Racing Roller Skate

It’s been a good week so far. A friend came down from Philly for a visit so we toured around and discovered fun and interesting places in our new home town. I didn’t get any writing done, but that’s fine. I needed three days where the most important questions were “what kind of beer do they have?” and “where do you want to eat?” Today I’m back to writing, editing, and responding to prompts. Still figuring out what I want for dinner thought.

For Week Seven of Odd Prompts, my prompt came from Leigh Kimmel: You’re waiting to make a left turn. As you get the green arrow, a car blows through the red light on the cross street. You look again and realize the car is in the form of a giant roller skate. Thinking about some of the cars I’ve seen on Jay Leno’s Garage and Top Gear (the original), this little scene popped into my head.

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Tapping her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, Kim stared at the left turn arrow, willing it to turn green. A small part of her brain tried to remind her that the cross traffic was still flowing, and that light was still green. Her fingers tapped harder.

“C’mon! C’mon! I just want to get home,” she muttered.

The arrow turned green. “Finally!” Kim started to pull out into the turn and then slammed on her brakes as some god-forsaken idiot blew through the red light and narrowly missed t-boning her. She did a double-take. Had she just missed being crushed by a…roller skate?

There was a soft thud, and her car gave a small jerk, a sure indicator that the car behind her had hit her bumper. “Goddammit!” she yelled in frustration. Grinding her teeth, she finished the turn and pulled into the parking lot of the shopping mall on the corner. The car that had been behind her followed.

Swallowing her rage, Kim parked and got out of her car. After all, it wasn’t the other driver’s fault, it was the idiot blowing through the light. The idiot in a roller skate. Kim shook her head. She walked around to inspect her rear bumper and was relieved to discover no new dents. Taking a deep, calming breath she turned toward the other car.

“I’m so sorry!” A matronly woman, wearing a big, bright yellow, floppy sun hat and a white track suit, climbed out of her SUV. “I couldn’t stop in time! I’m terribly sorry! Was that a roller skate?” The words tumbled out as the woman hurried over to Kim.

Kim smiled. The woman was sincerely worried and apologetic. “Don’t worry, I don’t see any damage. And, yeah. It looked like a roller skate to me. I’ve never seen it before, have you?”

“Oh, I’m so glad. About the damage, I mean. I mean, the no damage,” the woman fluttered a hand. “No, I don’t know anybody who drives a roller skate. I know somebody who has a car with plastic dinosaurs glued all over it, but no roller skates.” She tilted her head to the side and appeared to give it serious consideration, then shook her head causing the brim of the sun hat to flop from side to side. She looked like a daffodil in a windstorm.

“Well, I guess you see something new every day,” Kim commented. “But there really isn’t any damage, so it’s all good.”

“Are you sure, dear? I’m happy to give you my information.” The sunhat flopped some more as the woman bent down to peer at Kim’s bumper.

“No, no. It’s fine. I need to get going, and I’m sure you do too,” Kim assured her.

“Oh, my, yes! I have to pick the twins up at school. Well, if you’re sure…enjoy the rest of your day and keep an eye out for racing roller skates!” The woman waved and climbed back into her over-sized SUV.

Kim smiled and waved back. She turned back to her car. Well, that hadn’t turned out to be as bad as she expected. At least there was no damage. She pulled out of the parking lot and reflected that the woman’s sort of bubbly attitude, and probably the floppy sun hat, had positively affected her own. She was no longer raging at traffic delays and other drivers.

Two miles later she wound through smaller, suburban streets. Turning onto her street, she almost ran into a parked car. Jerking the steering wheel back in the nick of time she stared, gaping at her house.

The roller skate was parked in her driveway.

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Image by Thorsten Frenzel from Pixabay

I prompted Cedar Sanderson with: The wind changed everything. If you want to join in the prompting fun, check out More Odds Than Ends and pick up a spare. If you feel like taking a chance, send one in and see what you get in return!