Cordelia sat at a stop sign, blinded by a big bright sun that curtained the landscape with a golden gleam. It was just as if the entire city was stretched before her and she felt as if she could reach out and scoop it up into her arms. But in that moment all she could do was sit there at that corner shivering. She trembled with joy. Her heart pounded so hard she could hear each thump. She glanced through her rear-view mirror at the corner of the tiny block, waited with baited breath as a row of cars flashed by: a white car, a tan SUV, a black car. Her foot hoovered over the gas pedal, she was ready to accelerate at any moment, until she finally glimpsed the black tow truck as it rushed past the little block. It was like something out of a movie. He passed right by her. There was no time for celebration, without another second to hesitate Cordelia turned the corner. Jumped right in front of a gray SUV, waved her hand to apologize for the cut-off. The next street, she made a left, then another right and headed in the opposite direction, when her phone rang.
“He’s still behind you?” Jonas was all the way hype.
“I lost him!” Cordelia shouted. “I lost him.” She said with a strong emphasis on lost.
“You lost him,” Jonas repeated, “Oh—okay. Head to the woods, I’ll meet you there.”
“The kids okay?”
“Yup,” Jonas answered before he dropped the line.
~~~~~~
That was a clear day in April. The first nice day of the season. For Cordelia the day began on a peaceful front. She woke up to the smell of Lilly of the Valley drifting through the window and the sound of birds chirping outside. She went to the park and walked her 10k steps. She reflected on how good she felt to be 50-years old and even talked to God about her journey. Refreshed and free she left the park feeling inspired. She went to work and had a productive day, only to get home and discover how easy the tranquility of life is disturbed.
She had driven her boyfriend, Jonas’ Ranger to work that morning, they had been hiding her Infiniti from the car company, so he drove it to work and back home. He had just pulled into the parking lot ahead of her and was getting out of the car with her grandkids. She parked so close to her slick, black ride, until she had to squeeze between the car and the truck to walk inside. She still had some things to do for work, but Jonas often complained about always having to take care of the kids.
He got out of the car and ran for Cordelia, “Nana…”
“I know they’re my grandkids and I watch them all the time, but I’m not their father,” he said, as the kids rushed over and greeted Cordelia with hugs.
“I hope you have homework to keep you busy for a few hours because I have some work today.”
“I guess what I say doesn’t matter,” Jonas interjected as he headed up the steps and unlocked the door.
They all walked inside. The kids rushing in and heading straight to the kitchen.
“How was your day?” Cordelia asked. She didn’t address the grandkids situations because she knew what Jonas said was true. He was neither father or grandfather—at least not biologically, he loved this praise when it was given too him by family and friends, but when enough was enough he’d was happy to let you know. “I know but _____ is working overtime tonight and you know they need the money and we might need a loan.”
She said as they all gather inside of the foyer.
had came home because her grandkids were there. Their mother, ____ had just got a job as a nurse and had started working overnight.
was going to work from the garage that morning, instead of going into the office, so she walked in the front door and out the garage door carrying her laptop and her bags filled with accessories: the computer plug, her head phone, her mouse and glasses. She arranged the black card table and was just about to adjust her chair, so that the hot sun didn’t beam directly down on her, when a vehicle appeared in her peripheral view. She stopped what she’d been doing and peered up over her reading glasses. She looked directly ahead. Cocked her head to the side and squinted her eyes. It was a tow truck. She remained calm. Perhaps he was lost. It wouldn’t be the first time a car stopped in front of their house, as the complex was a big circle and her street was on the one-way side coming in. Many people who had been lost or who had missed a turn used her street to go around the they block. That wasn't the case this time, as the driver stopped and leaned over, he peered out the window and stared at her vehicle.
Her Infiniti had been on a lease, the contract date was up, and the finance company was looking for the vehicle. Cordelia refused to give up the car she'd driven for the last 3-years. Her credit was a mess. She had a dismissed bankruptcy that was making it almost impossible to secure an auto loan with a decent down payment, for a decent price. She went to Infiniti dealers three times and was declined all three. She’d paid $675 every month for her car. Every month for the last 36-months, never missed a payment but they still refused to finance a new car. Infiniti would simply have to wait, she had decided.
