Alternate Purpose

Chapter 1

Chapter One

YEAR 2015

It was a warm summer evening. Fifteen-year-old Devin Baker and his best friend, Sawyer Gomez, were riding their bicycles north on State Street. They’d just left Hill Side Community Church, where they’d been attending a youth group event with over thirty other kids and their leaders. Most weeks, Devin enjoyed the three-mile bike ride. However, he looked forward to next year. That was when he would have his driver’s license and would be able to make this trip driving the blue 1979 Ford Mustang that he and his dad had been restoring for the last year.

After the boys left the church, they stopped at the local convenience store on their way home. Every week they came here to purchase a snack for the ride back.

They parked their bikes near the door and out of the way of the fuel pumps. As always, Devin got a bottle of sweet iced tea and a small bag of Doritos, and Sawyer got a packaged ice cream cone.

The cashier, a plump balding man, smiled when he saw them. “I assumed I would be seeing you two tonight. Every Wednesday, the same order.”

“No reason to change,” said Sawyer.

The boys smiled and headed back to their bikes.

With treats in hand, they continued on their way. Sawyer rode with one hand while eating the ice cream. They passed through the traffic light and down a long winding hill. Next, they would pass the pond where they all skated each winter. Their speed increased as they went down the hill. At the last minute, Sawyer saw a small branch in the road in front of him. There was no time to avoid it, and he probably wouldn’t have tried even if he’d seen it sooner. It wasn’t big at all. When he hit it, his balance was compromised a little. Not a problem for a teen who was comfortable on his bike, but he’d been paying attention to the ice cream and wasn’t expecting it. Startled, he grabbed for the handlebars with his other hand. The ice cream cone broke and struck his thigh before falling to the ground. With minimal effort, Sawyer regained control and didn’t even slow down. He was mad, though, that he’d lost his ice cream, which was less than half-finished. Now his hand was sticky from the snack breaking while he was holding it, and there was a big gooey splotch on his pants. Worst of all, Devin had seen it and found the whole thing funny.

“Good job! Is this your first time on a bike?”

“Shut up! There was something in the road.”

“That little twig? It looks to me like you just don’t know how to ride a bike.” Devin laughed.

Sawyer didn’t respond right away, but pouted because of embarrassment and the loss of his cone.

After a minute, he said, “Can I have some of the Doritos? I lost my cone and I’m hungry.”

“Sure.” Devin accelerated to get next to his friend as they approached the curve that went around the pond.

He pulled up next to Sawyer and held out the bag, the same handoff the boys had done many times before. Sawyer took the bag and drifted over a little too close to his friend. Devin responded by veering left, just over the center line as they were going into the curve. At that same time, a car came around the curve, from the opposite direction, and also drifted over the centerline. Devin’s bike hit the front corner of the car, throwing him into the windshield, before he tumbled off onto the road. He remained conscious just long enough to feel his left femur break and his head strike the pavement.

The last thing he heard was the woman screaming through her open window and Sawyer calling his name.