The key fits. And the car shakes rumbles trembles. Like a magic trick. Like a promise. Seat. Steering wheel. Belt. D. N. R. Hmmm. A multiple-choice test,. N stands for nothing. Pick again. R and the car slides down the driveway into morning. You can’t keep going backwards. What does D stand for? Donuts deep dart dandelions. Blow on the fluff, make a wish.
D is the last one left and when you press it, the car pitches forward. You’re moving! Out the window, houses swoosh by. You can move fast faster without your daughter and her no don’t can’t musn’t. You know how to do this. You learned at sixteen. Your mother taught you in the parking lot behind the cleaners. Mr. Krupnik was his name. An oily little man with bushy eyebrows. A jar of lollipops on the counter. He knew you liked grape. All these years later, you can taste the tart purple, like licking a balloon grape.
A horn blares behind you and you press the floor pedal. Petal? Pedal. The car does what you tell it to do. Good car. Thank god you’re wearing shoes. When other cars stop, you stop. When they go, you go. Easy-peasy. Lawns roofs trees flowers pretty houses shops, sidewalks people streetlights till at last, there’s the highway. Faster, fastest.
You know where you’re going. It’s getting there that’s tricky. Learning is a journey, you used to tell your students. Their hopeful faces tipped toward you like thirsty flowers. Long day’s journey into night. Journey back to where you belong.
You tell your students, pay attention. You never know what you’ll find.
Out the car window, other cars, trucks, big green signs. One of them will point the way home. You put the thing-y down so the sun doesn’t blind you.
The sky is a bluebird laughing.
Beth Sherman has had more than 150 stories published in literary journals, including Flash Frog, Fictive Dream, Bending Genres and Smokelong Quarterly. Her work is featured in Best Microfiction 2024 and the upcoming Best Small Fictions 2025. She’s also a multiple Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee. She can be reached on social media @bsherm36.
The Orange Rose 