Iditarod

Based on a true experience of a winter-time car crash

“Iditarod”

 

Winter revisits

The late shift –

The snow accumulating –

The road home through the hills

A suicide run

I wasn’t quite ready to make –

 

So I take

The long way –

The wheels skid –

The glass shatters as

Van becomes dogsled

Narrowly avoiding trees –

 

Back on the highway

Windows-gone numbness –

Steering wheel white-knuckle grip

Cutting off circulation –

Another veer brings a heart-stopping flashback

And a reversal of direction –

 

Then

The third impact shimmers –

The random cute boy stops to

Tie my bumper back together –

The suspicious disbelief

On the trooper’s face –

 

How,

When I finally pull

Still shaking up the driveway –

The first words spoken –

 “How in the hell are

We going to pay for this” –

 

Not –

“Are you okay?”