A Lost Opportunity

A Lost Opportunity

By Molly Anna Mayo

I jumped in my car to drive the three hours to my job interview when I saw him, standing on the corner of the block with his thumb up. He displayed a wide grin as if to hide his sad looking eyes. I contemplated giving him a ride when I stopped at the stop sign, but decided he probably wasn’t going where I was. And, it probably wasn’t right for a young woman to be picking up a young man anyways.

I avoided his glare as I passed by, not wanting to be guilted into anything. I heard the car door open and before I knew it, the stranger was sitting beside me. “How far?” he asked.

“I beg your pardon?” I stammered.

“How far you going?” 

The car behind me beeped.

“Better get going, ma’am,” he said. I reluctantly hit the gas to avoid upsetting the balance of traffic. 

“I’m headed to Los Angeles,” I said, looking sideways at the man with a critical eye. He was wearing a pressed tuxedo and his bright red hair was carefully combed, making him look out-of-place.

“No way! So am I!” the man said, kicking his feet up on my dash. I quickly moved his feet off.

“And you just assume that I am going to take you?” I said, raising my eyebrows at his audacity.

“You’re going there; I’m going there; you have extra seats…what’s the problem?”

“You’re a stranger…”

“Ach, one of those people are you? My name is John Rowland Garfield. I am twenty five years old, engaged to a beautiful woman, and employed by a very successful company. I am the oldest of eight…and my favorite color is blood red. There. We are not strangers anymore.”

I smiled, despite my obvious contempt for his way of doing things. “I would argue that you don’t know my name.”

“Is it so private that you can’t share it with a friend?” he said, displaying a charming smile.

“I still have no idea who you are!” I argued.

He shrugged.

…Five minutes of awkward silence while I try to figure out what I should say…

“My name is Bree.”

“Ach! She talks!”

I raised my eyebrow for not the last time this ride. “You already knew that, I talked when you first came in…”

“So why are you going to L.A.?” he asked, leaning his chair back, and kicking his feet up onto my dash again.

“Feet down, Garfield.” 

He removed his feet as he hit the button for the radio. He switched the station to country, and turned the volume way down until it became background noise.  I decided to answer his question.  “I’m going to Los Angeles for an interview. If I get the job, then I will be moving there within the month.”

“What kind of a job is this?”

I relaxed in my seat as the conversation turned to a more natural flow. It wasn’t going to be awkward… “I will be a reporter for the local news. I have already increased business in the small town I was previously working in, so the job will definitely be a cinch. I have absolutely no worries at all about it.”

“That’s cool; wish I were as fantastic as you.”

I honestly couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “Anyways,” I said, trying to break the awkward conversation, “What do you do for a job?”

“Me?”

‘Yes you, you’re the only person in the car!’ I thought. Fortunately I kept my mouth shut.

“Ach, I have done so many jobs I can scarce consider a mere one as mine…”

“Really? Like what?”

“Photography, house sitting, dog sitting, painting…stuff like that.”

“Sounds like you like to travel a lot.”

“Yes, I absolutely love to travel! It is my one true love, my passion, my existence…”

“Your…existence…?” I sighed deeply as I knew that this was going to be a problem.

“Yes,” he said solemnly, “I live for art.”

‘And…does living for your art make you happy? Does it really give you purpose? Joy- true joy? Satisfaction?’ I silently asked him. I bit my lip nervously as I struggled to speak the simple words. A sick feeling rose up in my gut the more I remained quiet. 

“How about some music then?” he said jovially, turning the volume up.

The first song sounded pretty, almost sad. The words remained distant and unheard as I wrestled with whether I should say something to Garfield. We went twenty five whole miles without saying a word.

“So…engaged, I heard?” I finally said, looking slightly to the right.

“Yes indeed,” was all the answer he gave me. 

“So, how did you two meet?”

“Well, three months ago I was touring Berlin when I happened to stop at an Italian restaurant. The waitress serving me dropped me her number, I picked it up, and as it turned out, I had found my soulmate.”

“Your… soulmate?” my heart sank as I recognized the phrase that the world had recently adopted for love.

“Yes, of course. Her name is Moira Hennery. You are taking me to the wedding.”

I must confess that in my shock I may have screeched on my brakes. He needed to know, I needed to tell him! His worldview, his belief…it was all wrong! I felt something rise up inside me that I had tried to squelch for years. I swallowed nervously and decided to take a leap of faith. I was going to tell him.

“John, listen…”

“We still have two hours’ drive ahead of us, we should get going.”

I allowed his words to affect me and I closed my mouth, easing on the gas.

“Anyways, we are to be married, and then straight off to a honeymoon in Paris.”

I forced myself to give a congratulations.

“Thank you,” he said warmly.

“Have you...dated before, Mr. Garfield?”

“Call me John, we are friends, remember.”

“Oh yes, indubitably.”

“To answer the question, yes. I have dated five times before, I broke up with the first four, and the last one died before we fell in love. If you had asked me if I had ever been in love before, I would have replied no. Most fortunately.”

“And you are in love this time?”

“Positive.”

“But how do you know?” I wanted to ask. “What is your definition of love? How do you even know what love is?”

I did not even open my mouth once. Nervous flutters started in the bottom of my stomach, worked their way up into a rolling ocean of emotional feelings, all shouting, screaming at me to say something. Thirty, perhaps forty minutes of mental agitation and emotional pain convulsed my insides, making me feel physically ill. 

Yet I could not bring myself to say a word. My mouth felt overpoweringly sealed. All the truth and confrontation I had felt and known felt irrepressibly squelched. What I knew…what I knew had been caged behind pure fear.

But why? Why was I afraid of this man? 

I saw in the face of Garfield every single girl, boy, man or woman who looked at me with something like contempt. I saw their mockery, their criticism, their…their judgement. And my fear sealed my lips. 

Eventually the car ride ended, and I dropped John Rowland Garfield in LA, and we went our separate ways. I never regretted a thing more in my life.

Reviews

[Irish SOaP]

Well this was very intresting. I love how John acts. It just seems like he has so much innocence but at the start you said "He displayed a wide grin as if to hide his sad looking eyes" I think it means he knows he made a mistake but he can't bear to face himself.

To be honest I felt like there was going to be more. This short story just seems like the start.

If there's one thing to criticize (and I am really nit picking) it's that the fount is kind of hard to read. I just prefer other founts but that's just me.

I think this is an incredible piece of writing so keep up the great work!

[SRMarx]

This was really interesting. Your dialogue and character interactions are very engaging.

[lzdnn]

This was an interesting read to me. I agree with Irish SOaP in thinking that there was going to be more. I think if you would like to add some meat to the bones of this story, make Mr. Garfield more boyish and make Bree aggressively wise, and extremely apparent that she has been burned one too many times. This is a very new type of story to me and I like the plot line!

[Zugzwang]

This was an interesting read. I like the idea of a short story takung place during a car trip. ..an original idea. How often we regret the everyday things that we do.

[JustaGurl]

I saw their mockery, their criticism, their…their judgement. And my fear sealed my lips... somehow i can relate to this, awesome writing, keep it up

[Molly Anna]

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and share your thoughts. Your kind words are much appreciated. :)