After a meetup with Mom, lunch and shopping on Friday, I turned onto the last street before mine. As I made the turn, the steering went out, my truck died and smoke began rising from under the hood. I called my mechanic, and he said his tow truck was already out on a run, with two more ahead of me. While I waited, a guy in a red truck pulled over and walked back to offer his help. He said he’d be back in a few minutes, but never returned.
After a while a guy in a black truck, who had offered his help in the interim, returned to check on me. When he asked again if he could help me, I finally accepted. Young and agile, he quickly helped me unload my purchases into the bed of his shiny Toyota. When we settled into his cab, my eyes happened to rest upon a green digital camo uniform on the seat between us. In reply to my inquiry, “Oh, are you Army?” he answered with a nod. “What do you do?” I asked. He replied, “Special Forces.” Despite the air conditioning, the truck suddenly grew very warm.
We introduced ourselves and shook hands. He worked at the base nearby, in addition to numerous security consulting gigs throughout a broad region. As I gave him driving directions to my house, my eyes ran along his shaven head and sun-kissed skin. His T-shirt and shorts covered the highlights, without leaving much to the imagination. He had only recently relocated to the area and we shared our experiences and knowledge of the players and circumstances of common local problems my neighbors and I had dealt with earlier in the year.
When we arrived at my place, he wasted no time helping me unload everything from his pickup to my front door. At the same time, he was careful, setting my shopping bags down gently and snatching up an errant room freshener solid that rolled away. In no time at all, we were back in his cab, heading down the road to my truck, sharing about our common interests in yoga and people living with special needs. As he dropped me off, he made sure I entered his name and cell number in my phone, in case I might need help again.
NOTE: This is a reality-based short story, edited and fictionalized out of respect for our mutual privacy. After a teaser, my friend, romance author Vonnie Davis, demanded details and a full story, and I was inspired by another friend, author Becky Siame‘s new reality fiction genre. 😉
(c) 2014 Belinda Y. Hughes
Belinda Y. Hughes is the author of Confessions of a Red Hot Veggie Lover 2: Lacto Ovo Vegetarian Recipes. She also blogs on food, natural health, writing, editing and social media. Belinda is currently working on her first collection of erotic poetry, an LGBT romance and crime mystery and the third edition of her cookbook. She enjoys gardening, cooking, hiking, meditation, yoga, reading and living in the country with her labradachs and wildlife friends.
Publications
Confessions of a Red Hot Veggie Lover 2
Writing, Editing & Social Media Blog
Guest Blogs
Cajun Casino Heist and Lesbian Romance (The Notebook Blogairy)
Adventures in Book Marketing (The Write Way)
Yellow Ribbon (Unknown Poetry)
Seniors Don’t Sit Well (PenPaperPad)
Bringing Food to Life (Writing in the Modern Age)
Author Interviews
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