Blessing In Disguise

A young Ballerina, anxious to get home, finds herself stranded on the side of the road. She prayers for help, but more than one answer is in store for her.

Her fingers strummed the steering wheels.  “Seriously?” She asked no in particular.  It was pointless, she knew, but she flipped her phone open one more time just to check.  Still no service.  Still raining.  And her car was not starting.  She whispered a short prayer.  Someone was bound to come along soon, right?

 

 

          She stayed in Modesto, hours away from home, all week; the Nutcracker was soon, and rehearsals were becoming far more demanding.  Visiting home this weekend was something she’d been looking forward to since Wednesday.  In her head, she pictured her mother in the kitchen, two cups of warm, sweet tea sitting on the island.  Her Dad would be staring into the computer screen, her sister contently watching a movie- all the comfortable normalities of her home she missed since starting with the company in the valley.  She had even been hoping to slip in some time with the girls since they both had the weekend free.  That was before her car stalled out of course and then refused to turn on.

 

 

        What time was it?  9:30?  That wasn’t too bad, but the fifteen minutes she had been sitting on the side of the road felt like forever, and a car hadn’t passed her yet.  She could see if she could get cell service further up the street?  Nothing would be of more relief than to know her father was in his truck on his way to pick her up.  She zipped up her thin sweater- she hadn’t expected the rain- and stepped outside.  Quickly she ran down the road, checking her phone periodically.  Not even a bar.  Maybe the other way? Running down the opposite end of the road did nothing for her either.  A knot of worry began to form in her stomach.  Just because someone did stop to help her doesn’t mean they would be the kindest of people.  Visions of gross unshaven men and dark vans made her shudder.  She sent out another quick prayer.  

 

 

          The headlights of a car made her jump, but they passed by without slowing, and another followed right behind.  What if no one stopped? 

 

 

        Soaked, and frustrated she walked back to her car.  “Stupid old thing,” she muttered to herself.  She thought about lifting up the hood, but it's not like she'd make sense of the tangled metal inside.  Still, maybe it would be a good sign she was in distress and increase the chances of someone stopping. She pried it open and propped it up.  Another car drove by, and she shivered.  Nothing she could do now, and there was no reason to stand in the rain, so she climbed into the driver's seat and turned her emergency lights on.

 

 

        If only she had her bible.  What she needed right now was some of His comforts. Maybe she’d start carrying one in her car.  And a heater, she thought, as she shivered again.  She shed her soggy sweater and thought about the dance clothes she had in a duffel bag in the back seat. None of those would do anything to keep her warm.  “Please, please send somebody to me soon…” she prayed for the third time. 

 

 

           It was another ten minutes before another set of two or three headlights shined through the rain.  They all passed by quickly, and her heart dropped, the knot tightening.  As panic set in, tears began to prick at the corners of her eyes, and she went to lower her head into her hands when the sound of wheels on gravel made her snap it up.  Tensing, she looked in the rearview mirror.  A car was pulling up behind her on the side of the road.  A man… maybe not a man- he seemed to be the same age as she. He got out and made his way to her.  When he knocked on her window, all she could do was look at him for a moment, fear of being abducted and disbelief that someone stopped to help, making it impossible for her to make a move.  He looked at her, his arms wrapped around himself from the cold and he seemed to realize she wasn't going to open the door.  Shrugging just a bit, he went to the front and disappeared behind the hood of the car.  This stranger was all the help she was getting, she realized, beggars can't be choosers.  Putting her worry in a safe little spot in the back of her mind, she moved her hand toward the door and took a deep breath.  She Stepped out of the car and stood beside him.

 

       “It just stopped, and it won’t start again.” She said. He nodded, closed the hood and faced her. 

 

        “I’m not going to lie, I’m no car expert,” he wiped the rain from his eyes and looked at the car again.  He seemed to be mulling over a thought, or weighing an option, “I cant fix it, let alone tell you what’s wrong but I cant just leave you out here.  Let me drive you to the nearest gas station or at least someplace with service.  You can call for a ride there, and I’ll wait with you till someone picks you up.”

 

       She looked at him for a moment.  This is how it happens, isn’t it?  If she gets in the car, her parents may never see her again.   But her options were pretty limited.  “Okay.” She said. 

 

 

          He turned and walked toward his car.  She was hesitant, but she followed, and as she slid into the passenger side, she hoped his heater was working. 

 

 

          They drove the first couple of minutes in silence.  After a second she looked at him and recognized something about his face.

 

      “My name is Emily.  This may sound kind of strange, but do I know you?”

 

      He looked at her and smirked a bit.  “No, I don’t think you do.  My names Ian, though.”

 

      “Oh, hello Ian.  Thanks for helping me.”

 

       “No problem.” He said, eyes on the road, and they went back to silence.  Emily looked around the car.  It was pretty clean, some school books on the floor.  Some fast food wrappers were scrunched up in the back seat.  There was an orange paw print sticker in his front window.  Huh. She turned to ask him about it, but he beat her to the punch.

 

        “So what school do you go to?”

 

        “Well,” she said, “I’m homeschooled, technically.  I practice with a company down in the valley, and trying to fit in a normal school schedule on top of rehearsals would be crazy.  But I used to go to Sonora High.”

 

         He looked at her, eyebrows raised in surprise. 

 

         “Sonora, huh?  Well, I won’t hold that against you” he chuckled.  “So you do ballet?”

 

         “I was going to ask if you went to Summerville but I guess you already answered that for me,” she gave him a mock smirk, the one the girls teased her about.  “Yes, I’ve been doing ballet since I was a girl.”

 

          “That’s cool,” he smiled at her.  “I started ballet my freshmen year.”

 

           “Really,” She said, she looked at him again, closer now. 

 

            “Yeah, I was in the last show Summerville did.”  She began to nod her head in response and then something clicked.  She looked at him again, and her jaw dropped.  He must’ve noticed out of the corner of his eye because he looked at her, worried, and asked “What?”

 

            “Ummm… Well, you wouldn’t have been Drosselmeyer, would you?”

 

            “Yeah….?” He said, still worried.

 

            “Oh goodness,” she chuckled.

 

            “What?”

 

            “Well, first of all, I thought you did amazing.  You were terrific.”

 

            “Thank you...” It sounded more like a question than anything, though.

 

            “And second of all, this is going to sound kind of crazy... but I saw that show.  I told my friend I was really impressed by you, so she said I should congratulate you backstage.  I chickened out, though. Here's the crazy part: she said that it was okay because I'd get another chance to meet you… And here you are.” She laughed nervously to herself.  He looked at her for a second, a strange expression on his face, then turned his eyes back on the road.  Slowly he started nodding his head.  He laughed to himself and then turned, again, towards her a good-natured smile on his face.

 

            “Well Emily, it very nice to meet you.” He laughed.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed Emily and her small love story. Let me know what you think!