Skin Deep

Beth awoke without the aid of her alarm. As her eyes greeted the day, she was smiling: She had dreamed of being with Daniel. At that point, she had awakened. She jumped from bed and threw on a robe as she scurried to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. She kept humming a song she didn’t even know where she’d heard it, but it fit her mood: light and happy. She showered and dressed for her workday, then turned on the TV to get the latest weather forecast. Thankfully there had been no change in the forecast. Checking off her list, she started loading the car. At the last minute, she threw her brief case and laptop behind the back seat, where she hoped it would stay until she came back to work the following week. She raced off to work for a short court appearance and one last minute appointment that put her behind schedule. However Beth felt she’d have to make up some time on the road. Her journey took her north along Route 73 through Midvale and depending on traffic and road conditions, it was about a two-and-a-half-hour drive. The CD changer was packed full of good tunes. She really didn’t care much for driving long distances and never in inclement weather— flying was her preferred mode of travel. She drove along, listening to some soft jazz in her cozy warm car and sipping some hot coffee from her fancy little thermos cup. The rough terrain gave spectacular views of hills and valleys, parts of which were still covered with what remained of the last snowfall. The little towns along the way were decked out with Christmas decorations, ready for a joyous season with friends and family. This was the time of year when she missed not having family around. She occasionally turned off the CD player and to check the weather for any change. When Bing Crosby’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” came on, it brought back bittersweet days with her family when she was young. She had to wipe tears off her cheek as she recalled those days: the big tree in the living room giving off the smell of pine and everything decorated so warmly; the anticipation of what would be under the tree on Christmas morning and all the good food. Those were fine times, but they lasted only a few days of the year. Since she became a partner in the firm, her holidays, including Christmas, were an office party and then back to work. While all the other attorneys and staff went home to their families, she stayed at the office. “Bah humbug!” she said aloud, and then she laughed. Maybe this week would set a new course for her life. She switched back to a jazz station when the song ended. Wyoming was beautiful this time of year and the sparsely populated countryside revealed nothing but natures finest. She began to feel more relaxed. As the miles clicked by, she thought about how wonderful it was, having a mini-vacation. She had seldom been away from her job. She was excited to spend time with Daniel: no work, just lots of romance and sex. She had been on the road a little over an hour and was just north of Midvale, when the scattered flurries the weather reports had forecast started earlier than were predicted. They were light and intermittent with light swirling winds, but she figured she would be at Daniel’s cabin well before there was any accumulation. However it wasn’t long before the snowfall increased to a little more than just flurries. She gripped the wheel against the intermittent strong gusts of wind, “Damn weather! Can’t they ever get this shit right?” As she drove along, the cloud cover rapidly increased, becoming darker and finally choking out the sunlight altogether, so dark that the sensor controlled headlights came on. Snow was beginning to stick to the road’s surface and the fine, powdery stuff had changed to flakes. The farther she drove, the more it kept coming and the heavier it got. The snowflakes were coming faster and getting larger until they were the size of quarters. It was beautiful, but she was becoming concerned. Her tension increased and she felt her armpits getting wet. Great. I’m going to get to Daniel’s smelling like some truck driver. The king-sized flakes began to stick to her windshield faster than the wipers could remove them, even with the defrosters going full blast. The snow was beginning to build up in the corners of the windshield. She was becoming more and more anxious. The landscape quickly turned solid white and the snow was accumulating on the pavement. She slowed down. The sun had not yet set, yet it felt like evening. Up ahead, she saw the lights from a building of some kind. At first, she thought it might be a warehouse or perhaps a business. Would there be anyone there? As she got closer, she saw it was the Fireside Diner. Daniel had mentioned the diner as a landmark and its proximity to his place. The big neon sign was as Daniel had described it: a color-changing, fire simulation around the name of the diner. He had promised to take her there for dinner one night during her stay. She deliberated whether to stop or press on….” She put on the turn signal, then thought the better of it and canceled. She could get stuck there, and then what? Would Daniel be able to get to her? As she passed by, she noticed a small red truck with a plow blade attached was plowing the parking lot. The driver of the truck waved at her: was that a friendly wave or a warning? As soon as she passed him, she began to second-guess her decision, but she was committed now as there was no place to turn around without risking getting stuck. She tried to overcome her fears by assuring herself that she was so close now and the roads from the diner to Daniel’s cabin would only get worse with the passage of time. She hadn’t gone through this to spend a good chunk of her weekend snowbound in some diner motel room. She watched the odometer slowly turn as the miles crept by. She had seven or eight miles of relatively barren countryside to go and she would reach the cabin. She began to talk to herself—even the sound of her own voice seemed to help relax her. “Surely, I can make it that far, but at twenty miles per hour, top speed, it will take a while—I can do this.” She took a deep breath, “I just have to take it slow and remain cautious. Yes, slow and easy for sure.” The snow kept coming down in huge flakes. Her rear window heater had lost the fight and the glass was covered. She could still see out of the heated rear-view mirrors, but they were beginning to close in. Her nervousness was turning into outright terror. She began to smell her own fear. “Ah, damn it!” she said aloud. She looked in the side mirrors: no one so she stopped. She didn’t dare pull off the road, so she put on the emergency flashers. Her wipers had clogged with the heavy snow that had melted and then re-froze on them. Now they could no longer clear the windshield. She jumped out. The air was biting cold, so she quickly cleaned the rear glass and knocked off the ice from the wipers, which had rendered them almost useless, clearing the headlights as well. She jumped back in the car, wiped the snow from her face, locked her seat belt and put the car in gear. She glanced into the rear-view mirror just as a massive truck slammed into the back of her car with such impact that her car lunged forward. She screamed and pushed the brake pedal as hard as she could, but the car kept sliding. In a split-second, it hit the guardrail with such force that the air bag deployed. As the guardrail gave way, her car slipped over the edge and plunged toward the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. Her bladder yielded to the sheer terror. The car seemed to fall in slow motion as it plummeted nose first into the ravine. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the impact. She continued to scream at the top of her lungs when the car made the first brush against the rocks and flipped.