this time indianapolis didn't try to kill me
hurtling westward, four hundred miles behind me and two hundred still ahead. the rain had been throwing light punches all day, and now it was challenging me to a proper throwdown. a grey thunderhead was growing out of the horizon in front of me, piled three miles high, a wall of vapor just itching for an excuse to condense. i waffled, considering my next move, to wait some unknown interval for the storm to pass or to barrel on through into certain death. that kind of cloud spawns tornadoes, you know. there haven't been any yet this year and you're just begging to be the first victim.

a green light on the dashboard calmly beams advice to me. cruise. control. you don't get mission statements like that every day. roll on. we can't stop here.

the bottoms of the clouds were not even half a mile off the ground. great gashes of electricity were jumping from ground to sky. i watched the car creep under the front edge of the storm cloud and wondered just what i'd got myself into. the light from the evening sun bounced off the far edge of the ionosphere behind me, filtered in from the back, lit the whole scene with an eerie ambient wash. the cheerful blue in my rearview versus the velvet grey ahead. vicious black clouds hung like cinderblocks over farm houses, close enough to touch if you jumped.

lightning smacked the ground a mile ahead on my left. rain fell like gunfire. i watched the road disappear into a diffuse haze, a highway reduced to a mere a probability. i followed twins of taillights. the thunder was barely audible above the roar from my inaccurately-titled muffler, which did not improve my mood. if lightning doesn't make noise you're either too far or too close.

the blue strip in my rear window had vanished now. the world was a dark purple, the color of casket lining. the engine revved involuntarily and the drive wheels tore uselessly at a road that was suddenly more liquid than normal. too much cruise, i thought, kicking fiercely at the brake, and not enough control. the green light winked out. the front end reacquainted itself with the tar, and i realigned car and self with the path. the wind kicked up in displeasure. great sparks spread like cracking glass across the sky, the base visible from my left window and the fingertips through the right. other warriors had retired to the sidelines. i wished i could convince myself to join them.

finally it broke. the rain slowed to a mere torrent, then a shower, then a dusting. the lightning retreated behind me. the setting sun lit the world in peach and tangerine, and the tail edge of the storm cloud striated in that stubborn purple, a noble's nod to an enemy well met.

i drove. i kept the cruise off.