The Long Drive Home

The dull black numbers on the upper right hand corner of her screen blinked from 3:59 over to 4 pm, and the lizard grinned. Finally work for the day was over, and it was Friday! The weekend stretched before her, endless in its possibilities and making promises of adventures to come. She began to pack up from her desk and get ready for the drive home before kicking off her Friday night. She grabbed a couple water bottles from her desk fridge before heading out. It was a hot one out there, and the a.c. in her Honda  civic had not been acting right lately. Not to mention the gas shortage tumor that seemed to have taken off the day before. People were going mad, having to wait thirty minutes to try and fill up if they could even find gas to begin with.

Erin made her way out of the office, happy the feel the warm breeze on her scales as it blew her skirt around her knees. She smiled as she went out into the sun, her deep blue scales lighting up and shimmering with each step. Sure, she had a UV lamp in the office and her home, but nothing beat the real thing. Her tail swished out proudly behind while her heels clicked loudly on the pavement. The lizard quickly approached her civic, fished her keys out of her purse, and pressed the unlock button. In almost a single motion she open the door, sat down (taking care not to sit on her tail or get it caught in the door), put on her seatbelt, and started her car.

The civic quietly purred to life, as a hybrid vehicle it made very little noise. The fan began blasting hot air, Erin hoped it would cool down once she got on the road. The windows rolled down letting the heat blast out into the surrounding air. It helped, for sure, but the weather was still sweltering. Erin thought she recalled hearing it very well might crack one hundred today. Given how cold her office was however, she basked in the warmth. At least it would be pleasant for a couple minutes.

She turned on the radio and cracked open her first bottle of water as she left the parking lot. As her eyes swept across the dashboard, she noticed her low gas light had flickered on. Crap. The gas station was close and she thought it still had gas, but that would add even more time to her thirty minute drive home. She didn’t have a much better option though, so with a frustrated with she pulled towards the gas station and began to play the waiting game.

The next twenty minutes trudged on as the lizard fiddled with her phone to pass the time. Her a.c. was struggling to keep up, but the cool water she sipped at helped keep her body temperature in a reasonable range. By the time she had gotten to the pump, Erin had chewed through all her stamina on Puzzles and Dragons, but had also beaten three dungeons so that was nice. Tossing her now empty water bottle aside, she got out of her vehicle and went into the gas station to pay. She grabbed a diet coke, paid for her gas, and checked out.

The heat began to get to Erin as she filled her car up. An old magazine made a suitable fan, and the diet coke was cool against her hands. After finishing up she got back into her car and pulled out of the pump. This had to be the slowest anyone had ever left a gas station. It was a big one with something like 40 pumps, and with this gas shortage looking people were driving like idiots. Carefully the drivers made there way around a parking lot accident which slowed their exits to a crawl. Erin was nothing short of astounded. By the time she got back into the road another fifteen minutes had gone by. The lizard groaned. She’d be getting on the high way at almost five pm. Traffic was going to be killer.

She reached the on ramp and found herself pleasantly surprised. Traffic wasn’t as bad as she feared, at least not yet. Her car drive along at a good clip, sticking to just below the speed limit. The air conditioner was fairing better here as well. Maybe this drive wouldn’t be so bad. Erin took a drink from her diet coke, only to realize she’d finished the whole thing. How had that happened? With a shrug she tossed the bottle aside.

Perhaps the lizard’s optimism regarding traffic had been misplaced.  She continued to slow, going from a good speed down to a crawl, and eventually a total stop. As the car slowed, her air conditioner started to act up. Erin cracked the last water bottle open, and took a deep gulp. The exit sign ahead told her she was still 10 miles from home. In this traffic that could be almost any amount of time Maybe twenty minutes, maybe an hour.