For Marian....you don't know it but you gave me inspiration...thank you!!
Chapter One:
Traffic!!! The bain of my life. If only the traffic report on the radio had been ten minutes earlier then I would have turned off and been on my way. I had already called my customer that I was supposed to be meeting in half an hour that I would be late and so here I was, resigned to crawling-stop-start motoring for the foreseeable future. Still, it wasn't all bad. The weather was OK, you know that summer-into-autumn day. Not too hot but not too cold either. I took a swig of my drink and crawled another two yards before stopping again. I looked around. Why does it seem that other lanes move faster than yours? The inside lane seemed to be moving so maybe it was our turn next. No such luck as I crawled yet another two yards further forward. I looked left at the car next to me. Nice view I thought as i took in the sight of a brown haired woman on her car phone, oblivious to me looking at her. Oblivious that is until the sound of a horn made her look up and made me realise that the traffic had moved on at least three yards and the impatient ass-hole behind me wanted me to move. The woman just smiled at me as I rolled my eyes to the heavens and proceeded to close the three yard gap in front of me. And this is how it continued, shuffling forwards then stopping and then repeating the process. The lane to my left had moved on faster as both the woman in the car and the car that was behind me, who had moved into that lane, were now about five cars in front of me. Then as if by magic, I started moving. And for about half a mile, the traffic moved until my joy was put firmly back in its place and I ground to a half once again.
Looking left I had found myself once again next to the woman in the car who had been talking on the phone. She looked to her right and once again smiled at me. She was about nineteen, long brown hair tied in a pony-tail and seemed smartly dressed. I say seemed smartly dressed as all I could see was a white blouse, but it seemed smart enough. I smiled back and then, to my amazement her window went down and she beckoned for me to do the same, which I naturally obliged.
"Don't you just hate traffic?" she shouted out over the din of the opposite free-flowing carriageway.
"Nightmare." I replied. "People have no consideration do they?"
She nodded. "Were you going anywhere?"
"Yep, I did have a meeting in about ten minutes but that has gone by the wayside. You?"
"Yes, same scenario." she replied. "Please tell me if I am being silly but do you fancy a coffee at the next services? It's only about half a mile down and as we are both going to be late, we might as well milk it. And you look like you could do with one."
I was stunned. Here I was, stuck in the middle of a traffic jam and being asked by someone half my age if I would like a coffee with her. What else could I say "Why not. I'll meet you there"
She smiled. "Good. See you in a bit." And with that we wound our windows up, smiled at each other and crawled up to the exit for the services.
*
Chapter Two:
As I stood outside the entrance of the service station waiting for "traffic-lady" to arrive my mind was racing. Things like this just don't happen, and they certainly don't happen to me that's for sure. "It's only a coffee." I repeated to myself, as I had done since she had asked. "She is only being friendly. Stop being a pervert."
My trance was broken by a sweet voice. "Hey there. I lost you in the traffic. I wasn't sure if you thought I was serious. Perhaps you thought I was some kind of freak or something and just decided to carry on."
"Well it did stun the life out of me, I can tell you. But, I thought why not. If I am going to be robbed and killed, it might as well be by someone good looking and young." Well that seemed to break the ice as she went into a fit of giggles. "Now how about that coffee?"
