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Jan
31
I lay wrapped in the mylar blanket, holding it desperately around me so that not a drop of the deadly UV could seep through.
When I was very young I when to Space Mountain at Disneyland. Zooming around in the pitch black with no control whatsoever terrified me. Lying in the pitch black of the blanket was similar but oh so much more terrifying.
I was so preoccupied with my terror that at first I didn’t notice the screams coming from the front of the car. When they finally smashed their way through to my consciousness, I almost joined in.
“Get a friggin’ grip,” I said to myself.
I couldn’t just lie here waiting, but what could I do?
The next scream was like a slap in the face. There was Alistair exposing himself to the sun, trying to save my butt and what the hell was I doing to help? Nothing.
The smell of burning flesh which assailed my nose was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I rolled out of the blanket and against the right-hand wall of the car so I was in shadow as I came out. The light was a sledgehammer that pounded me in the face and I had to close my eyes tight shut. I fumbled in my pocket and came out with my sunglasses.
With my eyes working again I picked up the blanket and held it in position so that when I stood up it was between me and the sun. If I had been human still, there would have been no way I could balance like that in the speeding vehicle. But, if I was human still we wouldn’t be having a problem.
I pushed myself between the two rows of seats to the front seats as quickly as I could. The back of my head grew painful as indirect light hit it.
Alistair was holding onto the steering wheel with one hand, while pushing on the gas pedal with the other. He was keeping as low as possible so the sun wouldn’t get him. This kept his face from being burned off, but smoke was coming from his hand on the steering wheel, filling the car with the stench of burning flesh.
“If you let me get into the passenger seat,” I said, “I can hold this blanket up and protect us while you drive.”
“Okay,” he rasped, his face screwed up in a pained grimace, “On a count of three. You count.”
“Once you sit up, there’s going to be a couple of seconds before I can get into the seat and block the light.”
“I know. That’s why I said you should count,” he said and I thought I almost detected a hint of humor. Pain can bring out aspects of people you didn’t even know existed.
It was up to me. I took a quick breath and counted, “One, Two, …”