text: Robert powered through the morning, not really his preferred way to start the day. He likes to wake up after hitting snooze at least twice, slowly sipping the ever-essential coffee while reading up on the news and then getting ready after he feels he's all caught up. A typical workingman daily routine you might think, and would be absolutely correct in assuming so. Unfortunately for him, he slept through the alarm like a baby, thanks to a late-night working, and now his morning was completely disrupted. His car had been parked out in the driveway and consequently, been vandalized. The tires were slashed and the hood of the car was covered in obscene imagery. "Sadists.” he thought to himself as he made a mental note to call the police once he reached his office. More frustrated than ever, he set out, heading for the bus stop a couple blocks away. As he waited at the stop for the bus that was already behind schedule, just like him, a dark green F-150 pulled up in front of him. The window rolled down to reveal a man, maybe in his thirties, with a trucker like attire consisting of shorts, a grey shirt and a Yankees cap. “Hey Carter-that’s the name, right? Don’t usually see you around this time of the day. Anyways, how about I give you a ride to the office?” Robert tried his best to identify the driver. He seemed familiar, but it was impossible for him to be sure. He chose to avoid the otherwise inevitable moment of awkwardness that would follow and decided to just play it safe. “It’s Rob actually. That’d be great but I really don’t want to waste your- “ “Oh, just hop on in! I’ve got all the time in the world.” Cornered, Rob weighed his options and decided that he would just get it over with. Besides he really needed his job. “Alright, just drop me off at the- “ “33rd street?” The driver, after a good look at Robert’s blank expression then replied: “It’s just that I drop my kid off to school just about two streets over, so I guess there’s only so many streets that your car could’ve turned into.” “Now there’s an observant fella.” Rob mumbled while mentally listing possible escape maneuvers through the passenger seat window. “I’m pretty sure I’ve made you feel uneasy already, so let me try my hand at changing the mood. I ask you a question, and you ask me one in return. Should help you relax a bit there, champ.” “I’ll go first then,” Rob said. “Who are you? And why do I feel like I know you?” “Straight to the point, aren’t you? Then again you always were.” Before Robert could make any sense of the statement, the driver continued: “Call me Ben. I run this breakdown truck company about twenty minutes from where you live. Had today off, so I felt like driving off into the daylight and just enjoy the sun for a change. But nothin’s ever better than helping a fellow American in need!” He then proceeded to laugh at his own joke. “Oh, and about you knowing me, I sure as hell don’t know who or what looks like me in this part of town. Maybe you saw me behind you at a red light during one of those school rides. Now you tell me, how’s the bank job holding?” “I never mentioned my workplace to you.” “Oh, come on. I don’t see any amusement park booths anywhere near that area. There ain’t no one but people in suits scuttling about and sipping their morning coffee there! I mean, no offense to you, but you gotta see where I’m coming from.” “About that offence, some taken. You really have those detective novels all spoiled for you already huh? It’s tough to believe that you’re just guessing all of this.” “Yeah, I get that a lot.” “About the bank job, it’s going...fine, I guess. I mean there have been no ups and downs for me to talk about. Not that it doesn’t pay well; I just seem to drift away behind the desk lately.” “I...I see. It must get real boring after a while, the desk job I mean.” Ben, now on the freeway, was slowing down. “The lanes are wide open, you could just hit th- “ A grey corolla cut them off abruptly from the right. “You can never be too careful these days lad. Believe me, I tow stuff for a living.” “Agreed.” Rob said as he watched the car speeding away, muttering some not so nice words under his breath. “As I was saying, life’s a drag. Come to think of it, I don’t even know why I even bother getting up.” Ben, as if ignoring the statement, asked,” Say, how much more time do you have before your boss goes bananas at ya?” Rob glanced at his watch. He was already late, so he didn’t bother about it much. Besides this ride had been way more interesting than his entire previous week, which he believed to be a testament to his mundane existence. “I’ve got time, don’t worry.” He said, staring blankly at nothing in particular out of the window. “So enough about me, tell me about your kid. You said that he goes to school close to 33rd?” “Yeah, City Knoll middle school. He’s a bright one if I do say so myself, absolutely gunning past his friends and other folk out there. I mean I’m a hundred percent sure that it’s no thanks to me!” he proceeded to stick to his protocol of laughing at his own jokes. Rob was finding this conversation to get more interesting by the minute. “You know, I’ve studied there myself back in ’95” Rob interrupted. “Jeez time flies! What