Over the Bridge

Falling

Crossing a bridge over wide rushing water again. Windows down, hair whipping in the wind. Cables and girders whiz by in a blur from the back seat of my parents car.

I look out past the railing to the valley the river carves into the plain. Boats and barges dot the water. Docks, houses and frontage roads on its borders. Buildings and rolling hills fan out in the distance.

It all recedes. The questions start. How would I survive the fall?

What if we crashed through, went over -- and into the rushing churn?

The car in a nose-down, slow-motion free-fall, diving into the swirling, brown Mississippi River. A panicked, hands-pressed-against-the-glass face screaming out, fogging the glass.

Count down to impact. Like a roller coaster drop. Stomach in my throat. Think to scream to release the fear, but can't, so just tense up to brace myself for the crash.

Or could I open the door and jump from the car in mid-air, waving arms and legs like a stuntman and splash safely in the water? But then wouldn't I drown in the current? My parents warned me not to swim in the river.

Would it be a jarring, sudden, and painless final impact smashing me unconscious into the top of the car ... or more like a dive that smoothly parts the water with bubbles playfully flowing up as the car sinks like a torpedoed ship?

Now how to escape?

Banging, kicking, scratching and clawing in a panic? Could I smash the glass?

Or just roll down the window and swim to the surface?

How much time do I have to escape being trapped alive in a watery black tomb? Minutes? Seconds?

Would divers with their tanks and flood lamps find me? How long till the ambulance comes? How much time would I have? Would the car fill slowly, torturing me as I fought against sipping, swallowing, gulping and then choking on the mighty-polluted muddy water.

I should plan for these things.

Reviews

[Ms Paragon]

Nice stream of consciousness type of flow!Well done!

[Nathan Spark]

Thank you for taking the time to comment!

[Ms Paragon]

You're welcome!

[Samuel Dickens]

Excellent. These are the kinds of thoughts we have, but don't want anyone to know we think them--perhaps not even ourselves. When in the Navy, we often practiced disaster drills. Not a bad idea, methinks.

[Nathan Spark]

Yes! Thanks for reviewing. In the Navy it makes sense. I wonder what is the right balance between preparation and paranoia in daily life.