I worry about being delusional. That’s just honesty talking.
I heard sirens when I was driving through the rain tonight. But looking around, there was no ambulance...or emergency. No one was pulling over or slowing down. There was nothing. So I flipped the music and continued on my journey home.
But the ringing came back. This time louder…and louder…and louder…until I finally saw the lights. That familiar re-assurance. Wipe your brow. Be thankful you still have sanity…at least for one more day.
Just as I saw an ambulance appear in my rearview, a police car appeared on the horizon in front of me. As they passed each other…intersecting in the intersection, I laughed. Fucking fools…what do you say we mix in a Mapquest?
But humor rarely lasts.
As the ambulance sped through the intersection, it stopped…as in time stood still (If you believe in that sort of thing). I could see directly inside that ambulance through the small back window. Trust me, this was well beyond the jurisdiction of 20/20 eyes and a steady diet of baby carrots.
A man was lying on the stretcher. An oxygen mask gripped his face…his weak face. I saw what was inside that window for no more than two seconds and I can tell you with confidence…that man died tonight.
I know where you think I am going with this. Appreciate life. Life is fragile. Here one minute, gone the next.
Not a chance. If you know me, you know I have never believed in any of that. If you really know me…you know that is never going to change.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t look. It doesn’t mean I don’t feel. It doesn’t mean I don’t think. Hopefully, that much is obvious.
But there was something else. Maybe it’s just the way I chose to imagine it. Someone was clenching his hand…and clenching it tight. For love…for life. Was it my imagination? Maybe. To be honest, I don’t know for sure. Anything is possible.
I’m sure somewhere, someone would wave a red flag when the line separating fiction and reality becomes so blurred that you can no longer tell them apart.
If only I believed in red flags…
