Self-defeating Prophecy

'We have plenty of time' is one of those phrases that really should not be uttered. For in the uttering it becomes a self-defeating prophecy.

In this case, young Daniel spoke the thought out as his mother banged on his bedroom door for the third time that morning. 

"We will have plenty of time, if we are on the road in the next five minutes, young man." Sheila sighed. "It's not like you didn't know this was happening. Now come on! Even your dad is ready before you!"

"Alright, alright. Keep your hair on Mum. I'll be down in a sec." They exchanged a glower as she backed out, pulling the door shut behind her.

In six minutes and thirty seconds, not that anyone was counting, Sheila and Eddie watched as their son finally exited the house, slamming the front door. They winced. 

He clambered in behind his father, throwing his backpack on the seat beside him, before reaching across to tug the seatbelt down and clicking it into the latch.

Eddie & Sheila eye-rolled in unison as Eddie put the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway. They got as far as the first set of lights heading south out of town, stopping as the traffic ground to a halt. 

Sheila stretched to her left, trying to see past the half dozen or so vehicles in front of them. This town didn't tend to get queues on the roads, especially not on a Tuesday morning. She looked the question over to her husband. Eddie shook his head.

"Nope, I didn't hear anything on the news this morning. Wonder what's going on?"

The lights changed in their favour but still the line in front barely moved. When they eventually reached the bridge on the other side of the lights, the slight bend in the road gave Sheila a better view ahead. 

"There's barely a break in the line all the way out of town, Ed. This is going to take forever! Why today of all days?!"

She twisted to look over her shoulder at their son. Daniel's earbuds were already in place, his head down as he watched the tiny screen on his phone. Oblivious, she thought, as always. Her lips pressed tightly together, she turned her attention back to the road.

The traffic crawled along at 30 k's, all through the south side of town. When they finally reached the open road speed signs, the journey had already taken more than three times longer than usual. Even then, as the cars and trucks spread out slightly, Eddie could only manage to pick up a little bit of speed.

"At this rate, it'll take us over two hours to get to Timaru," he growled. 

"I'll be lucky to get back in time for work tonight if it's as bad coming home."

Daniel took a rare break from his screen to look up and out the window.

"What's taking so long? I thought we'd be at Hinds by now. Why we going so slow?"

He saw Dad look over at Mum, then Mum met Dad's eyes. Why did they always have to look so annoyed when he asked a question? He didn't know why he bothered.

"If you didn't have those things in your ears all the time, you'd know what's going on, or at least as much as we do. Tell you what, do you have your data on right now?" Dad watched him in the rearview mirror while he spoke.

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"How about you see if you can find out what is happening. We haven't seen any signs of an accident, or the police. But the traffic isn't clearing. See what you can find for us."

Though still a little put out at his parents apparent annoyance, Daniel was pleased there was something they needed from him. He had conveniently forgotten this trip was for him in the first place.

Sheila took out her own, older phone, and texted the lady who was their contact at the venue. "Traffic a nightmare! We're on our way, but could be a little late. So sorry." Send. She watched the little wheel go round and round...and round. 'Message failed. Try again'

They reached Temuka - usually a forty, to forty-five minute journey, two and a half hours after they'd left home. All their careful planning, allocated contingency time allowance and all, was out the window. It had taken half an hour just to get Sheila's text message to send. And Daniel's googling had yielded no information as to the hold-up, so whatever the cause, it didn't appear newsworthy.

Eddie pulled up at a tearoom carpark. They all needed to stretch their legs, use the bathroom and have something to eat and drink. 

Sheila stood in the queue, requests from husband and son in her head as she waited to get close enough to scan the blackboard menu. 

Daniel had taken off, eager to have time alone, phone still in hand of course. Eddie had done what he needed to do and was 'taking a turn' up and down the main street while he waited.

Her phone buzzed. Their contact at the venue had replied.

By the time she'd got to the front of the queue and ordered, both Daniel and Eddie were back at the car. Juggling the hot drinks and food, her phone tucked under her arm, she smiled her thanks to the person who held the door open for her. Eddie saw her coming, jumped out of his seat and hurried over to relieve her of the drinks.

Sheila handed the food around, popped her cup in the holder between the seats, her own food on her lap, then reached over to fasten her seat belt.

She sighed heavily, causing Eddie and Daniel to glance over at her.

"Take your time, boys. No hurry now."

She turned so she could see them both at once.

"Katie called, you know, from the campus? Auditions are postponed indefinitely."

Daniel swore, several words his mother didn't know he knew.

"Why? What happened?" asked Eddie, a frown settling deep on his forehead.

"All this traffic? It seems a ship coming into the port late last night lost control. It hit land so hard its' knocked out the power for the whole town and surrounds. We just didn't look back far enough on the news I guess. Their cell network's are overloaded, so's the internet locally. It's a huge mess. Music auditions are the last thing anyone is thinking about right now."

She knew how disappointed her son was, reaching back to pat his leg in sympathy. Eddie turned the car around in the carpark and headed back the way they'd come. 

"We were never going to make it in time anyway," he sighed.