Stuck In Traffic(Kristin Dockar) Stuck in Traffic

Jade sighed, pushed her fingers through her hair for the tenth time, and howled! She had been stuck in this traffic for the last forty minutes. Never the most patient of people, she was beyond stressed. She was going to be late for her Yoga class…again.
Sitting in the middle lane of the motorway, she wound down the window, glanced to her right, and was surprised to see the driver of a smart Audi smiling at her. She glared back and wound the window back up again. But it was so hot. If she could have flounced sitting down, she would have.
Banging the window down again, she saw that the man was still looking over.
‘Frustrating, isn’t it?’
‘Do you always state the obvious?’ she answered rudely.
He just grinned.

The motorway was situated between two steep banks so there was absolutely no view. Jade prayed the traffic would get going before she needed a wee because there was also nowhere to pop behind a bush or a tree. She glanced back over at the man.
‘I can see you are pretty stressed out. Have you to be somewhere urgently?’
‘No.’
Then, because she was so bored, Jade said:
‘How about you?’
‘Yes, I’m supposed to be catching a flight to Geneva but that’s long gone’.
Jade felt a bit silly, moaning on about a missed Yoga class when he had missed a flight.
‘Tell you what, let’s play a game’.
Jade looked at him sceptically. ‘Like what?’
‘Five things about yourself. Might as well. We are going to be stuck for ages. It’s an accident. They are having to re-tarmac the road. There’s been fire damage’.
Jade really did feel bad when she heard that. Probably fatalities.
‘Name’s Harry. 43 years old, CEO of a group of Estate Agents, flat in Lime House, on route to a business meeting in Geneva. Now your turn’.
Under normal circumstances Jade would no more have disclosed anything about herself to a stranger than eat salami which she hated but she was so bored and frustrated. She had been stuck for nearly 2 hours.
‘Jade, 37 years old, teacher, no children, lives in Woodford’.

Then there was a pause, a silence between them as each weighed up the others information. Harry moved over to the passenger seat. Jade noticed people getting out of their cars and wandering about, looking for information on their phones.
Harry said: ‘Be easier to chat this way’ as he fully wound down the window.
They began to chat about their work and some of the current issues they faced. Jack told her landlords were selling up as new laws came into force around evicting tenants, even if they owed rent, and Jade told him about the immense problem of mobile phones in school and systematic bullying between students.
Then Jack’s phoned binged and he looked at the notification.
‘Another hour before we’ll get moving’ he said.
And so, the time passed slowly by. Occasionally they spoke to each other, but they were mostly scrolling through their phones.

Then a noise. The sound of drivers getting back into their cars, switching on engines, brake lights glowing.
‘Oh, thank the lord’ said Jade, moving into the driver’s seat. Jack leaned across and said:’ There’s a service station two miles further on. I’m going straight in there to have a coffee. Want to join me?’
‘I so would’ she replied, and as the traffic slowly, slowly began to move, they grinned at each other.
‘See, you’re not as grumpy as I thought’ he laughed.
They made their way slowly to the service station as the traffic moved cautiously along the motorway. Jade avoided looking at the site where the accident had happened. An irreparably damaged car lay on its side on the hard shoulder and police and recovery vehicles were going about their job. It made her feel glad to be alive. How could she have got so frustrated about missing a Yoga class.

Arriving at the service station, she saw Jack waiting for her by the entrance.
On seeing her, he smiled.
‘I keep thinking of the Talking Heads song ‘I’m on the road to nowhere.’
Jade looked at him, took a chance and said, ‘I hope that’s not true.’
As they sat drinking their coffee, she said:’ Five things about you now’.
‘I’ve met you; I like you, I hope you like me, I want to see you again, I would like your mobile number. Now you’.
Jade looked at him and just replied ‘Ditto’.
Like the traffic, she felt that maybe it was time to get out of the rut her life was in and move on.

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