I’ve never been good with directions. If it were not for mapquest, I’m not sure I’d ever venture out of my home. In the past week, I have gone through a lot, including a trial separation with my boyfriend of more than five years and a temporary relocation with a family member that has taken me under her wing as I find my way. This past Saturday evening I decided to head out and find some dinner before prepping myself to attend a Halloween party. I pulled out for the housing addition and within ten minutes had located a place to pick up a sandwich. On my way back to my new abode, the sun began to set. Daylight is my friend when I am driving. Night sets in and every road looks the same, regardless of the name defining it. I pulled in to what I believed to be the correct addition. Twenty minutes later, I still had not found the street I was looking for. I noticed houses getting bigger and bigger. Children shrieked and ran in front of my car as they gripped their candy bags tightly and peered into my windows. I didn’t know one house from the next. I turned left. I turned right. I couldn’t remember if I had just turned left or right. I pulled into a driveway and backed up. Which way had I pulled in? This road led to that road and I just kept turning. I’d now been driving for almost a half hour. I was due back at my aunt’s house in forty minutes and still needed to get ready for my party. I turned again. This road looked a little familiar. Maybe if I turned here? The houses were now getting smaller. The neighborhood was getting darker. Fewer kids roamed the streets and yet I still turned, sure that this street would be the street to save me.
I spotted two women walking from their home to a car parked on the street. They hurried to their vehicle as I pulled up slowly and finally stopped. I rolled down my window. They did not roll down their own.
I sat for a few minutes, trying to make myself look as friendly as possible. Please just recognize me as a lost female. Please don’t be afraid. And please, please don’t drive away.
The women looked at me and seemed to talk me over. Slowly, the driver’s side window rolled down.
“Hi!” I exclaimed.
The women looked at me like I was crazy. I probably was. How does someone get lost in a housing addition?
“Would you by chance be able to tell me how to get to a main road? I seem to be a little lost,” I shouted over the noise of my rumbling engine.
“Sure. You just take a right at the next stop sign and then another right at the first road you come to. Keep following that and it will take you to such and such road.”
I sighed, wondering how many lefts I’d taken when I should have taken rights.
“Thank you!”
I turned right and right again. I saw cars zooming by on what could only be a main road. I smiled to myself, confident I could find my way from here. I looked at the clock on my dash and shook my head. I’d been driving for over forty five minutes. All I wanted was a sandwich.
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I don’t know that I really used character development much, as I was basically the only character in my story, save for the lovely women that came to my rescue. I think pace, conflict, point of view and resolution all played a huge part in the story though. Any other point of view wouldn’t really work, I don’t think. There needed to be a quickened pace in some cases as no one wanted to know play by play every turn I took in that ridiculous adventure. The conflict was minimal, but I find it interesting the stories we can pull from the smallest happenings in our own lives.
