“ALIVE”

Saturday 29^th, 2007

This morning, like any other in December, is cold and dark; a cup of hot Guatemalan coffee keeps me company, while driving south on the 14 freeway on my way to work.

I am driving in the middle lane and there is not any traffic in front of me; it is about four o’clock in the morning. I see a small car on the right lane about one hundred and fifty feet or half a football field. We are driving about sixty five miles an hour. I see behind in the distance a couple of trucks that I passed close to avenue K.

The atmosphere is somewhat somber; the weather reports on the radio predicted rain and mild winds since last Thursday, still nothing, it is clear and damn cold. The holidays came to fast this year and I remember that a lot of stores already had ornaments for sale way before October. Why do I think about this right now? Sometimes when the routine is here to hunt me down, I try to make sense of mindless stuff so the time goes fast or maybe, just maybe, I think something to write about.

I am driving my wife’s Chevy Blazer, even though the gas prices are to the roof. Still I feel secure in this vehicle. Last week I noticed the tires needed to be changed so there is not better gift for my family than safety, after all the kids ride on it every day.

Because of the coffee I am fully awake and very alert. I noticed that when I drive this vehicle I check the mirrors way too much, just in case I have to slow a bit more, I don’t want to get a ticket at the end of the year.

I am driving now between avenue L and M, but I noticed on the left line a vehicle coming too fast behind the small car, just like the CHP does when they have an emergency, they drive fast without the flashing lights or sirens. My instinct tells me to change lanes, so I move to the right lane and slow down to fifty, just in case. To my surprise the vehicle passes the small car from the right side, which is like drifting sand and debris and for not reason at all anybody with their full senses would try to attempt to do such a maneuver, still the driver does it.

What happens next is in a fraction of a second, everything I see is in slow motion as if I am witnessing slide by slide an action movie, and I am in the middle of everything. The vehicle driving at about a hundred miles an hour is a truck, I think is grey. The driver manages to get back into the freeway in front of the small car without hitting it, and comes in a semicircular trajectory in front of me. I am in full control and hit the brakes as hard as I can hold the stirring wheel for dear life. Meanwhile the pick up truck keeps drifting as a kid on ice while learning to skate. The truck makes one hundred and eighty degrees turn in the air, hitting ground and turning and twisting.

I noticed the traffic behind coming close so I continue driving to prevent any other accident; there is a Vons and a Ride-Aid truck, and a lot of cars stopping. I keep driving holding the wheel tight that the flow of my blood stops for reaching my hands for a while. With all the commotion the face of my wife and my kids comes to mind, they are at home sleeping unaware of this incident that could have changed their life forever.

I did not realize that I was in shock until I noticed I wasn’t wearing my name tag and the stuff I usually bring to work. My head was ready to explode. Today nothing and nobody will make me mad; I will work as hard as I can in silence, meditating the gift of one more day.

I am glad Jeff was there to listen, I respect his opinion and admire his pride as a worker; he is a good man and that’s how I see myself sometimes. Today I am glad to be alive, I want to cry and feel the need for a drink, but neither will do me good. When I go home I will tell my kids and my wife how much I love them.