The Last Lap

The Last Lap

Heart racing, blood pumping, his insanity rose with the soft glow of the moon. Through gritted teeth and with his hands wrapped white knuckled around the steering wheel, he leaned forward and negotiated the next turn with practiced precision.

Outside, beyond the roar of his engine, in a world that he did not understand, he saw the fans trickle out of the grandstand to congratulate the race’s cup winner and lift high their champion onto their shoulders.

“There’s a rumble in my back right tire!” the driver screamed in a voice thick with madness. “Hello?” he tried desperately to reach his pit crew, his team, which had packed up and left him a long time back. “No matter,” he thought to himself, pushing down the pain of desertion and shifting gears for the long straightaway.

As the track glided hypnotically beneath him, his thoughts drifted back to his tiny fists clutching his first go-kart trophy, his childhood bedroom festooned with the accolades of early achievement and the many hours he spent perfecting his craft. Looking back up, torn from fantasy and through the stinging sweat of reality, he saw the finish line recede further and further away from him, unattainable, yet, somehow, still within the sight of its youthful promise. With the delicacy of a surgeon, the driver cut free the ever-growing tumor of consciousness to return to the racetrack---his home, his womb.

“Let’s take this turkey to the fryer,” he snarled as the familiar wave of lunacy white-washed his vision and he, once again, became the leader of the pack.

Whipping mad hell around the turn, the driver had just realigned his car with the track when he heard a very distinct clanging noise coming from his engine and when he looked out across his window, he could see a wisp of smoke curl and dance from beneath the hood.

Terrified and as the two worlds collided, the man put his head down on the steering wheel. “Just one more lap,” he silently prayed to himself. “Just one more lap.”

*This is the end of this story, it's short, but it is intended to be so. To fill in the rest of the space, I will now rattle off famous quotes by some of my favorite people.

"Life, it's no way to treat an animal," Kurt Vonnegut

"Buy the ticket, take the ride," Hunter S. Thompson (also in regards to life)

"We promise with secrecy and devotion to the purpose of fighting slavery by force of arms to the extent of our ability," An oath taken by the John Brown family

"A house divided cannot stand," Abraham Lincoln (borrowed from the bible)

"The human conundrum is the fact that good outcomes rarely come from violent beginnings, but, change rarely occurs without violence," author unknown

"Hurt no one and do as thy please," not sure, but I personally am a big fan of the golden rule

"Please just wear a mask," author me, hoping to appeal to the common thread of human decency.

Listen, the kids are screaming, the wife is glaring and I need to go. No more time for pithy quotes, so, please accept this story as is and I fill the rest in with nonsense.

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Oh, one more thing, if you have any questions about what will happen with the current protests and the absolute need we have in this country for equality, please read Malcolm X take on the famous march on Washington and Martin Luther Kings, "I have a dream speech." It is priceless and as true and potent now as it ever was

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