacey turned on the TV. The remote was a little confusing but she managed to find a local news report.
It was a long habit from her childhood years, but Lacey could never get to sleep without the television on. The local news, which tended to be monotone and unimportant, had a special way of lulling her.
After an especially dull report on the tight election for school board president the anchor faced a different camera. The picture in the corner was the same image that Lacey had seen several hours earlier, except that this time the fire from the van was contrast against the dark New Mexico night and there were two police cars and a fire truck surrounding it. Lacey moved to wake her husband, but hesitate as the anchor began talking.
“A devastating lesson to those who don’t pay attention to engine trouble came in the form of a tragic accident an hour outside of our town”, the newsman reported with a blank stare, “Sometime in the afternoon a young woman’s engine overheated. Fire officials suspect that she worked it too hard and pulled over after it was too late.”
Lacey was making a mental note to ask Sean if he was making sure not to overwork the engine of their truck in the morning when the reporter continued talking.
“She had been five months pregnant”, he concluded before shuffling his papers to face a different camera.
Lacey found the remote and turned the TV off in the middle of the weatherman’s forecast of light showers for Saturday.
“Do you see anybody standing near it”, she asked him, finding his hand that lay on the armrest.
“Sure don’t” Sean replied, turning his right hand over to interlock their fingers.
Outside of the speeding ticket they got in Las Cruces, this was the most eventful thing to happen on the Johnson’s relocation to Phoenix from Houston.
“I wonder how it happened” she mused, turning her head back to face the road and flipping the radio back on.
Sean placed more weight on the pedal, and relaxed after the needle on the speedometer hit seventy.
“Could have been a number of things”, Sean said as he sat up and took his hand out from under hers to place both his hands on the wheel, “There are so many things that can go wrong with a car.”
After pausing long enough to let her husband continue if he felt, Lacey crossed her arms and muttered, “How scary.”
***
Thirty minutes later the Johnson’s were passing another minivan, red this time that was ambling along at the speed limit. Lacey caught a glimpse of the Hispanic mother driving the vehicle, trying to settle her three children in the back seats.
Children were part of the reason that Sean and Lacey decided to leave Houston. After the second miscarriage their fertility doctor who had a handsome face and big sad blue eyes informed Lacey that she was infertile and to attempt to have a child now would be suicide. Eventually it became too awkward and depressing to spend time with all of their friends with small bundles of joy and the only reasonable thing left to do was to move.
Lacey unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted the armrest that separated her from her husband. He took his right hand off the steering wheel and grabbed her in by the shoulders.
As she was resting on Sean she thought about the silver minivan.
“Do you suppose we should have stopped”, she asked while she played with her wedding ring.
Sean sighed and responded, “I thought you said you could hold it.”
Lacey reached up to slap him with the back of her hand on his shoulder, “Not that” she said, “I mean the minivan. The one on fire.”
After a minute he said, “It’s too late now.”
***
They spent the night in an Econolodge in Deming.
After her husband had gone to sleep, a fact that she confirmed by his light snoring, Lacey turned on the TV. The remote was a little confusing but she managed to find a local news report.
It was a long habit from her childhood years, but Lacey could never get to sleep without the television on. The local news, which tended to be monotone and unimportant, had a special way of lulling her.
After an especially dull report on the tight election for school board president the anchor faced a different camera. The picture in the corner was the same image that Lacey had seen several hours earlier, except that this time the fire from the van was contrast against the dark New Mexico night and there were two police cars and a fire truck surrounding it. Lacey moved to wake her husband, but hesitate as the anchor began talking.
“A devastating lesson to those who don’t pay attention to engine trouble came in the form of a tragic accident an hour outside of our town”, the newsman reported with a blank stare, “Sometime in the afternoon a young woman’s engine overheated. Fire officials suspect that she worked it too hard and pulled over after it was too late.”
Lacey was making a mental note to ask Sean if he was making sure not to overwork the engine of their truck in the morning when the reporter continued talking.
“She had been five months pregnant”, he concluded before shuffling his papers to face a different camera.
Lacey found the remote and turned the TV off in the middle of the weatherman’s forecast of light showers for Saturday.
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