Night Mare

“Damnit…! Why can’t I get to sleep…? Oh, no, look at the time, it’s late! I need to be at work in just a few hours.”

I couldn’t sleep. I was tossing and turning all night. I tried everything; counting sheep, deep breathing, watching late night reruns of the Democratic National Convention on CNN – nothing was working. Finally I turned over, closed my eyes and thought about my brand new Enzo. I just picked it up yesterday. It was black with a black interior, just what I wanted. It took me years to get it and now that I finally had it, I was driving it as much as I could. I’d had it for just over 30 years and I’d already put 300 miles on it. It’s so amazing. A quick flip of the paddle shifter into the next gear and the car just continues its rapid acceleration forward. Oh yeah, invigorating thoughts of my life-long dream were really helping me get to sleep.

I lay there for a few more minutes, frustrated at my feeble attempts to induce unconsciousness. Finally, I just got up, turned the light on and got dressed. The pants I wore yesterday were fine; a t-shirt was more than adequate. Socks, sneakers and my wallet were the last things I touched before marching out of my bedroom to the alcove, like I was on a mission. I was, actually. I grabbed my keys and my driving gloves and I was out the door.

Out in the driveway, there she was. Not sitting, more towards perched. Patient. Silently encroached in the shadow of my moonlit house. Calmly waiting for the first opportunity to bite anything in front of it with speed and snarl at it with a fierce exhaust note. Moonlight turned powder blue, the carbon fiber body panels it cascaded over. I stood motionless for a moment, taking in her beauty. She was flawless. The rear, almost mesh-like grill was the perfect backdrop for the silver Prancing Horse in the middle. However, from where I stood, the darkness made it look as black as the night sky. Fine with me… she was my night mare.

The almost distant sound of crickets was drowned out as I slipped into the driver’s seat and closed the door. Slivers of carbon fiber shimmered in the dim light that seeped through the windows. Sheathed in Italian leather, my right thumb and forefinger were clamped on the key as I inserted it into the ignition and turned it forward. The familiar lights and sounds came alive and I just sat there, in a lustful awe of my good fortune. My index finger straightened out from my fist as my arm rose and guided my pointing digits towards the button that would bring her to life. I laughed to myself recalling the words ‘red button’ in my mind; if all the movies of yesteryear could’ve anticipated the Enzo, the phrase “whatever you do, DON’T PUSH THE RED BUTTON!” would’ve never survived. Ironically, everything from here on was dependent on my pushing that red button.

I let the tip of my finger rest on it for a second, covering the plain, black, engraved font that simply read ‘START’. Then a chain reaction of physics, mechanics and emotion occurred. Desire raced through the synapses in my brain, telling my arm to push forward; so it did, and with it, the red button momentarily disappeared and popped out again. This caused the engine to immediately come alive, a continuously throaty idle. The deep, guttural beginnings of a symphony unlike any other. It was almost like heavy breathing that I swear I felt on the back of my neck.

A slow, deliberate tug on the right paddle followed by a quick release engaged first gear. The rubber on my the bottom of my sneaker whispered to the gas pedal and I rolled down the driveway, taking a left, followed by a right, thus exiting my development. It was only a 10 minute ride through the town before I got to the lonely, empty interstate. I kept the RPMs low; high RPMs were always equally matched by high decibals. No one needed to know that I was going for a drive. Hmmm… Maybe I should cancel my order for the Tubi.

Naaah.

I patiently waded through several stop signs and stop lights. Finally, the entrance ramp for the interstate was on the horizon. This particular entrance ramp has curves like a centerfold, so once I was about 50 yards away, I nailed it. The car lunged forward with a force I thought only NASA and the US military could create as the engine shrieked a bellowing road through the exhaust like an angry, wounded lion. I could feel myself blurring. Instantly I was threading the entrance ramp and before I could shift to third, it was quickly diminishing in my rearview mirror. By the time I released the paddle into fifth, I was going so fast I couldn’t read the speed limit signs. What was I thinking? I shouldn’t be trying to read while I’m driving.

My hands gripped the steering wheel, slightly turning left and right when the road called for it. I might’ve been smiling, but I don’t know for sure. All my senses were numb save my eyes and ears. The music that played as I raced to create it was a gear-shifting collaboration of quick rises and even quicker drops of notes that streamed behind me as I ripped into the still, night air. I passed three or four cars before I realized that they weren’t parked. The thrill was too inviting to deter me from speeds that can only be described as a wet dream for a cop with a radar gun. Every so often I would go through a tunnel that was just an overpass; the exhaust note echoed so sudden and loudly, it mimicked the audible beginnings of an explosion. Each different and new aspect of this car and its extremities just spooled a conflagration of desire to learn more and more. Up shifts, down shifts, engine, steering and exhaust response all collected and filtered into my brain as I continued to assault the road in front of me. Coming up to squiggly section of road near the mountain as the lanes narrowed from 3 to 2, I –

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

“Damnit…! Why did I have to be sleeping…? Oh, no, look at the time, it’s late! I need to be at work in just a few minutes.”

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone; i wrote that last night, trying to while away the time until i needed to leave to go to the airport this morning...

i'm at Jordan's house, now; we're leaving in a few hours to make the journey up north so we can "begin" this adventure - for me, it's already started...