Tres Novellas

Just as he ended his conversation with Mr. Carver, Chip drove into a busy intersection. He was blinded by the bright rays of the sun, and could not see that the light had turned red. It was a tragic mistake. He was hit in the driver’s side of his two-door car by a large delivery truck. The impact crushed his small car and hurled it across the street, where it came to a stop next to a utility pole on the far-side of the intersection.

Chip was unconscious when rescuers arrived. He had suffered severe head and internal injuries. His car had been crushed like a beer can, and he had to be extricated from the wreckage before paramedics could treat him and get him to the hospital.

Chip regained consciousness in the ambulance long enough to ask the paramedics to notify Debra. They asked if he had any other family nearby or anyone who could sign medical papers on his behalf. Chip knew he was in serious trouble by their questions. He had no family nearby and could only think of Jim Carver. He managed to get Jim’s name and phone number out just before he drifted back into a state of unconsciousness.

Jim Carver arrived at the hospital while Chip was in surgery. He was directed to a waiting area, where he paced nervously. A half hour after he arrived, the surgeon appeared in the waiting room. The look on his face foretold of bad news.

SOUTHERN CONFESSIONS

Jess Settles looked out his bedroom window in his son’s home as he buttoned his shirt. He saw his daughter-in-law, Becky, and his twelve year old granddaughter, Jessica Lyn, hanging laundry on the clothes line in the yard.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Dallas, Texas. It was late April, and the sun was shining brightly over the rooftops of the houses to the east. He walked slowly from the window around the bed to the large dresser by the bedroom door. He picked up his pocketwatch and opened it, but not to check the time. He knew about what time it was. He opened it up to see Betty, his wife’s picture inside. He stared at her picture inside the large golden pocketwatch and thought about how much he loved, and missed her. He closed the watch slowly, held it to his lips and gave it a kiss, just as he had every morning since she passed away two years before.

They had been married for 45 years. Not once in that time did he think he would outlive her. But he became a lonely widower at the age of 73, and now he lived for his grandchildren, Jake and Jessica Lyn.

Jess slipped his pocketwatch into the left pocket on his vest, as he looked at himself in the mirror above the dresser. He had a somber look on his face and he knew why. He had gotten little rest, as he was deeply concerned about his 19 year old grandson. It was 1917 and war raged in Europe. Now it looked inevitable that the U.S. would send troops there soon.

He and his wife, Betty, had worked hard to make a better life for their only child, David, who had insisted he move in with him after his mother died. They had always planned and hoped for even better opportunities for their grandchildren. Jake was about to finish his first year of college, the first in the Settles’ family to do so. The Settles family plan had been for Jake to attend college and then come home to run the hardware store that Jess had managed to buy when he first came to Texas, while David continued to run their lumberyard. But now, a world war might shatter those dreams, and Jess was afraid of losing his only grandson in a war on the other side of the world.

THE ONE

It was a little past 3 pm when Brad Kelley walked into his house in the Denver suburbs, his mail in one hand and the Sunday paper tucked under his arm. He was emotionally spent and depressed from just having had a terrible argument with his girlfriend. His surprise weekend trip to a dude ranch in the mountains had backfired and led to a full blown argument.

Brad was in his early thirties and worked as a property manager for a large management firm. Originally from Tennessee, he was easy going, but worked and played hard. He loved the outdoors, and felt he had found heaven everytime he looked at the Rocky Mountains.

Brad dropped the newspaper on the coffee table in front of the couch as he sat down to look through his mail. He saw the light blinking on his answering machine next to the couch and pressed the button to play the messages. He hoped it was from his girlfriend, Sara Smith.

The message was from his friend Tom, telling him what time they would be playing their weekly three-on-three game of basketball. Brad was disappointed the message was not from Sara but not all that surprised either.

Sara had blown up at him after lunch, all but breaking up with him when he told her he had purchased a weekend trip for them to a dude ranch. He had hoped she would settle down and call when he got home to talk things over. As it stood, she was not going with him.

Brad had asked Sara to move in with him at the first of the year, but she had been disappointed in not getting an engagement ring for Christmas, and had said she wanted to give their relationship more time. He knew she had been expecting to get a ring during the holidays, and he had originally planned on it, but then decided to wait until summer. Since then, Sara had made an argument out of the smallest of disagreements, which was unusual for her.

Brad knew Sara was the one for him. She had always been great to be with. He had only one hesitation about getting married. He still had strong feelings for an old girlfriend from several years earlier. Now he worried his relationship with Sara was about to be over.