The Last Car Ride

Dan picked himself up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and nose.  The guy was right, this was a beating he probably wouldn’t forget.  The whole situation really didn’t make any sense.  Dan was a nice guy.  He didn’t give anyone any trouble.  He paid his bills, drove the speed limit, and opened doors for other people, regardless of gender.  Yet there was a large contingent of the population that went out of their way to make his life miserable.

Dan knew exactly when it all began.  In high school, he was the regular guy.  Not extremely athletic, but not awkward either.  Not stunningly handsome, but not ugly.  Not an A student, but he never failed any class.  He played the saxophone in the school band.  He was part of the student body.  He was generally liked by people from most cliques.  Even the stoners thought he was okay.  But then the alerts began to be heard.

Dan’s dad, Clyde, came home from work one day and informed his family that he had heard of an invasion of some sort on the east coast.  He calmed their understandably panicked response by saying that he was not talking about space ships and brain control.  Apparently scientists had begun noticing a change in the air quality around larger cities.  The people in these cities began exhibiting strange behavior, but it wasn’t behavior that was socially unacceptable or destructive.  People began to commit random acts of kindness, love and gentleness.  Clyde paused for affect.  His family looked at him strangely and waited for him to continue.  “The stranger part,” Clyde continued, “is the response of those around them.  Those who were not so inclined to kindness, began retaliating with extreme hostility and violence.  Old ladies were seen beating up bikers.  Children began roaming in packs and attacking business men.  The authorities don’t know what to do.”

It was Clyde’s wife that began laughing first.  “Clyde,” she guffawed, “you are so weird.  What a ridiculous story to make up.”  She slapped him on the back and chortled.  Clyde winced and rubbed his eyes.  “No, Emily, I’m serious.  The authorities are completely baffled and the violence is escalating out of hand.  Things have become dangerous around Boston, DC and New York.”  Emily merely stood up, rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen to make dinner.  Dan and his sister Beth looked at one another.

Things continued to escalate and move slowly across the country.  First it was reports of love and violence in Chicago and Baton Rouge.  It wasn’t until Houston began seeing gangs of nuns attacking children that the entire country was put under martial law.  Now, two years later, in Seattle, Dan had begun feeling the urge to take out his neighbor’s garbage and mow his law and buy Mrs. O’Flannery groceries on occasion, that his mother began acting strangely.  First it was the occasional burnt dinner.  But eventually Dan was finding cat poo in his laundry and needles in his pillowcase that he knew he was in trouble. 

Dan limped off away from the group of taunting girl scouts and tried to stay in the shadows.  This was the third time he had been beat up this week and he began to consider moving to a smaller city.  He made it home just before dark.  But it appeared that he arrived a few minutes too late.  All the windows in the house had been broken and his father lay on the front steps, his skull apparently crushed.  The police were leading Dan’s mother to the waiting police car in handcuffs, as she spouted some of the most foul and vile language Dan had ever heard.  Dan shifted into the overhang three houses down from his own, and no one saw him.  He caught a glimpse of his sister in the front window, a very disturbing smile on her face.  Dan turned away and never went back.

It was over two years later when Dan finally met his demise.  He had just finished carrying the neighbor lady’s groceries into her house when a group of girl scouts rounded the corner.  “There he is,” one shouted, and they ran him down before he could make it to the end of the block.  It could have been the street light overhead, but the last thing Dan remembered was a bright light and an incredible feeling of peace.  Two very large men in business suits with no ties helped him to his feet and led him to a waiting Mercedes-Benz.  Dan hadn’t felt this good in a long time.