New Start

The wheel continued to spin even after the car slid to a stop. Funny thing was, Jamie couldn’t remember now where she was going so early and in such a hurry. Something about a chance for a new start. But that was before the deer stepped into the path of her headlights.

She remembered being fired from her job. Her boss’s wife, the surly old hag, had made accusations about missing funds, and then pointed her gnarled but well-manicured finger right at Jamie. Now she tried to focus, but her thoughts kept slipping away.

Jamie shifted in her seat, the pressure of the safety belt digging into her shoulder gradually gaining her attention. The car slid a few more feet and the trunk popped open spilling her emergency kit and her suitcase down the brush covered embankment.

She undid the seatbelt and dropped, bumping her head on the compressed car ceiling before shimmying out the window frame, her purse in tow.  As she stood, ears ringing, the car tipped and fell, already burning before it landed.

Jamie opened her purse and pulled her tattered prayer book from its depths. There, in the sanctity of its pages, nestled a thick stack of hundred dollar bills.

Her dad had once told her, “There are a hundred things you have not dreamed of, some good, and some bad. It all depends on the choices you make.”

She put the book back in her purse and, in the sunlit silence, turned and walked away.