UGR 09 - Walk into the Sun (359 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.86 on 15 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Tardleby the Gruemaster (View user info) at 2009-03-19 09:28:16 EDT
Walk Into The Sun
Ed woke up with an idea. It was not an original idea, in fact it had popped into the heads of probably thousands before him. He'd heard of others acting on this idea; hell, Springsteen even wrote a song about it, sort of. But today, he would be the one who did it. He was going to break free. He was going to light it up.
He got out of bed without disturbing his sleeping wife as he did every day. Shower, dress, cold cereal and coffee for breakfast. Sara's still asleep, just like every day. Looking in on her, he remembered the words to that sappy Hall and Oates song that he'd been so embarrassed to sing to her on their third date, just like he remembered the occasion every day as he left for work. This time, though, he said the words softly rather than just thinking about saying them
"Sara, smile." She did not wake, and neither did she smile. Ed picked up his old leather briefcase and left the house just as the sun appeared over the house at the end of his suburban street. He looked at the sun, getting brighter and larger over the roof as he walked. "Light it up" he thought.
Walking toward the bus stop, Ed mulled over the idea. It was happening right now, it was under way. He was doing it! And about time, too, the more thought about it. The girls were six years out of the house, married and with lives of their own. Poor Ed Junior who had died so young... Junior was always a free spirit, and that is what had killed him. Kids don't know about things that can hurt them, they just want to have some fun. Ed Junior was just...
He thought about Sara again, and realized she'd probably think what he was doing was typical of a man having a midlife crisis. She thought she knew so much. The bus arrived, and Ed shuffled on. He dropped his coins and sat down on the grubby bench seat next to a window, thinking that he really didn't care what Sara would make of all this freedom he was grabbing. He slid over to the middle of the seat, exercising his freedom. It felt good.
At the train station, Ed stepped off the bus and walked away from the platform toward the Park-and-Ride lot. He walked confidently, swinging his briefcase a bit. Light it up! A thin woman in a business suit had just parked and was exiting her car. Smiling broadly, Ed walked up behind her and hit her in the head with his briefcase just as hard and his newfound freedom would allow. He was doing it! Her head bounced off the roof of the car and she fell without a sound. He was doing it! He took the keys from her hand and looked at them. Car key, probably a house key, a couple more, maybe an office or something. The remote for the car had buttons labeled D1 and D2. He pressed D2, and the seat moved back. Ed thought, "Here's another husband who's second." and laughed. Ed threw her purse into the car, figuring he'd go through it later. He got in the car and drove away, leaving the woman in the parking lot. It's happening!
According to what he found in her purse, the woman's name was Erica, she lived in a better neighborhood than Ed did, she worked downtown a few blocks where Ed worked, and she had two kids. She also had $342 in nice green cash, a black and red can of pepper spray, and a shiny chromed pistol. With all that colorful stuff in her purse, Ed thought that either he was lucky or she was an idiot who deserved to get robbed. He decided that freedom makes its own luck, and drove on.
It was a nice car. One day and 854 miles and no questions later, Ed got $2000 cash for it at a junkyard in Kentucky. He went across the street and bought a much less nice car for $400. He stopped at a gas station, filled the tank and bought some cigarettes and a lighter. He always wanted to try smoking, and what the hell, he was free to do it! Ed fumbled around with the smokes but he finally got one out of the pack and lit it. He thought "Light it up!" as he inhaled. It made him cough. Maybe they were stale. He went back in the gas station to tell the teenager behind the counter that the cigarettes were stale. Ed realized that he was just going to be told that there were no refunds, so instead of pressing the issue he just smiled broadly, took the shiny chrome pistol out of his pocket, pointed it at the kid's chest and pulled the trigger. An enormous flame erupted from the short barrel of the pistol. Ed shouted "Light it up!" as the kid fell over backwards into the rolling paper display. He was free! He drove out of town, coughing and laughing and being free.
He drove all night, eating potato chips and drinking sugary soda because he fucking could, that's why. The car wouldn't go more than 80 miles an hour but as the sun came up behind him he had it at every bit of that. The Panhandle was becoming more desert and it was already hot. He'd gotten three more packs of cigarettes and each time they'd made him cough and each time some kid or old man had gotten the Light It Up treatment. "Light it up!" he thought. He was dirty and smelt horrible after two days in the car and he was and free, driving across the desert.
The sun was lowering towards the mountains in front of him and the desert was turning red as he walked. The car had started smoking a few hours ago, and then it just quit running. He had thought, "Smoking is bad for you" as he got out of the car. He had opened the hood and seen the oil like blood and the smoke like fetid breath. He had used the last bullet in Erica's gun to give the car the Light It Up treatment, and then he burned it for good measure. "Light it up!" The sun was going to sink right into that little pass between two peaks, Ed thought. He walked the dirt way, seeing more snake tracks across the road than tire tracks along it. He was tired and dirty and stinking and mostly he was free, watching the sun fall into the mountains.
The track veered to the left down a steep path into a valley but Ed walked straight toward the mountains. He came to the edge of the cliff and he sat down. He felt his wallet in his pocket and pulled it out. Laughing, he took the picture of Sara she asked him to keep, the one from the dance, when he'd sung that sappy song to her. Ed tossed the wallet away and carefully used his lighter to burn the picture. Light it up! The desert was aflame with the setting sun. Light it up! Ed stood at the edge of the cliff and watched the sun fall into the mountains. Just as the light began to fade, Ed said "Light it up!" and walked into the sun.
User Reviews
Submitted by Mr_Trollope (user info) at 2009-03-23 07:35:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
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Submitted by Judgement (user info) at 2009-03-23 07:26:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
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Submitted by RoadSong (user info) at 2009-03-22 16:26:57 EDT (#)
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Submitted by YourNameHere (user info) at 2009-03-19 17:58:04 EDT (#)
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Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2009-03-19 16:13:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
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Submitted by Lib (user info) at 2009-03-19 13:32:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Things like this always make me happy that I am not married.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2009-03-19 12:51:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by no1hasdis (user info) at 2009-03-19 12:51:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2009-03-19 12:26:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I didn't particularly care for it but who am I to break as streak.
Submitted by SgtHartman (user info) at 2009-03-19 12:18:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Kudos
Submitted by Fey (user info) at 2009-03-19 12:13:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2009-03-19 11:08:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Your writing is getting better.
Submitted by Ballare (user info) at 2009-03-19 11:02:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by shortdude1 (user info) at 2009-03-19 10:37:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Liked it
Submitted by FALLEN (user info) at 2009-03-19 10:28:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
no reviews?
really?
am I going to post or not? not seeing much interest here for UGR.