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SHORT STORIES
THE RELATIONSHIP VEHICLE
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(This is an analogy of how the human heart can nearly be destroyed by making one frivolous choice in love. Anyone who has suffered from a broken heart has taken this ride. Some of us find the solution to the problem and some of us just keep traveling around in circles.)
You are traveling the highways and byways on your way to a place called Ain’t Life Grande in your brand, spanking new pure-white, open-air Easy-Rider Convertible. Along the side of the road you see the Escapade Cruiser Dealership. Loneliness, Insecurity and Fear disguised as True Lust, cause you to trade your convertible for a luminous, red Quest Cruiser – with a new destination suggested by the dealership – Feeling Oh-So Good.
The roadway is smooth for a time. In fact, it’s as if the tires aren’t even touching the ground. You’re floating down the highway on air – lightheaded and lighthearted. The sky is a crystal blue and the stars are pulsating so brightly that you can see them outshine the daytime light. Exotic, brilliantly colored plants with lush fruit line the sides of the road. You’ve never seen such beauty. Life is bliss. It appears you are about to cruise directly into Paradise.
Just before you think you will reach Paradise, your Quest Cruiser starts sputtering – Insults, Accusations, and Innuendoes. The roadway takes sharp turns to the right and left. Lightning Bolts of Reality strike down from above, and Heavy Clouds of Degradation surround you. At this, your Quest Cruiser starts misfiring. The tail pipe blows out Coal-Black Anger from its internal combustion engine. The stench of Pent-Up Emotions leaks from the carburetor. The whole thing stinks of Heart Break.
You already know you’ve made a dreadful mistake. You want to go back and get your Easy-Rider Convertible, but you can’t get the Quest Cruiser into reverse gear. There’s not enough room to turn around on the highway, and there’s nothing left to do but go on and hope that you can find a turn-around up the road ahead.
You haven’t seen the sun in days, weeks, and months. You are drenched from the Cloudburst of Tears that continues to fall daily. A sign comes into view indicating that you are now heading toward Despair. On top of that, it seems the Quest Cruiser has a mind of its own. The steering mechanism must have a malfunction, because now it won’t make any Right Turns – and you don’t know how to fix it. The only thing left to do is to adjust the seat of your mind-set and go along for the ride.
Just when you think you’ve adjusted to the malfunctions, the Quest Cruiser has a major breakdown and comes to a complete halt. Someone must have tampered with the engine when you weren’t looking. It couldn’t possibly be your fault. You have no memory of tinkering with the controls.
In spite of everything that has happened so far, you gather strength in your weary bones and manually push the Quest Cruiser to the top of the next hill. It begins moving forward on its own – slowly at first. You throw your body into the seat before it gets away from you. Anything is better than being left behind. Now, the speedometer shows that the Quest Cruiser is out of control. The Heart Break won’t stop it. It’s as if it is caught on the rails of a roller coaster ride. Up and down, higher and lower it goes. You fear the ride will never end – the eternal ride to Hell. Risking life and limb, you decide to jump. Halfway out of the Cruiser, your pinky gets caught on the review mirror. As you hang on for Life itself, you witness your Vulnerability flapping recklessly in the wind created by the speed of Self-Destruction. Your cruiser continues unabashed until it falls apart from its own vibrations.
Disheveled and shaking, you land in a miserable heap beside it. With nowhere to go, you set about making repairs. Inside the vehicle you discover a Guidance Control Indicator. There is a button marked Destination. You attempt to change the reading from Feeling Oh-So Good, back to Ain’t Life Grand, but without a manual, it is impossible.
At the very least, you are able to patch the Quest Cruiser with supplies found in the trunk – Bailing Wire, Bubble Gum and Rubber Bands. In your attempt to re-attach the Fenders of Feeling with the Bailing Wire, your Feelings of Worthlessness are pierced. The Bubble Gum doesn’t stop the leaking engine fluid – the Heart Pump – immediately and part of it flows out all over you to form a sticky covering of Low Self-Esteem. As you try to attach the Rubber Bands from the Self-Starter to the Heart Pack – they backfire to sting your very soul leaving you with Feelings of Rejection.
After months and months of work, you feel the repair work ought to hold, and although severely crippled, your Quest Cruiser is on the road once more. Renewed confidence arises within you as you see a sign for a turn off to Happily Ever After come into view. You turn off onto a narrow pathway. You hope that you can reach this new destination before your Desires go flat. It becomes difficult to see past the Slime of Resentments covering your windshield. You wipe away a small place to check your location and find that you are again on the road to Despair. You wonder where you made a wrong turn, but cannot remember.
Now you are forced to travel on this road until you very nearly reach the Valley of Death. As you close your eyes and envision the end, your Quest Cruiser moves forward into the Elohim Service Station on its own. After necessary repairs are made, the Mechanic-On-Duty fills your Heart Tank, airs up your Desires, and washes off the Slime of Resentments from your windshield. He even sets your Guidance Control Indicator for a new destination you had never heard of – Unconditional Love.
You’re back on the road again, and although the storm has not completely passed, it occurs to you to smile. You don’t remember doing that for a very long time. Whistling a happy tune, you sit back to enjoy the ride. You close your eyes and try to imagine what Unconditional Love will be like.
