Driving
The entire sequence was amazing in its banality. Jared had just watched a mythical creature climb into a pickup truck and drive away. After a whole week spent alone in the forest, it was the small things that would strike Jared silent and make him wonder what other oddities he would encounter. It was when another person walked past him into the parking lot that he realized he was just standing there like an idiot. I got to get a move on, but is my car even here? Did I walk or did I drive? Did I fly? He recalled how close Battery Park was to his home in the human universe. It was too far for walking, so maybe he’d driven here. But then again, what might be too far away for walking might not be for flying.
Then he remembered. Keys! He looked over his shoulder at his pants. If I have my car keys it means I drove here. He saw that there were four back pockets lined in a row underneath the beltline of his jeans. That was about the only place he could reach with his arms. Sure enough, one of the pockets bulged around the shape of his keychain. The one right next to it contained what looked like his cellphone, and the one beside that had his wallet. He reached into the pocket with his keys and pulled them out by the loop. They looked exactly like they had when he was a human.
“Awesome!” He pressed the lock button on the fob and heard the beep-beep of his car. It wasn’t hard finding it in the parking lot. It was the same model as before, albeit it had been magically transformed into a coupe with only two extra long doors on each side. When Jared opened the driver’s side, he saw the same thing he had in the gentleman’s truck: no seats but a long, cushioned floor for him to lay his body on. Climbing inside was a bit awkward with him having to duck his head under the roof. He noticed the exact same air freshener from the human universe dangling from his rear-view mirror. OK, so this is my car. How do I drive it?
The pedals were in the same place where they were supposed to be operated by his forelegs, apparently. He sighed. “Shit, this really isn’t the kind of thing I should rest muscle memory on.” He carefully depressed the brake with his right forefoot, ignited the engine, and put the car into drive. “Slow and steady. Slow and steady.” He eased off the brake, easing the car out of the parking spot. A sudden beeping sound stopped him. He heaved his foot on the brake. “What now?” A red light was flashing on the dash. His seatbelt wasn’t on. “Oh shit. Yeah, I should do that.” He saw it hanging from the roof on his left. The buckle was on the floor by his hip. Relative to his massive body, everything was where it was supposed to be. He pulled the belt down across himself and buckled it. But what if I get rear-ended? Do I just slam into the back of the cabin? Maybe crashes aren’t as dangerous that way, but I’d rather not find out.
He resumed his fretful trip out of the parking lot by easing off the breaks again. Once he’d cleared the chalk lines, he put his foot on the gas. Carefully. The car glided onwards with ease, and soon he was driving out of the parking lot like it was nothing. He let out a long exhale through his mouth. “Whoooooooo, OK. We’re good. We’re good.” As he made it to the entrance, he passed someone coming into the parking lot in a massive SUV. On a whim, Jared waved at the guy. He got a weird look, but a wave back too. Maybe this world won’t be so bad.
Another boon to life here was the lack of traffic on the city streets. The lanes were all single, the space between blocks dedicated mostly to pedestrians. If someone wasn’t walking, they were flying which required no sort of infrastructure at all. It made sense to cram the buildings together. Less distance to walk, less distance to fly, less distance to drive. If only the other universes got the same memo. But if it’s less distance to fly, then why did I take my car? Why do I even have one? Jared wondered if that meant his apartment was in a different place. How much different was it physically? What about every other building in the world? Well, I’ve got plenty of opportunity to find out.
Written by TheGreatJaceyGee on 07 June 2024