What Tim Lost

BOOM

Nancy’s car exploded, parts flying everywhere. The semi’s brakes screamed as it tried to slow down, swerving from left to right.

Nancy screamed and jumped into Tim’s arms, which was good. It meant that they were alive.

Tim and Nancy were standing on the sidewalk about fifteen feet away from where the car had been. Glancing back, he could see that the woman and man he had traded with, sitting in their car, eyes wide as they watched the accident.

“Thank God we weren’t in there!” Nancy said, “ I’ve never been so happy to have to run out of gas in my life. We would have been killed!”

So that’s how the universe had done it. Nancy’s car must have run dry, and the pair must have left the car exactly where it died, and started off on foot to get a Jerry can.

“My mom’s going to kill me,” Nancy’s tone had switched from relief to worry.

“She’ll be glad you’re okay,” Tim said, squeezing her tightly, “losing her daughter would be far worse than losing a car.”

“Maybe,” Nancy said, not sounding convinced.

A ball of anxiety began to form in Tim’s belly. Not having been an anxious person before, it took a while for him to identify what he was feeling. His heart was beating quickly, he felt a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“We’d better see if the truck driver is okay,” he said, trying to distract himself.

Traffic had ground to a halt, so it was safe to step out onto the street. Every step they took, though, Tim’s anxiety got worse until he was starting to feel like he was having a panic attack.

“Are you alright?” Nancy asked, looking concerned at her hyperventilating boyfriend.

Tim stopped and bent forward, trying to catch his breath. Then an idea flitted through his mind, one he had never had before. Straightening, he pulled his purse from his shoulder, pulled out a compact, flipped it open and checked his face. Then he pulled out a tube of red lipstick, touched up his lips, and put both items back where he had found them.

Immediately Tim felt better.

Nancy laughed. “Was that all?” She asked, “I know you don’t leave your house without makeup, but you already looked beautiful.”

Makeup?! More like CAN’T leave the house without it! Tim had felt terrible, like a black hole of terror had taken residence inside his stomach, sucking up everything around it. Once it had taken hold, he had not been able to focus on anything else, his safety, his date, anything. Only makeup.

Justice must have taken what Tim said literally! Tim was so frustrated thay he could just scream, but he didn’t. Once he had looked at his reflection, seen his back expertly painted with foundation, eye liner, lipstick, and mascara, a library of makeup application techniques suddenly appeared in his head. It was as if he’d had spent his whole life making up his face, as if he’d spent evenings watching YouTube tutorials, practicing until he looked perfect.

Again he glanced over his shoulder. The couple that Nancy and he had traded with were now stepping out of their car. It was difficult to see from a distance, but Tim was pretty sure the woman had not a speck of makeup on her.

Nancy and he had almost been killed. Having to wear makeup, or rather being unable to not wear makeup, was a small cost compared to their lives. But, of all the things to trade, why did Justice have to pick something so feminine again?! Was this whole thing an elaborate ruse? A game immortals played with people like Tim? Was he a toy to them?

Perhaps with Destiny and Luck, but with Justice he wasn’t so sure. She seemed to genuinely care for what happened to him. For what reason, Tim didn’t know, but he felt that he could trust her. That said, he didn’t want to continue down this path. If these trades were to keep happening, Tim was going to have to figure out a way to preserve his masculinity.

Just as they reached the truck, the door opened. An older man looked down at them with a grimace.

“Are you alright?” Tim asked, reaching up to help the man down.

“Fucking car,” the man cussed, “what the fuck was it doing in the middle of the road. I coulda been killed.”

“I’m glad you weren’t,” Nancy said as Tim steadied the man on the ground, making sure he could stand, “we ran out of gas and hadn’t had a chance to move it yet.”

“That was your car?” His face turned red with rage, “look at my fucking truck? How the fuck am I supposed to make a living like this? I’m going to sue you for everything you have!”

“No, please, don’t,” Tim said, “calm down, sir, things are going to be alright.”

Immediately the man’s face returned to its normal colour. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again.

“You’re right,” he said, sounding resigned, “I guess it’s most important that nobody was hurt. No use getting all worked up.”

The man walked off the road to go sit down on a bus stop bench a few feet away. Nancy looked at Tim and smiled.

“You’re so good with people,” she gushed, “so commanding, so manly. I need to bring you with me everywhere.”

“I’d be glad to,” Tim said, leaning in for a long, deep kiss.

And so the young lovers locked lips beside the wreckage, listening to the sound of approaching sirens. So enthralled in his his girlfriend’s affections was Tim that he never gave thought to what Nancy might have given in the trade. Once the kiss finally broke, he didn’t even worry about what trade would happen next. No, Tim was far to busy looking in a mirror and fixing his face to bother with any of that. He had to, after all, look perfect.