Out of nowhere boulders of Selfishness and Unforgiveness block the roadway. You are forced to stop. You step out into the drizzle and set about removing the boulders. As you pick up each boulder and move it to the side of the road, you find a key attached to the bottom of each one. Intrigued by this discovery, you look around for a place to use them. At the top of a very steep incline, you see a dwelling and a sign above it that reads, “Welcome, Enter At Will.” Once inside, you find many doors. As you unlock each one, you watch your life unfold before you. In this re-creation, you see patterns that caused you to make the bad trade in the beginning. With this viable knowledge, your hope is renewed once more that you will arrive safely at your new destination. You go back to your Quest Cruiser and continue on your trip.
The road takes a turn upward. The climb is steep. Just before you reach the top, there is a sign that reads “Mountain of Rebirth.” As you come over the top of the Mountain of Rebirth, you can see before you in a valley ahead. A faint scent of wildflowers rides on the winds and you can hear songbirds far, far away. The sun lights up the entire valley. A Rainbow of Protection arches over the valley and radiates Peacefulness.
You carefully maneuver your cruiser down of the
mountainside over curving roadway. You cross the Hope River and find
yourself in a wooded area. It’s been a long, long trip, and you are
about to fall asleep at the wheel when you spot a sign that reads “Shaded
Grove of Grace.” You pull under the trees and nod off. When
you awaken, you notice the sky above you is clearing, the threat of rain
is now only at a distance behind you.
Up ahead the road forks.
On the left you see another Escapade Cruiser Dealership. It’s located on a street named Pizzazz.
On down the road to the right there is a faded billboard with an arrow on it pointing the way to some shabby buildings and advertising the Adonai Dealership. The street is named Expectation.
While you are making up your mind which road to take, a flashy yellow neon sign at the Escapade Cruiser Dealership on Pizzazz lights up and begins to pulsate. “THOUSANDS PASS THIS WAY EVERYDAY. WE CAN SET YOUR GUIDANCE CONTROL INDICATOR FOR ADVENTURE, INTRIQUE, HIGH LIVING AND ROMANCE. YOU CAN TRADE YOUR OLD AND TIRED QUEST CRUISER IN FOR THE NEW AND IMPROVED MODEL – QUEST 2 CRUISER – AT NO COST.” You can see it on display inside the plate-glass windows. The chrome-plated Quest 2 Cruiser is calling to you. The shininess of it alone makes you giddy. Exotic music playing over the speaker now causes your mind to forget all the breakdowns and that out-of-control feeling you’ve just experienced.
As you proceed toward the entrance to get a better view, you feel that you are being pulled by unseen forces. But wait, there’s some fine print you can’t quite make out. Not wanting to be suckered in yet, you firmly plant your foot on the brake, and try again to read the fine print. You can finally make it out. It reads, “Not responsible for failures, no guarantees on workmanship, no refunds given, and no returns.”
You come to your senses and realize you have taken this trip before. You frantically manipulate the reverse gear until it falls into place, and holding your foot on the brake, you put your Quest Cruiser into reverse and stomp on the gas. Much to your surprise, you break loose of the force.
You are now moving on Expectation, and have reached the establishment on the right. A tarnished sign attached to crooked and cracked poles announce that the Adonai Dealership is giving away used Relationship Parts to the first ten million customers. You stop. You meet the Wise Salesman as you get out of your Cruiser. You tell the Wise Salesman how you tried to fix your Quest Cruiser and all the trials and tribulations you ran into on your trip.
The Wise Salesman listens to your every word, and when you have finished your monologue of woe, He begins, “I can upgrade your Quest Cruiser with used Relationship parts. It will need service on a regular basis. By installing Relationship parts as needed, your Quest Cruiser will be upgraded to a functional and attractive Alliance Sedan. The Relationship parts have the Manufacturer’s seal of approval and were made specifically for this purpose. You will only need one to convert your Cruiser, but there are many more needed for maintenance. They have a lifetime guarantee, but you can only get one when the other is well worn.”
You look puzzled. This doesn’t make any sense. You need all the parts now and wonder at the idea of how used parts are going to give you a new vehicle.
The Wise Salesman continues, “One at a time is all your Cruiser can handle. They never wear out. They are the oldest parts know to exist and the more they’re used, the more lasting they become. The Adonai Dealership guarantees that through the use of the parts, you will arrive safely in Unconditional Love. You will even get to know how to find Serenity and Peace of Mind. When your Cruiser is ready for the next part, you will return to me and I will install another one.”
It is difficult for you to understand, but you shake the Wise Saleman’s hand and seal the deal. He removes the Bailing Wife, Bubble Gum and Rubber Bands and installs your first part. Immediately, the Quest Cruiser is transformed and before you now is the Alliance Sedan.
As you slide behind the wheel of your transformed vehicle, you notice that the Guidance Control Indicator is, in fact, set for Unconditional Love. The Wise Salesman comes to the window of your Heart and adds, “You may live in Unconditional Love for as long as you want, and you may visit Me as often as you wish. If you ever forget where I am located, just look for Your Heart’s Desire on the map located in the Love Compartment.”
You pull out of the Adonai Dealership and, at the next Right, into Unconditional Love. Your new residence is located in One Day at a Time on a street called Abide With Thee.