Standing in the garage watching the driver Cordelia felt like a deer blinded by bright headlights. She was paralyzed for a second. She watched the tow truck driver step out the truck and start in her direction. Unsure of what to do, she closed the garage door, grabbed her laptop and went back inside. It wasn’t even 10-days past the contract date, she thought when she stepped inside the kitchen.
Jonas sat at the table looking in the newspaper for a job. He glanced up from the paper, back down, and back up at Cordelia. He saw the strain in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“A tow truck outside,” Cordelia said.
Jonas dropped the paper and headed into the living room. He glanced out the window. Cordelia, right behind him.
“How you know they’re here for your car?”
“Why else would a tow truck be sitting outside our house?” Cordelia asked. “Of course, it’s here for my car, you gotta go out and talk to’em--”
Jonas was already headed to the door, he glanced at Cordelia with a sigh. He stopped at the door, inhaled just to make sure he was calm, pulled his tee-shirt down so that it sat over his shorts properly and then he walked outside.
Cordelia remained in the living room, afraid to go to the door, she got her laptop ready, logged into her job site and started working. After she made sure there wasn't anything urgent going on, she stood up and paced back and forth, balled her hands together, looked up towards the ceiling with pleading eyes.
“Lord…Lord…Lord,” she said. She wasn’t the type to pray, especially not when she was doing bad, but she didn’t know what else to do. She needed help. After a few minutes Jonas returned, he searched around the living room, his stare blank. When he spotted his sneakers under the table he grabbed them and started putting them on.
“He wanted me to move my truck,” Jones said.
“What you tell him—“
“I told him no. Told him, to get that tow truck out my front yard." Jonas said. “He’s going to call the police.”
“The police,” Cordelia said. She sounded fearful for a minute, then she checked herself. There was no time for fear, she had to be bold and bad in that moment, “Let me go out here and talk to this man,” she said. She was about to head out the door but Jonas stopped her.
“I say let’s take this car before the police get here, ain’t nothing he can do about it. Get the kids ready.”
She turned and stared at Jonas, their eyes locked for a full second. He was serious. Brandi, her daughter worked nights and hadn't gotten home yet to get the kids dressed for school, they were still sleeping and if they had to leave, they had to take the kids with them.
“I’ll take the kids. You take the Infiniti," Jonas said as he followed Cordelia up the steps. "I’ll pull out and block the road, you take the car and head straight for The Woods.”
“The Woods,” Cordelia repeated. Jonas was from The Woods. It was a tiny town about an hour from New Greatfurd, probably with a total population of 25 including children. But, it had plenty woods and meadows to hide a vehicle.
“Yeah,” Jonas said, he looked at her with reassurance. “I know you want your car. We’ll take it to my brother’s house--you remember how to get out there?”
Cordelia glanced at him with grateful eyes. Most times she wanted to get rid of Jonas, but there were those moments when she was happy he was around, and for a second she wondered why he put with her, “I remember, head West towards Greatfurd,” she said.
Her heart beat heavy and her knees wobbled. She checked her laptop and placed it on the dresser. The twins were sleeping. She searched the room, pulled out pants and shirts for them both, she dug and found their jackets. “No whining,” she whispered when she woke Romeo, her grandson. She kissed his cheek when he opened his eyes. She did the same for Juliet. She rushed. Nearly throwing on their shirts, sneakers and their jackets.
“Let’s hurry,” Jonas warned. He helped some, but mostly he paced back and forth, grabbing things at Cordelia’s command.
All the while Cordelia thought about the possibility of getting away with the car. Their chances seemed very slim. She did consider taking the loss—giving the car back. Jonas and Brandi both had trucks, they didn’t need the Infiniti. But, whenever she considered those payments of $675 every month, she became annoyed, almost angry. Even though they struggled to survive every day, she made sure to make her car payments. When the mortgage went into foreclosure, she made those car payments. Through her bankruptcy, she made those car payments and without that vehicle, she would have nothing of her own left. The house was already gone--that made her feel like a failure, can’t give the car back, she decided. Not today.
