NO REVERSE

This Plymouth didn’t go backwards, Belmont Hill had seen to that.

The old rattletrap had outgrown hills some time ago. Chuck knew that, but he didn’t really believe it until he reversed up Belmont and blew out the reverse gear. The car rolled downhill, towards an oncoming 18-wheel semi. Had Chuck not pumped the brake in time, he certainly would have been killed. That’s why this Plymouth was much more of a flat-open-plains kind of a car now.

Happily, Chuck didn’t need reverse, not on this road. This road stretched all the way to the horizon and just kept going. And all around it, nothing but dust. Wide open road and a taste of adventure; after a near-death experience, it was just what the doctor ordered. Although, the doctor probably would not have recommended spending a day baking inside a searingly hot car.

By this point, Chuck’s mobile oven was hotter than the desert outside, but like a boiling frog, Chuck didn’t notice until a lapse of thought and a veer to the right sent the car almost off the road. Perhaps he should roll the window down.

Cool Nevada air rushed in, chilling Chuck’s shining brow. He inhaled a lungful of air and exhaled with a smile. The car’s pastel yellow bonnet glistened in the sun. Chuck reached out of the open window and let his hand lazily trace the airwaves. The sky was a perfect Aquatec-blue, the earth was a shimmering orange. Life had so much to offer. All the world was paradise, but is ‘by car’ the right way to visit Eden? Chuck decided no. He slowed down the Plymouth. Tires crunched dirt, then stopped. The door slammed shut. Chuck stretched out his aching limbs and grinned. There it was: the whole world, just waiting for him to explore it. Heck, he could do with the walk.

So, he headed out, away from the road, and into the desert. There was no rush, Chuck could take his time. He counted the clouds, let his mind wander. The heat was starting to bear down on him and Chuck realised that he was still wearing his jacket. He took it off and finally a cool breeze caressed his torso. Only a little while later did he start to feel the heat again. Chuck had a cautionary look around, but there was no one in sight and the highway was only just visible. He might as well. Chuck unbuttoned his shirt, removed his vest and tied them both around his waist.

Now Chuck could really feel the air on his skin, the natural world all around him in its purest form, no humans, just life as it used to be. Well, not completely as it used to be… Chuck wasn’t normally an impulsive man and he let the idea rattle around in his mind for a good while before the urge became overwhelming. He hurried to pull off his shoes, his socks, his trousers, his briefs and let them all drop to the dirt. He’d pick them up on the way back. The hot sand stung his feet, but he didn’t care because he could finally feel with every part of his being. This is what life was like. What life should be like. At last, he felt free.

He was running. Chuck didn’t know when he started to run but he was running and he never felt happier. He bounded over bushes and shrubs; adrenaline rushing through his system. Chuck couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

His legs began to tire, so he began to use his hands, crouching low to the ground, springing across the sand like an animal. He stopped briefly at a cactus and prized open its stem with long fingers. He sucked out all the juice he could, then carried on. Galloping across the sands. Onward to somewhere new.

On the horizon there were figures. They called out to him. He was running toward them. They came to him. They ran with him. His ape brothers. They whooped and screeched in glee. They bounded across the sands together. At last, he was home.

It was a trucker that found the Plymouth, three days later, ploughed into the only tree for miles around. It still ran, but only forward, no reverse. About twelve miles away from the road they found the body. Picked clean by vultures.

ANAX.