I'll Be Right Back

September 21, 1999

It was a perfect day, one of routine and normal activity for the most part. Nothing unusual.

The kids are outside playing... I am watching TV and Cindy is across from me reading a book... well I think she has more than reading on her mind, but you know that will have to wait until the kids are in bed right?

I can't help it, I forget the TV and get lost in looking at the wonder of the woman I call my wife. She has long light brown hair, smoothe and straight with a slight curl at the ends, Her eyes are dark green almost blue, and her skin is very tan from the summer sun. She has kept her body in near perfect form and now she is smiling at me. I have to ask myself if I deserve such a great life and such a wonderful woman to share it with. We have 4 children and all are made in the image of their mother, in many ways, except Tiffany, she has my nose, poor child.

I am so close to heaven in my life at this point that I am thinking that I am actually there.

It has been a long and wonderful journey to this point. Cindy and I met in High School and well we fell in love in an instant.. Hard to believe?

Its true... my first day in school after moving to Salt Lake City, I was a clumsy kid, and quite shy, I was lost and trying to find my first class and there she was, I stopped and gasped as she smiled and said "Hi"... I could not speak I just remember mumbling something... we began to talk, and yes ended up skipping class, and here we are in 1999, Husband and Wife.

It is about 3:45 and Cindy asks "what do you want for dinner Ronnie?"... well she knows my favorite is spaghetti and I like to cook it, so I said "I'll make spaghetti OK?" she laughed and said "I was hoping you'd say that"

At about 4:30 the water was in a full boil and I was about to put the noodles in when Cindy came into the kitchen and said "I am going to run to the store and get some french bread"

Our oldest was setting the table and asked her mother if she'd get some coke... This moment will be forever frozen in my mind.

Cindy said "sure I will darlin'... keep an eye on your brother and sister while I am gone" Then she gave our daughter a kiss and came to me, she grabbed my hair near my ear with her right hand, and my left ear, looked me in the eye and pulled me close and whispered "I love you" and gave me a kiss that was almost unlike any we have shared before, then pushed me away and said "I'll be right back"

5:05PM, noodles are done, sauce is ready, table set, kids are hungry, waiting on Cindy.

The usual trip to the store given time to shop and return home is about 40 minutes. Cindy should be here any second, so I put the food on the table and get the kids in place, have a little trouble with Brandon and the evil high-chair he hates.

We sit there in utter silence, strange I can't remember a single moment in my life where it was so quiet. 5:25PM, now I am wondering why Cindy is late... what the hell is going on?

The next sound I heard was sirens, and they were not far off, ... Brandon began to cry and fight with his high-chair, for a moment I forgot about the sirens and removed my son from the chair from hell... He was very pleased and I put him down, my daughter looked right at me and asked "daddy what's wrong?"

I froze in that moment and heard the sirens again, they were getting closer..... I felt a sinking feeling in my gut although I was not sure at that moment what I was feeling.... I just reacted on instinct, First I picked up the phone and started to call the store to have them page Cindy and see if she was there, then I just put the phone down and went to the front door, when I opened it the sounds of sirenes were so loud it made my heart begin to race, for some reason I began to feel weak in the knees... I stepped outside and could see our neighbor Phyllis and instantly asked her if she'd mind watching the kids for a few minutes, she said "sure" with that I ran to my truck, without a word I just backed up and took off, seeing my confused and crying children. at that moment I was feeling every emotion I have ever felt all at the same time.

I went the same way to the store we always go rounding the corner at the end of my street I could see people in their yards looking and pointing as if they knew something, Now I was in a near panic.

I then turned left onto Mitchle Drive the last street before the store, and there were flashing lights, red, blue and many of them, all near the intersection near the store.... I remember slowing as I approached this scene thinking, it can't be, this can't be Cindy... Before I could get any closer I was stopped by a police officer, I just shook my head NO and jumped out of the truck and started to run toward the scene, I remember seeing what looked like two cars, but they were both so badly damaged there was no way to tell, there was fuel and the smell of gas, and smoke coming from one of the cars, I could see a young man sitting on the ground next to one of the cars, holding a bloody shirt or cloth on his forehead, Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard a familiar voice, It was a friend of mine, John Hardin, he pulled me to the side of the road, and looked me in the eye and said "you do not want to go over there"

It was in that second that I knew... I just new my Cindy was gone.... First I went into an insane rage and my friend never let go, it is possible looking back that I may have actually hurt him, though I did not mean to, god bless him.

On September 21, 1999 I lost more than mere words can explain, my children lost a mother and the world lost a fine person... It is so tragic and unfair... Because it was all caused by a teenage drunk driver, who was arguing with his girlfriend on a cell phone while driving.

This teenager was hurt but survived, he hit my wife's car in the middle of an intersection after running a red light at an estimated speed of 75 MPH.

Everyone tells me Cindy died instantly, as if that would help me deal with it.

I have lived with this day, and the aftermath, and dwelled on things like "what if I had not made spaghetti"... millions of what if's.

The reality is it happened, so I have to be a good father to my children... As I am sure Cindy would have wanted.... But I miss her, dammit I miss her so much... I want that day back, I want the life we would have had between that day and this one, but all I can do is live with the memories, and see the love of my life my Cindy in my mind, and forever remember those words "I'll be right back"

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That is my story, Fact or Fiction?

You decide!

Gazz

[Edited on 9-5-2004 by UM_Gazz]

Geeze what can you say to that!

truth of fiction, Im hoping fiction as if this happened to you i cant imagine the pain you went through,

Very good story, thought provoking

Originally posted by asala
Im hoping fiction as if this happened to you i cant imagine the pain you went through,

Thanks, I am happy you liked the story.

I was really hoping for some critical input here.. I was thinking of writing my first book.

And well, since I have been a member of ATS I have done more writing than at any other time in my life.

Its ok if you bash my story, as long as you really mean what you say.

I know I have got a LOT of work to do.

But what do you really think?

Gazz

definitely real sounding enough to convince me.... by saying you're writing a book i'm assuming your story is fake....

the sad thing is that things like this are so common i would not be at all surprised if it was real........



makes you want to raise the driving age to something like 30....and i'm saying this as a 16 year old who just got his license...................