Blue Daisy's

The afternoon had passed him by in a haze, floating by like clouds parting in the wind. For hours he had been staring at what seemed to be the exact same stretch of road, crawling through mountains and flatlands alike. In the beginning the scenery had been something he’d look forward too, something which could keep him occupied for hours, but that time had passed long ago. These days all he noticed was the black asphalt stretching out in front of him for miles on end. Jim adjusted the way he sat, feeling a nagging pain shoot through his lower back. He peeked in his side mirror and spotted the same Hyundai that had been on his ass for the past fifteen minutes. Again the damned car honked, as if Jim, in his sixteen wheeler truck, could go any faster. They were on a two lane stretch of highway, bendy as all hell and with the sheer size of his truck blocking his vision of oncoming traffic, the driver behind him did not dare to overtake him. Jim chewed on his bottom lip, thinking of all the many colorful words he’d like to call the driver. This kept him occupied for a good little while, long enough at least to forget about the mundane task of driving.

When he had passed the exit sign off of route 12, Jim knew that he would have about another hour or so of driving in front of him before he’d make it to the rest stop just outside of town. He had stayed there a few times before on his trips, he remembered there being a half-decent motel and a bar nearby that served godawful nacho’s. He was looking forward to it already. Just as he was adjusting the radio, trying to find a station that wasn’t solely running commercials, he heard the familiar sound of his phone ringing. Jim pawed at his right pocket, keeping one hand on the wheel as he struggled to turn on the speaker function.

“Hey Hun” he spoke, seeing that his wife Mindy was calling him.

“Hello Jim, how are you?” That was strange, Jim thought, he couldn’t remember the last time his wife had just called him by his first name. She almost always called him Hun or Baby, sometimes even My Love, which was his favorite. Her voice too seemed a little cold and distant. Perhaps she was just tired, it was even later back home than where he was right now.

“I’m alright, just a bit beat, I’ll get to a rest stop soon and get some sleep. How about you Hun, everything ok?” He could hear his wife sigh on the other end of the line, a small silence fell, wherein Jim had no clue what to say.

Mindy cleared her throat, seemingly having mustered up the courage to say what was on her mind. “No, Jim, everything is not ok…”