Short Story: Fatal Attraction

Josie bit her lower lip. How she wanted to slap the superior smirk from Rosemary’s smug freckled face. Instead she averted her eyes from the girl seated across the classroom aisle and waited, her stomach feeling as if she’d swallowed a whole bag of marbles.

Class attendance was taken. Time for the big question.

“How many of you walked to school today?” Her teacher, Miss Saunders, emphasized the word with a lilting lift of her voice. Most of the class shot up thin first grade arms, including Rosemary. Josie curled her hands in her lap and continued to ignore Rosemary but she could feel Rosemary’s smirk and her hands twitched.

“Very good,”praised Miss Saunders. She smiled around the room. “Now keep your hands raised.” Miss Saunders moved down the aisles distributing red and orange gummy bears while the students chanted, “Clean air, clean lungs, use your feet!” Stomp. Stomp.

Josie tried to keep the hungry look out of her eyes when Miss Saunders passed her desk but saliva filled her mouth and she had to swallow hard. Josie glowered. Was it her fault her mom was always so slow in the morning?

“Running late, kiddo. Maybe we’ll walk tomorrow. Now hop in the car and let’s try to get you to school on time.”

It was the same thing every day. Maybe tomorrow. Now the school term was almost over but Josie had not earned a single gummy bear. And greedy Rosemary never shared.

“Only if you walk,” Rosemary would say virtuously.

Josie balled her fists. It wasn’t fair. The only way to get those gummy bears was to walk to school. She wanted to walk to school. Was it her fault she couldn’t because her mom wouldn’t let her walk by herself? She saw gummy bears in her dreams; big glass jars filled with them, the teddy bear shapes waving their candy paws at her. It wasn’t fair.

Josie noticed him the last week of school; the man in his shiny red car idling around the school parking circle. She wished her mom would pick her up in a car like that. But their car was faded and gray with a dent in the front driver’s side where her mom had banged into a pole in an underground parking garage. Josie wrinkled her nose, letting her pony tail swish. It was an ugly car and it was always dirty. She liked the man’s car and gave it a light touch as she walked by on the way to her mom’s drab little Pinto. The man looked at her and smiled. She smiled back, a pang of jealousy constricting her small chest. Some lucky kid would get to ride home in that red car. Some lucky kid had a dad. A dad who smiled. Josie’s dad had been gone for a long time. One day there’d been a lot of yelling. Her mom called her dad a drunk and a deadbeat and told Josie he was never coming back. He never did.

Josie looked for the car and the man every day after school and every day she planned her route around the parking circle so she could touch the red car and smile at the man. When she noticed the bag of gummy bears on top of the car’s dashboard, she stopped and stared. The man nodded at her, watching while she looked first at the candy then into his face, giving him a bleak smile. Yea, some kids had all the luck.

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Josie eased out the front door. It was her mom’s day off work and the last day of school. Her mom always slept in on her day off, getting up only minutes before it was time to drive Josie to school. Josie had been real quiet, creeping around the house to scoop up her things before tiptoeing out the door. She skipped lightly down the front steps. This was the day she had been waiting for. The chance to walk to school. She could hardly wait to see the smile of approval on Miss Saunders’ face when she raised her hand with the rest of the class. She hoped the gummy bears Miss Saunders gave her would be orange. She liked orange best. Josie pictured Rosemary too. Not such a smarty pants any more.

Josie slowed to a walk. There was the red car! It moved closer and pulled up next to her. She stopped to watch the power window on the passenger side glide down. They had crank windows on their car. Crank windows that stuck. She stepped closer so she could see inside. There was the bag of gummy bears on the dashboard. The bag was open and a few bears spilled out onto the soft brown leather. The man smiled at her and beckoned her to the open window.

“Would you like a ride to school, honey?” he asked.

Josie looked at him then at the bag of candy uncertainly. He followed her glance.

“You can have some on the way if you like.”

“Okay,” she said. “Thank you.” Her mom had taught her to be polite.

When Josie sank into the soft car seat, the man pushed the gummy bears closer. “Help yourself,” he offered.

Josie glanced into the back seat. It was empty.

“Don’t you have to drive your kids to school?”

He shook his head and grinned. “It’s the last day. They walked with their friends.”

Josie nodded, popped a chewy orange bear into her mouth and savored the sweet candy. They were so good. Boy was she ever lucky. Not only would she get gummy bears from Miss Saunders for walking to school – she had walked most of the way – but she could have some of these ones too. If she hurried she might even be able to eat enough to make up for all the gummy bears she had missed during the school year.

Josie was so intent on picking out all the orange colored candy bears that she did not hear the soft click of the door locks nor did she notice the car speed up and pass the school. She looked up in time to catch a glimpse of the schoolyard retreating in the rearview mirror.

“Hey! You’ve gone too far. Stop.”

The man kept on driving.

Hadn’t he heard her?

“No, no. I have to go to school,” she cried. “Stop!”

When the man continued to stare straight ahead, Josie dropped the candy and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands. He was going to ruin everything. 

The man slapped at her hands. That made her mad. Her dad used to do that – slap her hands. It made her mad then too. Josie clenched her teeth and yanked harder on the steering wheel.

With an abrupt leap, the car careened off the road to plunge down an embankment and slam into a tree. The red hood crumpled back against the windshield and Josie thumped hard against the dashboard. Dazed, she shook her head and gingerly moved her arms and legs. She was all right. Except for an intermittent creaking sound, it was quiet in the car. Josie looked at the man. His blood-matted head rested on the steering wheel. His eyes were closed. Good. He was asleep.

Josie gently lifted the lock, pushed open the door and scrambled up the embankment. She slid into her seat just as Miss Saunders began calling the roll. When the big question came –  ”How many of you walked to school today?” – Josie raised her hand with the rest. The man could keep his gummy bears. She had her own now. A slow satisfied smile spread across her face when she saw Roesemary’s frown.

Nope. Not such a smarty pants any more.