FIONA

Chapter Ten: Waiting Out The Storm

Rain cried as it hit the pavement, filled with an uproar of emotion in the sky. Dark clouds emerged, crashing into one another. Fiona could barely see the other cars in front of her, due to the storm. She rolled down her windows on the driver side and the front passenger side to see more clearly, because visibility through her windshield was terrible. Pulling the car off to the side of the road, she waited out the storm. Drops of rain came through the windows, as she scurried about rolling them up. The splashing of water could be heard as the tires of the passing cars drove by, because the roads were flooded.

"Come on, Lord. Why do you do this to me, now? I'm trying to come home from work, but I can't drive any further, due to this flood. I have this to deal with in addition to my sister's cancer. Why do you challenge me? I'm stuck doing a job I hate at the department store until I become established as a copyeditor. My business is progressing slowly, but not fast enough. I don't dare get on my cell phone, because of the storm. I don't want to get electrocuted should lightning start up," Fiona muttered, keeping her hands firmly on the steering wheel.

Leaning over to the front passenger seat, she grabbed her purse and rummaged through it looking for her lipstick. She also grabbed a piece of candy to get the moisture going back into her mouth. All the talking she did during the training session dried her mouth. She laid the back of her head against the headrest, and closed her eyes, reflecting on her day during the training session, and about her life in general. Boredom set in, and she drifted off to sleep with the motor still running.

Fiona was startled when she heard a tap on her driver window. Slowly rolling it down, she was surprised to see a policeman standing before her eyes. "Yes, officer. What can I do for you?"

"Miss, is there a problem here?" He inquired, furling his eyebrows, and leaning his hand on the roof of the car, "The problem is you've come to a stop on the side of this road; yet, your motor is still running. If you're having car problems, you need to use flares, and turn on your emergency lights so other folks on the road know you need assistance," he said firmly.

"No officer. The rain was coming down hard. So much so, visibility was terrible. I just thought I'd wait out the storm. Otherwise, I would have proceeded to my destination," she said, yawning and stretching her arms.

"It's alright to go now. The storm is dying down gradually. Drive carefully through this flood," he said while tapping the roof of the car with his hand, "If you do have any car trouble in the future, remember what I told you about the flares and the emergency lights."

"Thank you, officer. I will," she replied, pulling out a bottle of eye drops from her purse. The drops brought on a cooling sensation in her eyes. As the drops dripped down her face, she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

Upon arriving at the grocery store, the storm completely stopped. The sun was peaking through the clouds.

An elderly man walked by, grasping his cane with one hand, and three plastic bags of groceries with another. He lost his balance while still holding onto the bags, struggling to brace himself with his cane.

Fiona ran over to him. "Sir, allow me to lend my assistance. You shouldn't be carrying these heavy plastic bags of groceries. Why didn't you put them into the grocery cart? You could have pushed it out to your car, and wouldn't have had to struggle with your walking," she advised him.

"Young lady, I'm a stubborn fool, I guess. I wanted to prove to myself I'm still young enough to handle anything. I don't feel like I'm eighty-three years old, even though I am. I feel more like a younger man of twenty-two years. I feel like I can conquer the world. Then, reality sets in, and a mishap like this happens. But, I do thank you for your help and concern. May God bless you, dear," he said, leaning against Fiona, walking to his car.

He opened the trunk, and Fiona set the bags of groceries inside. She saw to it the elderly man was safely inside his car, and then proceeded toward the entrance of the grocery store.