Parable Road 17 (Reasons)

“How long is this going to take?”

“Who knows,” I say as I watch the husky man in greasy overalls puzzling over something by the large metal door between us and the open road.

Jason looks at his smartphone again. “We should’ve headed out two hours ago.”

“Patience my friend, patience.”

Jason sighs. “You said that two hours ago!”

“It’s still true.”

“I don’t get it.” Jason glances at the mechanic tinkering with something or other. “How hard can it be to get that door open?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” I say with a chuckle.

“I suppose so,” Jason sighs and shakes his head. The picture of a young cowboy anxious to go for a ride.

On either side of us in the semi-darkness of this metal shed is a row of semi-trucks without trailers attached.

The scent of diesel fuel and oil tinges the air we breathe.

This is the glamorous environment of a truck garage.

Sunlight glints through cracks in the large garage door. A hint of the freedom that has been denied us for the moment.

“At this rate, we’ll miss the whole trip!”

I watch the mechanic straightening something or other. “Who knows, maybe there’s a reason we need to stay here for now.”

“Yeah, the reason is somebody doesn’t know what they’re doing.” Jason eyes the mechanic. “I think it’s about time that I go over there and…”

I reach out to prevent him from marching forward. “Just leave it.”

“We can’t just leave it!”

“He’s working as hard as he can, bothering him will just slow things down.”

“It’s hard to imagine how anyone could go slower than that.”

“Jason, Jason, Jason, you’ve gotta calm down.”

“Calm down? That’s not gonna get us anywhere!”

“Spell shop.”

Jason looks confused. “What?”

“You heard me, spell, shop.”

“Why?”

“Just humor me for a moment.”

Jason sighs. “Alright, S, h, o, p.”

“Good job. Now spell chop.”

“C,h,o,p.”

“What do you do when you get to a green light?”

Jason rolls his eyes. “Stop of course!”

“You stop when you get to a green light?”

Jason laughs. “Alright, you got me, Ben.”

As if to underscore this moment of triumph, a metallic screeching fills our ears as the garage door begins to open.

“See that Jason, it’s working.”

“Finally!”

“What did all that worrying help?”

“Who knows, maybe if I did more worrying, we’d have left two hours ago.”

“I doubt that.”As I slide into the driver’s seat I turn the key. The comforting rumble of a big rig engine fills the air as light from the great doors fills the dark cavernous space. Our escape route is now clear.

I shift the vehicle into gear and we head through the garage toward the great outdoors.

As we drive the CB radio chatters with news of a big accident on the road ahead.

“Hear that,” I say to Jason. “If we would’ve left on time we would’ve been in the middle of that pile-up right now.”

“Huh.”

I smile. “I told you that God had a reason to keep us here.”

Jason shakes his head. “What do you know?”

On that note, we turn onto the highway toward Ontario.

Hopefully, the accident scene will have been cleared up by the time we get there. But, I suppose we’ll see what happens.