year are we even in right now?” he said laughingly. There was something interesting about this man, something that was hiding from him in plain sight. “God knows!” Ben said. “God knows...” Rob had sensed a sudden change in Ben’s composure, a hint of weariness revealed itself from inside the outward friendliness and confidence that had been on display since minute one. Suddenly as if waking up from an endless trance, Ben regained his former self. “Ah see you’re getting the hang of it now! It’s been almost 15 minutes and you haven’t mentioned your dumbass of a boss or job. You seem more like yourself again.” They approached an intersection when the green in front of them began flickering. Ben’s expression turned to stone as he floored the brake pedal. “You could’ve made that one if you’d gunned it!” Rob said “And I could’ve still convinced my boss that I’d been less than thirty minutes late.” “There you go rambling about that old fucknut all over again! It’s gonna be a tad bit harder to explain that shit from the ICU ward!” He regained his senses. “Er Rob, buddy, I’m sorry about th- “ “It’s fine. It was a good call” Rob replied as he pointed towards the intersection. A man with a walking stick had misjudged the traffic lights and had walked straight into heavy traffic. Fortunately, everybody had reacted in time and there had been no casualties, save for a couple scratches here and there. “Turned that train wreck into a fender bender.” Ben said, chuckling. “Go left, I know a shortcut through that alleyway there” Rob suggested. “It’s alright, I’ll just take this way- “Ben stopped when he saw the bumper to bumper traffic in the adjacent lanes. “ “I’m telling you, going this way is the only option we have right now” Rob said hurriedly. “I know, I know.” Ben’s face turned red as he took the left. “It’s just that... that all the parents park up along the rear of the school these days and it takes a good hour to sort that mess out.” Ben said as he found his footing again. “So, you never told me your son’s name. For a proud father like you, I find that odd.” Ben sighed. For the first time since the beginning of this conversation, He didn’t anything witty to reply with. He thought to himself for what felt like eternity. He began “Carter. His name’s Carter.” The school was visible now. A block before and to the right were the Hamilton International towers, the headquarters office in which Rob worked. Ben turned to Rob. “I’ve tried everything bud. Everything. I know you’re still in there. Just hand on, I’m gonna get us outta here.” Teary eyed, Ben’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. The school bell rang and little children flooded the streets without a worry or doubt. Somebody in charge of the main gate had forgotten to lock it and organize the dispersed younglings, and now they were in front of their speeding truck. “BEN SLOW DOWN YOU’RE GONNA HIT TH’ “Rob’s voice was drowned out by the screeching and swerving as the truck headed straight towards the Financial district. An endless river of black, white and red turned towards them in horror as they had, in that split second, realized their fate. Some had accepted it, many believed of it to be unfair. But the judgement had already been made one way or the other. The truck tunneled headfirst into the dreary dense crowd, and then everything went black. Manny powered through the morning, not really his preferred way to start the day. He likes to wake up after hitting snooze at least twice, slowly sipping the ever-essential coffee while reading up on the news and then getting ready after he feels he's all caught up. A typical workingman daily routine you might think, and would be absolutely correct in assuming so. Unfortunately for him, he slept through the alarm like a baby, thanks to a late-night working, and now his morning was completely disrupted. His car had broken down last week and the mechanic didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get it back up to speed. “The engine block had overheated and there was a good chance that a fire could’ve happened”, he recalled the guy condescendingly explain. "Assholes.” he thought to himself as he made a mental note to call the police once he reached his office. More frustrated than ever, he set out, heading for the bus stop a couple blocks away. As he waited at the stop for the bus that was already behind schedule, just like him, a dark green F-150 pulled up in front of him. The window rolled down to reveal a man, maybe in his thirties, with a trucker like attire consisting of shorts, a grey shirt and a Yankees cap. “Hey Rob, that’s the name, right? Don’t usually see you around this time of the day. Anyways, how about I give you a ride to the office?” Manny tried his best to identify the driver. He seemed familiar, but it was impossible for him to be sure. He chose to avoid the otherwise inevitable moment of awkwardness that would follow and decided to just play it safe. “Nah it’s Manny. It’d be great but I really don’t want to waste your- “ “Oh, just hop on in! I’ve got all the time in the world. All of it...” Cornered, Manny weighed his options and decided that he would just get it over with. Besides he really needed his job.