Ugly Truck Survives to Drive Another Day

Chicken coop doorway
One of the three doors on our chicken coop. Taken for photo101 prompt.

Knowing something that is about to happen can be sort of freaky. But what if you did this all the time? Like when Melvin drove that old truck of his out across the pasture. He didn’t think anything of it. He’d done it time and time again to pick up the hay in the field. On this day, he had to hurry. A storm was brewing, the winds were picking up fast. Last thing he wanted was the hay to get wet.

A crack of thunder sounded off in the distance. He was sure he had enough time. Three more rows of bales and he’d be done. Just when he tossed the last one in the back, another crack sounded. This time it was much closer.

Lightning bolt!
Lightning bolt! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The frogs were out. An odd night for them to litter the field. They squished under the tires of the truck while he drove down the rutted dirt road. A flash of light lit up the dark sky. Black clouds billowed overhead. Melvin had that feeling again. Like he’d been here, done this. He slammed on the breaks for no apparent reason, or so he thought.

Twenty feet in front of him, a bolt of lightning struck a tree, snapping it in two. Had he not stopped when he did, he and his ugly red dented truck would have been flatter than a junk that’s been in a car crusher. He may have lost a day in his life by knowing his future, but did he actually lose a life? Instead, he merely exchanged one day for another.

By the way, the hay did get wet. But that story is for another day.

Joy of Writing – Payphones with Peanut butter and Jelly Sandwiches

Joy is when I see butterflies
I like to see and hear fireworks
Playing with the puppy puts a smile on my face
Reading an excellent book passes the time fast.
Hugging my kids brings back memories
Doing something fun makes a day that much better
Time is slowly flowing when things are not quite right
My muse flows a trickle at a time
Plugged with rocks and twigs, that hopefully will break apart soon.

Empty payphone booths
Empty payphone booths (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Believe it or not, sometimes I miss the payphone. We didn’t hear about people driving and texting or talking on their cellphones. If the call weren’t necessary, it could wait. If it were, you would just find a payphone and make the call. I have a cell phone that I hardly use. I can’t seem to get into the mode of turning it on to make a call or check for messages. Most times I’m too busy to be bothered with it. If the call is important, then they will call the landline phone instead. I only keep the phone for emergencies, since there aren’t any more payphones to be found.
My summer has been pretty eventful this year. Not all in the happiest sense. Ever since the middle of May I’ve been out of work for major surgery. Most of this time has been spent resting and recuperating. Many weeks I never made it to the keyboard. It was just too uncomfortable to sit at the desk for extended periods of time. As you can see, I’m feeling much better and looking forward to returning to work on Monday. So much for fun during summer vacation. At least I got much-needed rest. Now I’ll have to wait another four months before taking any vacation time.

 

 

Peanut butter and grasshopper sandwich with a ...
Peanut butter and grasshopper sandwich with a glass of milk? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to take a vacation to Las Vegas. I’m not sure if I’d like it. My worst fear would be to go to a casino, spend all the money, or lose all the money, and have no way to get back home. I don’t know how I’d explain it to my other half. I guess, in that case, we’d have to buy a loaf of bread once we got there along with a jar of peanut butter and jelly. And, make sure we had roundtrip tickets so we would be able to get back home. What an emergency plan.
Could you live off of peanut butter and jelly for a week?