The drive back to Stars Hollow felt longer than usual. I didn't mind though, there was something so comforting about driving back home to the town where I had grown up, windows up, music blaring, I was in absolute heaven. As I pulled in for petrol, I flicked vigorously through my stack of CDs, deciding on The Clash - my mom would be proud.
I must have driven these roads a hundred times or more, this was the place I would keep close to my heart always. As you go through life you meet new people, venture to new places and have new experiences, but this would always be my home. Turning down the little country roads, I passed the place where I hit a deer during my first term at Chiltern, a prestigious prep school. That had been a difficult term, I was so unused to the snobbery and superiority of those kinds of kids - now it was something I was able to just shrug off. I giggled to myself, remembering the horrific uniform they inflicted on us - my mom has still not let me live it down, I don't think she ever will.
She was the reason I was coming home this weekend. She called late last night reminding me of the Stars Hollow Spring Fling, and so of course I simply had to come home. My mom is without question, the single most important, most influential person in my life, and treats me as an equal rather than a daughter. In fact, sometimes I feel that I'm more like her mother! Our relationship is too close to even explain, its something that everyone around us just has to except. I know that Logan grew up with all the privileges a person could ever desire, but I think my relationship with my mom is something he is envious of.
Our dinner last night was a lot of fun, the place wasn't as formal as I feared, and he gave me the good news that he had bought a new apartment - bigger and in a better location, it sounded perfect. Logan's apartments were not like the other students' at Yale. While I lived in shared accommodation with three other girls, he was living on his own in a fancy apartments building across the hall from bankers, business men and other wealthy professionals. I think his lifestyle could be kind of intimidating to some, but if you looked past that he had a heart of gold, he really did. He was so generous, and fun, and kind, sometimes it did seem that he spent far more time at play than at work, but he was extremely intelligent - but then again, so was…
Just then my car ground to a halt. Attempting to start it up again proved fruitless, and I slammed my hands down on the dashboard in frustration. "Fu- bloody hell" Somehow I'd trained myself never to swear under any circumstances, even on my own, sometimes it even felt wrong to swear in my head. I lay back in my seat, feeling the Saturday morning sun blazing down onto my skin. Rummaging through my bag, I managed to locate my phone, but found, to my further annoyance, that it was out of battery. I supposed I would just have to walk to the nearest village - as I remembered, Oakley was only a few miles from here. Clambering out of the car I lay down by the side of the road, stretching myself out and surrendering to the omnipotence of the smouldering sun.
After a couple of minutes I had to accept the reality that this was getting me nowhere, and attempted to shuffle to my feet, much like a hippopotamus on ice skates. Finally, I managed to get myself up, brush myself down and survey my surroundings. There was no point waiting for a car to pass by, that happened about as often as meeting a talking flamingo, so I decided to walk up the road and find a signpost. Sure enough, the sign at the end of the road read "Oakley 2 miles" and pointed me in the right direction.
Sometimes, events which would seem meaningless and everyday to a passer by have profound and even life-changing impact on the person in question, and sometimes, what may appear to most to be a coincidence seems to you to be , much, much more. The events that followed were both of these things.
In the distance, I observed a car rattling down the road. I'm no expert, but it was absolutely stunning, vintage, convertible, the kind of car I'd always dreamed of having. As it progressed closer towards me, it reached a junction just down the other side of the road from me. As the car began to turn away from me, a rabbit sprang out into the road in front of it. My heart nearly leapt out my chest as the driver swerved sharply out of the way, too sharply. In their panic, they skidded off the road and collided head first with a tree on the road side. All this happened in a split second; there was movement and noise and panic, and then, everything was very still. Too still. Instinctively, I ran back down the road, past my car and to the convertible on the road side. As I approached the car, I could feel the adrenaline drain out of me, and it was replaced by a paralysing fear. The car looked pretty damaged, I couldn't bring myself to look inside, what if the driver was seriously injured, or even worse? I couldn't bare to even think about it. What would I do if they were in serious pain? I didn't know any first aid, I couldn't use my cell to call for an ambulance, I'd have to run all the way to Oakley to find any signs of life.
And then, something utterly magical happened. The door of the car slowly creaked open and hung there limply, swaying in the breeze. First I just saw an arm, it was clearly a man, and he was moving, he was alright. A waterfall of relief washed over me. Next I saw a leg moving out of the car in torn jeans.
And then, as if by magic, dark and mysterious magic, he got out of the car and stood up, engulfed in perfect, golden sunshine. I froze in horror, as if my heart was about to implode. It was him.