“Let’s go,” she said to Jonas when they had finished getting the kids together.
Outside, the tow truck driver had pulled beside their neighbor’s house. Jonas glared out the front door and told Cordelia to go and talk with the driver, while he got the kids settled in the truck. He took her laptop and the kids and walked conspicuously to the drive way, as if it was going to move the truck. The kids moaned as they went along and he tried to cover them with his body.
Cordelia walked across the grass, her focus on the black truck with the gold letters. It was such a pretty script, not mean and manly--not at all threatening. She hesitated. Shifted her gaze between Jonas and the tow truck. She walked slow almost on tipped-toes, willing her grandkids to keep quite. Her knees wobbled as she approached the tow truck and knocked on the window.
The driver wasn’t paying attention, he was looking down at his phone. He stopped, glanced up and gazed at Cordelia with an almost confused expression, before he let his window down.
She stood on her toes, “I have to hand the car in on Saturday,” Cordelia said. She had no confidence in the words that she spoke.
He shrugged his shoulders, “Saturday,” the man repeated, his brow raised. “Ma’me, I have instructions to tow the Infiniti today, can you move that truck.”
She glanced away from the truck and watched Jonas. A warm breeze blew in her face and she looked up at the sun, it was so bright she had to squint to see. Jonas jumped into the drivers seat, holding up his shorts.
The tow truck driver was leaned over and he watched her with curiosity, as he waited for her to reply.
"I can’t do that," she said just as polite and plain.
“I’ve called the police.”
“Ok,” Cordelia said, “I understand.”
When she turned around Jonas was settled inside his truck with the kids strapped in and the motor running. From where she stood by the neighbor’s house her driveway seemed to be a long way off, and for a second she wondered if her wobbly knees would give up before the man noticed what they were up too, or before the police arrived. She walked quickly across her lawn, past her Azalea bushes that were just starting to bud, she walked past the Lilly of the Valleys, and the yellow Daisy that stood by themselves like a lone rangers. She glanced back and saw the driver hadn’t moved. She made haste. When she reached the car, she hopped inside and started it up. Jonas pulled out his truck and blocked any passage before their driveway.
It was then, just as Cordelia was about to turn out the drive and onto the street, that she noticed the mystified expression on the tow truck driver's face. He tried to make a move, but Jonas impeded his progress. Cordelia pressed on the gas, turned out the driveway and rounded the street. Shaking like a leaf, she turned down the next corner, almost made it to the end when out of nowhere the tow truck turned onto the block. The driver had managed to turn around in front of her house,. He rushed around the block and was going down the wrong way. He Headed straight for Cordelia's car, but she didn’t budge. She kept straight ahead and almost caused a head-on collision, but the truck gave up the lane. He swerved to the left allowing enough road for Cordelia to go around.
At the corner she made a right. It was rush hour and when she turned onto the main street she hit a line of traffic. She wanted to cry, her mouth went dry and her legs continued to wobble. She was in trouble. A cop sat at the very next light and by that time, the tow truck was back on her trail, only a few cars behind. Her only option was to turn down the very next road. She turned, prayed to God and hit the gas. But before she could reach the next corner, the tow truck hit the block and flew down the street.
She turned down the next street and then the next. She drove in one side of a strip mall and went right out the opposite side—twice. She didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention to her car, so she followed the speed limit within reason. All the while the tow truck driver kept up. The driver managed to follow her every move. Cordelia thought about pulling over and giving up, but then just like that the road appeared. It was as if it had been drawn on a piece of paper just for her, there it was before her that small street that crossed a fork in the road.
Cordelia drove quite a while, thanking the Lord for his mercy., but knowing she would eventually have to give the car up. But until then… When she was far enough away from her house to know she couldn’t be found, she pulled over inside a CVS parking lot and leaned back. She let out a sigh. The sun was set high, bright and shiny making her feel warm inside. She raised her eyes towards the sunlight amazed she’d gotten away. She admonished herself for nearly giving up. After she checked her emails and saw there was nothing urgent she needed to tend to, she let out a howling laugh and continued to the woods.
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