A Road

She was happy to be on road again - especially out on such an empty, straight road. Rural landscapes had long given way to vast stretches of emptiness, occasional acacia, few shrubs, a rich, copper, bouldered landscape under a wide open blue sky. The air was warm, the breeze refreshing. These hours away from responsibilities, commitments, duties, was what kept her going - she knew that - these bits of respite, snatched hours, for just herself and her thoughts.

The road stretched ahead to horizon in a black line - unwavering. She decided she was just going to enjoy the ride, at least for a while, before focusing on matters that needed to be cleared - in her head. Strange, the country was so vast, and yet one could get no sense of this, living in cities. Sometimes she would be strangled by a strangest sensation of claustrophobia, of being caved in, and under, while participating in most normal functions - speaking to a colleague, instructing the maid, helping her son with his homework. She then had the strongest desire to get away - far from it all - from family, creature comforts, from who she was supposed to be. It was then that she would plan one of these excursions on the road - a road leading to nowhere and to no one. She worked on a hunch, with a map - and headed out.

Today was one such days. Aah! it felt good to be out again - and it was such a beautiful, perfect, autumn day. Hey! wait a minute, when did the road get this narrow? She must've been lost in thoughts. She smiled as she turned down the volume knob on her radio - she had really lost track of time with all that daydreaming. She hummed gently as she pressed down on the accelerator - it was a funny thing with maps - they never showed heights - here she had been climbing slowly and steadly and she would've bet, looking at her map, that there were no hills around. Surely, there was no peak marked anywhere towards where she was headed. She mused that geography had always been a weak subject in school. But surely if there was a hill she was going to cross, she should have heard about it somewhere - some hill station, some tourist spot, away from the hot, dusty life in the plains. So, she was to get an added bonus today - she smiled happily - she loved hills, mountains, green tall trees - and here she was getting into it all - without realising it. Sometimes life threw such happy surprises.

The landscape had changed drastically - tall trees darkened the road on either side - the road became increasingly steeper - it was good that she kept her car in such a perfect running condition - this baby could handle it all! She turned off the radio, to focus on the silence around - the beautiful cooling silence of the jungles, of alone-ness, just the purr of the car. She kept her speed steady but bore down on the accelerator to keep going - the road was getting narrower still - almost a single lane now. It was crazy how PWD made roads - no commonsense, no sense of responsibility. How would drivers handle another car coming from the opposite direction?? Really, she ought to complain when she got back. Meanwhile, good idea to fasten that seat belt and hang in there - pay attention, dear girl, no time right now to daydream or doze! She tightened her hold on the steering wheel, kept her foot down on the pedal - now even her babes could not keep up the original speed - who could blame her? Look at the bloody road - where was it leading to? to sky?? Damn it - she should have got off and made some enquiries - she with her harebrained ideas - always getting her into trouble - she would have to wait for a turnabout, to make a U-turn and head home - it was getting late too - and folks would be worried too. A car better not be coming from the opposite direction - the road had completely closed in around her, and continued to climb ever higher! There was no way she could brake - the brakes would not be able to handle the steep slope and God only knows how much she had climbed up - seemed like it was ages since she started climbing. Her hands were slipping on the steering wheel. Cool it dear girl, and you'll come out alright! No! don't think - focus and drive - yes! the only way available - forward and up. The car was creeping along now - but what could she do? Really where could she stop? and how? No point even thinking of jumping out, finding boulders, and ramming it under her wheels...and...what if some other vehicle came from the opposite side??

Oh no! in the distance ahead, she saw that the road was climbing into a dark narrow tunnel - she really ought not to enter there - she didnt want to - by now she could feel her heart pounding in her breast, her breath come out in rasps - her sticky, wet hands slippery on the wheel. She was approaching the tunnel. She turned on the headlights into the narrow walled-in black tube, even as she entered it.

And then...she woke up!
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A narrative of a dream my sister had.