The drive-through dinged. “Hi, what can I get for you,” said Dave. He sat crisscrossed in front of a fridge, wiping it out with a dirty, wet rag soaked with sanitizer like he did every night.

“I’d like a large minty chocolate shake, six pumps of peppermint, extra, extra ice, double blended really thick and smooth with chocolate drizzle on top and not inside the cup, and can you make sure they only use two pumps of the syrup base?”

“Hi, Lola.”

“Hey, baby.”

“We’ll see you at the window,” said Dave.

Dave started her drink while she pulled around. He set it to blend and went to the window. There was Lola, her hand hanging out the window and cigarette hanging out of her mouth. Dave punched the order in. He opened the drive-through window; the evening’s cold rushed in.

“How are you doing Lola?”

“I’m fine, baby. How are you?” she said softly.

“I’m good. I just have this problem in my head.”

“Yeah, I got a few of those. What’s yours?”

“Well, I just can’t figure out what exactly makes life so valuable.”

“Oh, that’s easy. I can answer that one for you.”

“What?”

“I said, ‘it’s easy.’ You know, I died once.”

“No, I didn’t. What happened?”

“What do you mean ‘what happened?’ I said I died once. That was it.”

“Right, but how did it happen? What happened while you were dead?”

“Oh, I met God.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah! I was climbing a mountain in Florida. It was real cold. My face was all chapped.”

There are mountains in Florida?

“Well, as I was getting close to the top, the sun got in my eyes. I thought gosh, that sun is really bright, and I shielded my eyes with my hand like this, you know, and then I saw this shadow on the other side of my fingers. So, I took my hand down to see what it was, and there he was. He was looking at me with these real scary, dark eyes. He had a handsome mustache and kind of looked like a handsome ghost. He started saying something, went on and on. I think he was asking me questions, but I couldn’t hear a word he said.”

Eugene O’Neill? thought Dave.

“He asked me if I enjoyed the ride up, and I said ’what ride? I’ve been hiking for hours.”

“And, you said this was in Florida?”

“Oh yeah, baby.”

“Wow,” said Dave with just enough enthusiasm to egg the conversation on.

“Anyway, that’s about all I remember before my brother found me.”

“Wait, you said you were in the hospital: found you?”

“Yeah, he found me in the hospital, and I was alive again at that point. That’s all I remember. It was real weird. I swore I was done datin’ the Shaman after that.”

“The Shaman?”

“Yep. See, it all happened because I was datin’ this guy that liked to practice with witchcraft.”

“Oh yeah?” said Dave. He’d lost his original interest at this point, finding her insights weightless, but the conversation took a curious turn, so he bit the hook and let himself get reeled back in.

“Yeah, that stuff is scary. I don’t care what you believe in; that stuff will eat you alive and spit you out. We was in the house one evening, and the table started shaking, just shaking for no reason. I said, ‘We gotta get outta here, baby!’ Then the lights went out, and we just moved into a motel after that. I wasn’t gonna have anything to do with no demons, so I broke up with him right after that happened and went to live near my family in Florida. He said, ’makes sense to me.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Then you ended up in the hospital?”

“That was little later. He ended up movin’ down to Florida with me. We was on again, off again. Then we was drinking late one night, out on the Everglades. I had a few too many of these and those, and that’s all I remember. I was climbing that mountain, talking to God, and then I woke up in the hospital with my brother looking at me.”

“Oh, okay. Well, it was nice hearing from you. I’ve got to get back to work. You have a good evening, Lola. Happy Black Friday or whatever.”

“Yeah, you too, baby. I’ll seeya.”

Dave closed the window and turned around. He took a deep breath and lingered on what just happened. Why was Eugene O’Neill on a mountain top in Florida?

I guess I just believe the truth is more ephemeral than everyone else does, thought Dave. The road stretched in front of him, void of anyone doing anything. I can’t just accept things anymore; I don’t have any faith in my own understanding, and I can’t tell if this is a shortcoming or an advancement. I just don’t have the evidence to say. It’s a shame I only have one life; I think I could do a lot more if I had more perspectives to choose from.

I haven’t been to church in a while; I wonder what a preacher would say to me. I don’t think he’d say much; preachers are talking to the largest part of their audience. I think I’m an outlier. Maybe we’re all outliers from a certain angle, a certain point of view.

