Penna

As Penna continued to walk along the yellow lines, she wished she had some water to drink. Her throat was dry, and she was annoyed by the discomfort from it. Trying to take her mind off of her thirst and the cold, Penna studied the lines in the road. There were two lines in the center. Penna came to a place where one of lines started looking as if it were chopped in pieces, while the other one stayed whole. It looked intentional. The chopped pieces of line were too regular to be marred by wild beasts or vandalized by the banished people. Could this be the reason there were no traveling merchants on this road? Penna wondered. Could it be a warning to travelers that the road really led to nowhere?

Penna’s concerns evaporated as she saw some bright lights appear. They moved toward her rapidly, from the distant end of the straight stretch of road. A traveler, no doubt, Penna thought. By squinting, Penna could see the outline of a large box behind the lights. A roaring sound came from the box with lights on it as it approached her. Penna thought this must be one of the cars her father had described to her.

The roar dropped in pitch, and the car with its lights moved toward the side of the road as it neared Penna. The light around Penna became brighter than she had ever seen from the Nenmaran sun. Penna closed her eyes to protect them from the light. Then the brightness faded, but the car was only an arm’s length away. Strange, Penna thought.

Penna opened her eyes and saw the car in detail. A woman was inside looking at her. The woman appeared frightened of Penna. Her tiny human eyes widened as she saw Penna looking at her, and she screamed. Penna felt as hurt as she was amazed. Penna had done nothing to this strange woman, yet she acted as if Penna were a pellim or some other dangerous creature.

The roar of the car increased in pitch, and it raced away. Penna watched the bright red lights on the rear of the car disappear around the curve from whence she had just come. A strange and acrid smell was in the air. Penna wondered if the woman in the car had left the smell to chase Penna away. Certainly all humans were not that rude, Penna reasoned. Her father was not. The thought was encouraging.

Penna resumed her walk toward the city and the dawn. Another car came up from behind her, roaring and blaring a loud mechanical shout. Penna’s hair blew in all directions and she stumbled to the side from the force of the wind as the car sped around her. In a moment it disappeared past the distant end of the straight stretch of road.

Another car came from behind shouting at Penna, and another after it. Two more sets of headlights appeared in front of Penna. They passed Penna at the same time as another car came from behind. More cars came and the road was filled with them. The acrid smell increased as the number of cars increased. The force of the wind from the cars in both directions made it difficult for Penna to keep her balance. Penna reasoned the best place was on the yellow lines, since the cars seemed to prefer being on either side of the lines. Still, the shouting seemed to announce that Penna was not welcome in that spot.

One of the cars stopped and moved over off of the smooth rock part of the road. One of the windows moved down into the inside of the car, and a man stuck his head out at Penna. "Hey, young lady!" the man called. "Come out of the road. You’ll get hit!"

Penna walked over to him as another car rounded the curve. The car’s wheels screamed and the car shouted as several of the others had done. The car moved across the yellow lines, and another car coming up the straight stretch moved off the rock part of the road. Their wheels screamed and left wide black lines where the cars had been. The people in the two cars made angry faces at Penna as each car’s roar increased in pitch, and they sped away in their respective directions. Penna stood in front of the man and looked down at him seated in his car.

"Are you all right?" the man asked.

"I’m fine," Penna replied. "That’s called a paved road, isn’t it?"

"Where do you live?"

"I can’t describe it to you."

"I know someone who can help you," the man said. "Please get in. I won’t hurt you."

"I hope I haven’t given you any reason to hurt me," Penna asserted. "I haven’t done anything to you."

The man gestured toward the other side of his car and Penna walked around to it. After a moment, the window in front of Penna disappeared down into the car’s door.

"Come on and get in," the man said, this time with some impatience. "I meant it when I said I wouldn’t hurt you."

Penna grasped the roof of the car and swung her leg through the window. The man stuck out his hand and gestured "stop."

"I thought you wanted me to come in," Penna said, perplexed.

"I did, and I do," the man replied, "but I meant through the door. Here, let me open it for you. Take your leg down from the window." He leaned over and pulled a latch.

The door swung open, bumping into Penna. She sat down on the seat next to the man. He then closed and latched the door for Penna, and the window reappeared from inside the door. Turning his attention to the road, the man adjusted his hands and feet and the car moved, taking its place among the other cars driving along the road.

Warm air came from vents inside the car. Feeling soon returned to Penna’s numbed body...she had not realized how cold she was. Penna looked at all of the strange gadgets in the car. She watched the man move different things in the car, which seemed to control the car’s movement.

Penna noticed the watch on the man’s wrist.

"My father had a thing like that," Penna said, pointing.

"You mean my watch?"

"Yes. That’s what he called it. It’s made of metal."

"Yes, it is. The outside casing, mostly."

"This is a car we are in, isn’t it?"

"Yes. This one is my car."

"And these parts of your car are made of vinyl," Penna said with an air of knowledge.

"Yes, many of them they are."

"My father told me about metal and vinyl."

"I’m glad he did." The man gave Penna a look as if he thought she was strange.

"You have a tie on," Penna continued.

"Yes," the man confirmed, glancing down at his tie and then back to the road ahead. "It is one of the annoying things I have to endure."