Colorblind

Lucky Break

James POV

I sit in the passenger seat of George's car marveling at a map.

"Don't worry, you still have a ways to go before we have to figure out which exit you are supposed to get off of." I say as I try to reposition the map to a different angle.

"Are you sure we are going the right way?" George asks as he shoots me a quick quizzical glance.

"I mean it's a clear straight away, it's just the different exits up ahead that makes things a little tricky." I say.

He nods. We are doing a test run of the back road that he and Alma are going to travel down to leave the state. As I sit here in the seat beside him I have a sudden realization of the finality of it all and of this backroad. This is the true representation of the road less traveled. I mean this both literally and metaphorically. I glance over at George and realize that I am grateful that I am not in his shoes. I realize that I was enamored of Alma, but I never would have the guts to do what George is doing. He has always been the stronger of the two of us. I steal a glance at my best friend. He is perfection in every sense of the word. He is everything you would want your friend, son, husband, or father to be. I feel a pang in my gut that I almost threw away 18 years of friendship for a girl that I never deserved to be with in the first place. I also realize that I am going to miss the hell out of him when he leaves.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" George asks as he turns the music down slightly.

"Nothing it's just that I'm gonna miss you, man." I say

"Oh come on man. I will come back when I can or you could even come down to NY and visit. Maybe you could even move down their permanently?" He says.

I nod, but we both know that none of the options he offered are going to happen. He won't be back because he can't come back and me going there would also run the risk of them being found.

Suddenly, the song "That's Amore by Dean Martin" begins to pour through the speakers. He turns the dial raising the music to an unnecessarily high volume.

George's head turns in my direction. He has a smile on his face and I smile too because this was a song that we would run around singing in my house. We were only in 8th grade when the song came out so bedroom jam sessions were still cool.

He takes the first line following the intro.

"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie" He sings.

Then in unison we sing "That's Amore"

My turn for the solo.

"When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine." I sing.

And together we sing "That's Amore"

We go on like this singing at the top of our lungs in an alternating manner, like we had done so many times before years ago.

We are laughing, smiling, and singing when suddenly we notice a car on the side of the road up ahead. George lowers the radio and we make eye contact. We both know that no one travels down this road, so there shouldn't be any broken-down cars.

George slows down and we turn our attention to the unmoving vehicle on the side of the road. We see that there is a couple in the car and they have a flat front tire.

"I'm gonna pull over and help them." George says as he pulls to the side and stops a few feet in front of them.

As he puts the car in park and goes to open the door, I grab his arm stopping him.