Conflagration

XX

The Bearwallow Baptist Church held Sunday service at one in the afternoon. Meadow walked through the doorway of her parent's house at a quarter after twelve. Both were sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her over cold cups of coffee. Smell of bacon grease and eggs fried in it wafting through the air. Her mother was wearing a reflective green dress and hat. Her father in his charcoal suit.

She told them that she would drive separately and that they should go on if they were worried about finding space in the pews near the pulpit. Neither asked about the girl whose house she had supposedly stayed at the night before. Instead they asked about the parade. About how she was received. They left the house as she went upstairs to take a shower. They would later tell the police that this had occurred sometime around 12:17.

She washed her body but kept her hair dry. When she was done showering she put on a fresh pair of panties and bra and pulled on her usual church dress. Floral pattern over dark blue. There were two fake pearl earrings on the bathroom vanity and she put those on too. Mascara and eyeliner followed. When she was finished she looked into the mirror and caught herself smiling.

A neighbor watched her Camry through lace curtains as it pulled out of the driveway. She was an old woman who liked noon tea, particularly on the weekends. She had been running late due to a phone call she received from one of her nieces who reached out to tell her that her own child had been accepted into the University down in Knoxville and wasn't that nice. The kettle she normally used had busted weeks before and she'd taken to heating up water in the microwave. Its timer went off just as the Camry turned out of sight and when she closed the microwave door she remembered seeing it read 12:42. She also relayed this information to the police.

The road leading to the church was mostly winding and surrounded by woods. She was not eager to get there and took her time around each turn. Music blaring from the Bluetooth. She was singing along with it and drumming her fingers along the steering wheel. She did not notice the old truck pass nor did she see it come to a smoking stop and turn in her rearview mirror. The truck's sudden breaking left twin skid marks 12.5 inches wide and just over seventy feet long. Later forensic analysis would determine based off this that the truck must have been going somewhere between sixty and sixty five miles an hour.

She turned around an embankment, unaware of what was transpiring behind. By the time she noticed the truck approaching it had already begun to pass her over double yellow lines.