beep beep beep beep,
he punched the the keypad of the ATM with a horrible anxious heartbeat. As he pressed the button he closed his eyes and waiting longer enough for his mind and heart to comprehend what the machine would say to him.
he opened his eyes quickly and shut them again seeing the glow of the screen in a flash.
”-£291.93DR”
he pressed cancel on the machine as he couldnt get any money out. He walked over to his car in the cold wind that was ushering in November and sat in the car and swore at himself. The engine hummed as he put his seat belt on and shoved the gear stick into reverse. AS the car backed up out of the car space.
”Beeep”
The orange glow of the petrol monitor flashed in the dark on his pale skin. He realised that he only had enough petrol to get home.
This man had to wait another 2 days before seeing his pay check and even that wasnt enough to cover his overall debt to the bank.
All he wanted was some food and some petrol. two things that he did not have or wasn’t going to have until the next two days was over. He knew that once he got home, it would be coffee and a can of soup that had been in his cupboard for 2 months. He knew when he bought it it would be a saving grace one day. He just thought it would be on one of those cold winter days. Not because there was nothing else to eat in the house.
The drive home was cold and he drove slow as he could down the same roads that he had for the last three years, he wondered if he should change he job just to save some petrol, as that’s where most of his money was going nowadays. As he turned off the main road onto the straight side road that would take him straight back to his small town, he saw a sign.
”ROAD CLOSED”
He swore under his breath again and continued to swear until the words beat his skin and bruised his heart. It was his way of causing himself some harm as it was his own fault that he was in this situation.
He turned the car around and had to retrace his journey backwards for six miles and take another route home. His eyes piercing the petrol dial and his heart beating faster every time it moved a millimetre to the red line. To save petrol he travelled 30mph under the speed limit moving over to allow people to pass him, their angry eyes and swearing mouth were another kick and punch to his body. He deserved it. He slipped the gear stick into neutral and allowed the cars momentum to coast down the hill and across a drive. His heart sank as he had to accelerate again as he saw the gage move another millimetre to the red line.
He started thinking about the girl, her green jewelled eyes and her golden hair. He thought about the way she always smelt that bought butterflies to his stomach and when she smiled at him he would get so nervous he would stutter. He had seen her only that morning but they had promised themselves not have a night away from each other. He wanted to see her, she just made everything seem aright in his world.
Only two miles left before he was home and he began to sweat and his stomach was tight, he was unsure if it was nerves or hunger. He knew that the soup wasn’t going to fill him up so he started to ruffle in his pockets for any loose change, he was hoping to buy a chocolate bar. He pulled out 10 pence. not enough even for a pick and mix these days. He threw on money on the floor.
Again his eyes switched to petrol dial, his eyes fixed on that rather than the road. He slowly pulled onto his road. Knowing now he would make it home he slowed right down so the car was crawling along the street and he noticed that the houses were so nice but the area had been over-run with teenage kids hanging around the streets. he pulled into his driveway and switched off the engine.
‘Thank god.’
He got into his house in the darkness and quickly sped to the kitchen and opened the cupboard he pulled out the can f soup and lit the gas on the hobs. It was vegetable soup. He thought that maybe it would fill him up a little. He found the last piece of bread and a banana as well. The banana was almost black, so he removed the skin and cut out the bruises on it and ended up eating around a quarter of it. He poured the soup into a bowl and sat in the lounge just with the side lamp on and dunked the bread into the soup. He carefully ripped it into small pieces thinking that it would last longer and fill him up more than just eating the whole slice.
The soup was warm and made him warm he walked to the kitchen to wash up the bowl thinking.
‘how can someone with a good job be living like this?’
”beep” ”beep” ”beep”
His mobile vibrated and lit up. It was a text message.
”Are you coming over? I want to see you. X”
it was from the girl. He sighed and hung his head, thinking about the petrol.
he slowly typed
”ill be over in 15 mintes.xxx’
He didnt know if this was a stupid idea or one of the best ideas in the world as he would get to see her and kiss her and hug her.
He decided it was the latter.
He walked to his car and sarted to talk to it.
”please dont let me down, i know that we can make it.”
Using all the same techniques as he had learned from his journey home and using new ones like keeping the gears in high so the revs were low. His eyes never left the dial of the petrol gage. He switched on his hazard lights as he was going slower than he had ever in his life on a main road. By doing this the other road users did not swear and him. He smiled to himself.
The car was lagging and he could feel that it was running on petrol fumes as he pulled into her close but he breathed a sigh of relief as he parked.
”I need to win the lottery.” he said out loud.
he knocked on the door and waited.
She opened the door in her pyjamas the ligh of the house shone behind her and she smiled as she gave him a kiss and a hug. He held on a little longer than normal. As he smelt her hair.
She grabbed his hand and led him to her room were they curled up into each other and fell asleep
As he closed his eyes he thought.
”My life is pretty amazing right now.”
