Four Corners and Free
“Give me a break,” Kris said, heading toward a bar.
Milla did. Now she’s driving, bat-out-of-hell style, down the flat road leading to Four Corners Monument, which closes in minutes. Frustration clenches her jaw.
Fifteen minutes after the hour, she arrives at the closed gate. No cars in the parking lot. No one around.
An RV parks next to her, and a family of four emerges. The heavy-set man laughs.
“Didn’t make it. Shoot, hon, it’s closed,” he calls to his wife.
He glances at Milla. “Kinda disappointing when ya gotta schedule.”
Milla nods. Her anger at Kris revitalizes.
“It’s only a little old gate,” the wife says. “Let’s climb it.”
After the family scales the gate, Milla does too. She might never again have this chance.
“Thattagirl,” the husband says to Milla, who smiles, oddly pleased by his approval.
Milla takes pictures of them in the center of the monument then accepts when they offer to snap her photo on her phone. Their lightness assuages her anger.
After they leave, in the pastel twilight, she absorbs the scent of the dessert, the open sky, the vast landscape.
Then she twirls in the monument’s center, flowing between states, joyous.
Finally, free.
end 4/6/2018
Sascha Darlington
Note: Four Corners Monument is where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado intersect; it’s the only place where four states meet. You can get more information here
I can so readily picture this! hehe
thanks, Phyllis!
Interesting place, and a fun scene 🙂
https://iainkellywriting.com/2018/04/06/f-is-for-famagusta-cyprus/
Thanks, Iain! 🙂
I can visualise this. What a great setting.
Love the way you’ve incorporated places of interest into life-like stories. You’re a great talent.
Cheers,
CRD
Do drop by mine.
Thank you! I will do so. 🙂 I loved reading your work yesterday.
Now you’re in my neck of the woods. I wonder how Kris is getting home. 😉
Awww, he’s in a bar. He don’t care. 🙂
I have always wanted to go there but cannot interest anyone else to join me.
Road Trip! I’ll go again! 🙂
A lovely tale set in what seems to be a really interesting place. I like it!
Thanks, Keith! Maybe I can write the next one as funny as yours….but then again, probably not. 🙂
I think this is very entertaining. I love the idea of not being deterred by a closed gate. Freedom indeed!
Thanks, Anne. That actually is the only part of this flash that is true. I was traveling with people and we got there 15 minutes too late and couldn’t go back. We and another group climbed over the fence, took our pics, and were on our way. Good times! Although probably illegal…and now I’ve just admitted it where all the world can see. But I write fiction, so who’d believe me? 🙂
HaHA! Of course….just a fictional creation 🙂
I love your daily vignettes. I always click eagerly when I see them in my email.
Thank you so much for saying so and dropping by! 🙂