Issue #155 : On The Radio
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Derry had been driving for over an hour when he realized how special his audiobook really was.
“As he merged onto the freeway, he looked ahead and noted the dead tree, the spindly branches spearing up into the sky like the frail appendages of an animal, long since dead.”
Derry laughed as he looked up the road. He was merging onto the freeway and at the end of the ramp there was indeed a massive tree that fit the description fairly well.
Julie had recommended this book, said that he wouldn’t find anything better to go along with the trip. He could see why, it was like having everything around him narrated to him in real time. There were plenty of details that were wrong, the kind of thing where you had to be looking at the right time, but it was still fun.
“The boats were out on the water unseasonably early as he passed over the bridge, glancing at the freight train as it rumbled across the decrepit old bridge.”
That was a little more freaky. He had been passing over the river and that exact thought at the sight of the boats littering the water. So there had also been a train going over the bridge. Had it not been for the boats, he wouldn’t have been looking up in time to see the train anyway. In the back of his mind, even he was telling himself that his explanation made no sense but it was good enough to calm his nerves. What other explanation was there? That the author of the book had been both psychic and telling the future?
This had to be Julie’s handiwork.
She was the master of pranking and this one might just be her crowning achievement. How many times would she have driven this route herself so that she could get the timing just right? It was masterful. He would enjoy the ride and pass along the well-deserved compliment later.
She had gotten lucky with the train.
“The flock of geese dipped low over the power lines and he gazed up into them, reveling in their obvious freedom.”
How could she have done that? There was no way to guess that there would be birds flying over him at just that moment. How had she done it? He frowned, listening to the continued dictation of everything, the colors of the cars around him to the peculiar slant of a barn and the number of clouds in the sky, even what was written on the side of the blimp he spotted on the horizon. As he watched it all, his stomach dropped at a sudden realization.
Julie couldn’t have driven the route to dictate this story to him.
He hadn’t told her where he was going.
“Derry looked up suddenly, too late to see the grill of the oncoming, out of control semi…”
Derry sucked in a sharp breath and flinched as he looked up towards the sound of the air horn and the scream of failing brakes.
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