Driving for the devil.

Chained to the iron beast. Engine Roaring. Barreling down the two-lane highway into the expanse with no end in sight. Not knowing what lies after the horizon. The line where the sun meets earth swallowing up the familiar shapes of the landscape. Used to think this was the life for me. Just the lone road. Nothing but speed and asphalt for days.

Driving for the devil.

Unable to stop. Needing no rest. Controlled by my unbridled passion for speed. Unconsumed greed. It was my desire to be free. Adrenaline for the race. Arrested in four counties nearly seventeen times for my addiction. That last one, I managed to outrun the coppers. Deadly was my dance and it didn’t matter cause every time I would find a way to get back up. Wrecked my car, Black Beauty, 68 Mustang GT, too many times to be counted. Solid black inside and out. Sweetest girl I’d ever met. It was love at first sight. She never let me down and I just kept coming back for more. An almost marriage of some sort, building each other back up after every scrape. Until one day there was no taking it back. There she was bottomed out in some back alley tow-yard. And some fool I was just standing over her looking at the damaged body of my favorite girl. It didn’t seem right to mourn her. Not just yet. Twisted scrap. Never. Not for my baby, she deserved better than that. I could feel it.

“That’s a pity there. She’s quite a Beaut!” a voice hollers right in my ear. Over my shoulder I can see the tow yard mechanic walking up behind with his grease rag removing sweat from his forehead.

“Ah, you shoulda seen her before this! Just a knockout! Can’t believe this is it for us. Me and the old girl had a good run.”

“What if I told you, there was a way…?” And ever so oddly his voice begins to drift away.

“I’d say keep talking!” Just as soon as the words left my lips the fellow practically sang into song. He told me about a man that handled delicate types of situations. Namely he specialized in problems like mine.

Instructions were as clear as day “Come back to the tow-yard exactly at midnight and wait. But do not come empty handed. Without an offering the man with bargain with you, but his price will be quite unreasonable.” Before I could get him to explain the specifics, the counter bell was ringing and he was rushing away from me. Sure as anything I wanted my Beauty back in one piece, but I certainly didn’t have much to offer up in the likes of a trade. Figured I’d take my chances with the good ol boy.

Nearly upon midnight when I returned to the tow yard. Darkness and the ill-mannered weather set the pace of things to come. Raining like the heavens were dropping buckets of water and the winds were tearing through like a freight train. I was barely managing to stand next to my girl when the storm came to an instant halt. I’d heard of storm eyes, but never lived to see one up close. The air had stillness to it filled with electricity. Skin just crawls with life as the moment seems to stop. There he was, just like the mechanic claimed. A silver haired gentleman, dressed in a black suit walking towards me with an ivory cane. Make no mistake this wasn’t an illusion. Further hesitation reveals that he’s come specifically for me.

“Poor Beauty. That’s her name, right Son?” The unusual character pipes up in my direction as he makes a circle around the damaged ‘stang. “I can return her to you as good as new. But it will come at a cost. Now that price is different for everyone. For you, I want nothing more than a favor. Will you grant me a favor?”

Nodding with the instincts of a two-year old begging for candy I willingly agree. I express my gratitude for his offer by reaching out and nearly tearing off his hand in a violent shake “Thank you sir! Anything to get her back! When will I get her back? What’s the favor?”

Forcefully with a final shake he breaks from my grip. “Be here tomorrow morning at dawn to reclaim your chariot. She will be waiting. Ready to go! To hold up your end of the bargain… this quite simply will be a race. This begins from the moment you leave this yard. I need a champion like no other to race until the finish; someone who will see it through to the very end without question.”

Piping up with the unrestrained fervor of a young man about to be reunited with his first love, I insisted on returning the gesture. “Sir, I don’t mean to brag here, but I’m your man. I can drive like no man’s business. Me and the old girl have seen some miles. All in the way of speed. Races? I’ve won dozens of them, sometimes crossing three or four states if necessary. So if there’s a prize to be one, I can handle that. How will I know the race is over? Will there be a marker?”

“All in good time. You will know exactly when you’ve begun the race and have no doubt when it’s finished.” With those final words, he vanishes back into the night as the storm drops rain from the heavens once again and my surroundings are overcome. Could have been my sheer arrogance, but I wasn’t listening to the fine print. That fellow was double talking me from the start and I never caught on one bit.

Dawn breaks and true enough there was my Black Beauty, as good as new. She didn’t look a day old. Fresh paint. Clean interior. Black on black as I remembered. Sizing her up like a stranger for the first time. Certainly felt a little different sitting behind the wheel. But starting that engine up, hearing her voice speak once again was just like coming home. Once we were off, there was no stopping. Right as he said, the race had begun. From the instant I set foot on the pedal, I could feel it, tearing through the streets with a force of a million horses. Faster. Stronger. Improved. Seem as though there’d never be an end. And there never was.

Soon enough I’d spent a week chasing pavement without a draw back. Consumed. Day by day. Reaching no limit in sight. Powerless to bring it to an end. Addicted. Week after week. The landscape continued forever. Ending became the pursuit. The unreachable goal. Driving for the devil. A demon manipulating my true passion into an eternal prison. Shackled to the wheel of a metal animal. Speeding through the hills and valleys of unknown places, unable to slow my momentum. Rest will never come. Only the lonely highway that continues on and on before me unfolding outward until that very day when at long last the race will come to an finish.

This has been one that I’d wanted to do since last July. It’s my race car one… and the devil’s in it. See… I love to speed. In fact so much that I’ve got quite a few tickets over the years to prove it. Also sometimes I like to pretend I’m Steve McQueen... but as a beautiful girl with amazing hair. Not a guy. Silly Girl. - I know. No teasing. Everyone’s got their something. Since I was driving… well I sort got worked up about this idea today while getting lost. Soundtrack was Radiohead-Amnesiac. One the full lengths I can listen to without tire, starting from track 9.  Anyway, that’s when a lot of the idea developed into more. Enjoy? kisses. m.