Traffic Sucks: A Short Story

Below is a short story I have been mulling over in my brain for a very long time. I think of it often when i am stuck in traffic. I have finally given it an end but I do not think I am finished writing it. So the something new here is sharing fiction.

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They often carpooled since their offices were a block away. She, however, went into work early that day. They were leaving for Florida that night and her plan was to leave work early to make sure she packed everything they needed.

Mike loved Sarah but her attention to detail often drove him nuts. One of her favorite sayings was, "When you are 5 minutes late you may as well be 5 hours late."

He could hear her say that to him as he inched his car a little closer to the Ford Focus in front of him on I71.

"She is going to kill me," he thought.

She told him to be home at 5:30pm which had come and gone a few minutes ago. He was surprised she hadn't called him.

"The phone," he laughed.

That's how they first met. He was a salesman for an office supply company. She was an administrative assistant. Every week like clock work she would call at exactly 2 o'clock and list supplies she needed. He never really said much to her, and never really cared to until he heard her laugh. He doesn't remember why she laughed, he just remembers thinking it was the strangest laugh he had ever heard. Almost like a horse. On a whim he asked her for a date. Later she would admit she only said yes because she was in shock. For the months she ordered things from Mike she thought his real name was something else and he lived in India.

They dated for three months then moved in together. A few months later they got engaged then married the following week, to their parents surprise. She was Jewish and he was Catholic. Neither were practicing but both of them came from big families who loved to voice their opinions. He really didn't like his in-laws but since Sarah admitted they were crazy he could tolerate them on normal holidays.

They were going away for their ten year anniversary. The car in front of him moved a little further forward. His phone began to ring but he ignored it. He knew it was her. He knew what she'd say.

He thought it best to wait until he got home to explain why he was late. The radio traffic report just came on. Apparently a few miles a head from where Mike was there was an accident. A car slid under a truck and now there was a helicopter on the scene. The radio personality basically said Mike wouldn't be moving for a while.

"Great," he said, "Thanks to some moron I'm going to miss my flight and not have sex for a month."

His phone started ringing. He waited for her picture to pop up and smiled a little before he hit ignore and turned it off. She'd tell him it was his fault for leaving so late. He knew it probably was but he didn't need her to remind him.

He started thinking of what he would tell her when he walked in the door. How his working late paid for the trip in the first place.He wasn't that late anyways, and besides she already packed for him. Mumbling something about being underappreciated as he made his way past her to hurriedly get the suitcases in the car. She'd be pissed the whole ride to the airport and extremely passive aggressive. That was her fighting style. Subtle but loud. But he knew he would be okay if he got her on the dang plane on time.

"Move it!" he yelled. His thoughts drifted to the moron that was holding him up. He wondered if said moron woke up that morning and decided to cause such a mess or if they came by it naturally. Did they know how their actions affected other people? Did this stupid idiot realize how many lives they would be impacting by doing what they did? At the root of it all was the big question, did they know they were keeping Mike from what was to be the greatest vacation ever? Did they even care?

As the song ended the radio personality said that they had shut down all lanes of traffic. He kept saying it would be hours. Hours of Mike being stuck where he was. Because there were no exits between where he was and the accident.

"Stupid, fucking, day drunk idiot!" he slammed his hands on his steering wheel. He sat there waiting. Looking around, the faces in the cars began to become familiar. He could tell most were just as frustrated as he was. He made up life stories for them to pass the time. 

There was Tony in the Toyota. Based off of the empty kid's booster seat in the back, poor Tony too was headed toward a pissed off wife at home. He seemed less frustrated than Mike about this fact. More interested at looking at his cellphone screen than anything else.

Karen in the Kia just looked like a zombie. She had a long work day and just wanted to get home to her three cats Jim Bob, Jonas, and Gemini He could tell she drank a great deal of coffee. "Do zombies prefer caffeinated brains or decaf brains?" he wondered. He then proceeded the create a whole zombie human coffee franchise, before realizing it was entirely implausible. There would be no way to ensure a steady stream of product to the consumer in a zombie apocalypse. 

Looking over at Henry in the Hummer he felt the urge to get out of his car, drive the Hummer over everyone in front of him to give the driver in the accident a piece of his mind. 

An hour had already passed. They were going to miss the flight no matter what now. They used this stretch to get to the airport and from what he could tell traffic was stopped in all directions. "Thousands of people's evening plans are being interrupted because of this dumb ass." He simply couldn't get over how the driving mistake of one person could cause trouble for so many people.

He knew he would be in hot water. An hour of no word was bound to leave her clawing at the curtains.He picked up his phone and turned it on. Instantly it began to ring displaying his wife's picture.

"Hey honey, sorry I'm"

"Who is this?" a person interrupted. It was very hard to hear them. There was a lot of noise in the background.

"Who is this? Did Sarah lose her phone again?" Her phone had been dropped, kicked, stepped on, run over, and thrown in water. A traditional Nokia flip phone. She often joked about how they were war buddies and she could never let go of it. Though she often left it behind when she was in a hurry.

"Sir, you are listed as the in case of emergency contact in this phone. Do you know the number uhhmm I am calling you from?"

"Yes it is my wife's number."

"Sir, I saw the whole thing and found her her phone in the car. It works and so I've been trying to call you."

"What? Who is this? What's going on?"

"I've got someone on the phone. Her husband," he could hear the person yell. There was some ruffling and then a different voice, "Sir, I've got some news for you. A Mrs. Sarah White has just been in a car accident. We just got her out of the car and will be transporting her via medevac to Good Sam. Do you have any questions?"