I just can’t figure this out; why is the world getting out of bed tomorrow? What part do I play in eternity? Is reason the answer, or am I just supposed to feel like getting out of bed? Why do some people feel it and some people don’t, and why do they all have different rational conclusions? There has to be absolute rightness, and all I want to do is chase it.

What do you think, God?

“You’re home!” said Elizabeth.

“Yeah, finally.”

“How was work?” “Eh, it was work.”

Dave shuffled in. Elizabeth was in her usual after work spot on the couch. Something stood out though; a special scent caught Dave’s attention. There was a box of pizza and some wings on the coffee table. I think I’ll figure out what’s absolutely right tomorrow. Tonight, I’m just going to eat.

“You ordered pizza,” said Dave with an honest smile. His heart fluttered with the words. “Thank you.”

“I just felt like we needed something nice,” she said back to him. “Can you go get some plates?”

He hated the idea of ordering pizza; the pizza was so overpriced, and he and Elizabeth made so little. Dave hated the idea of forcing other people to make his food; he couldn’t pay them what they deserved. He loved the idea of his wife wanting to do something special for the both of them, even if it was as simple as having someone make them an overpriced pizza. He loved her because she did what he couldn’t; she got up everyday and claimed the world. She never asked for much, but she always worked for more.

They put a movie on while they ate. It made the night quiet and comfortable. Dave’s eyes fixated on the screen with childlike occupation. His mind wandered the astral country claimed by people with armchairs; he invaded the armchair realm of thought from his couch.

I really enjoy this. I really enjoy my wife doing kind things for me. I really enjoy her just being nearby after a long day. I enjoy appreciating a good piece of art from our living room. I enjoy being warm at night, lying on cushions instead of the hard ground. This was the life of a king in times passed. This was a life everyone sought, dreamed of, and longed for, and it means squat to me. I wonder if I’m just ungrateful. It sounds like I’m ungrateful.

He dozed off a bit. Elizabeth tapped him gently.

“Hey, it’s bedtime.”

“Yeah? Okay. I’ll be upstairs in a second,” he said, rubbing sleep from his eyes. She slogged off upstairs. Dave sat for a second, then realized something; I forgot the dog!

He slipped over to the back door and stepped out into the cold and dark without bothering to turn on the light. There was Camus, yanking at his lead, hopping and begging to be brought out of the chilly night. Dave unclipped him, and the little dog shot inside the house. He performed his routine of running around the living room in a circle, trouncing on the furniture. I’ve got to do something about that. I hate that he does that. One of these days he’ll get mud all over everything.

Dave snapped and clicked at the dog. He got Camus to calm down, to lie on the couch and spent some time with the dog before going upstairs. You are such an admirable creature; you bare me no malice, even after I cruelly leave you out in the cold. With Camus curled up next to him, Dave pulled out his laptop and began that pitter-pattering dance of fingers and words. He had added another poem to his document:

The Wolf Speaks on the Dancer ~ The Wolf

There’s this girl;

She’s so, so sweet.

Makes my tongue explode

E’erytime we meet.

Makes me scream

Like a dog in heat!

Lightning ribbons

Round her feet!

Now she cry!

Now she cry!

& wave the ribbons

in the sky!

Blue ribbons-

She move like

Blue ribbons-

She groove like

She--

She know what she do

Yeah, she know how to do.

She live on the edge

Of a razor’s world.

Not cut by the blade,

She watch it unfurl.

She split the razor

With a single twirl.

She get slow, and she get slow…

Now I see

Where she go.

T h u n d e r cracks with every step

As lightning ribbons

Around her feet round her feet.

I don’t know what kind of child I

Tend to be; lightning now is

All I see.

Blue ribbons

howl

Blue ribbons

howl

Yellow fingers, sick with stains,

I need more nicotine

in my veins.

The ribbon color

lingers in the air;

Tells the story ’bout the killer,

How he step out of his lair.

Reach! Reach! Reach for the lightning!

Reckon the tale is frightening.

The Wolf cannot understand the Dancer.

She spins through his head

Never giving her answer.

Screech Dancer

Screech

The tale about the bum romance

Between the Wolf and the night:

Enter next

Into a trance.

This is stupid, thought Dave. But, I guess I don’t hate it. It’s really just for me. He put the dog in the kitchen and tossed him the rawhide he’d been chewing on. Dave went up the stairs, starting another night’s journey to a realm of anxious dreams.