ReinCARnation
by Eric Suhem

 

 

“As they head into the final lap, Car #9 is in the lead!” called the announcer at the motor speedway.  The racing cars emerged from the turn into the straightaway. Suddenly, bright red Car #9 slammed into Car #7 on its left, forcing it into the side wall where it exploded in a ball of flame. Car #9 was not done with its aggression, slamming into five more cars to cause a fiery mass collision. At the checkered flag, Car #9 crossed the finish line first and then crashed into a wall, shattering in an explosion of twisted metal. The unconscious driver of Car #9 was extracted from the crumpled vehicle with the Jaws of Life. Later, in the hospital, the driver awoke and declared, “The car just took over! I couldn’t control it! It’s like it had a mind of its own!”

 

At the wrecking yard, the red remains of Car #9 were crushed into a steel cube. The operator of the wrecking yard, who had a nametag of ‘Godfrey’ sewn into his greasy shirt, said to the cube of crushed metal, “You’ve been very bad, Car #9, but I’m going to give you another chance. You will be reincarnated as a sensible sedan living a quiet suburban existence. Your wild, destructive spirit will be tamed, and your soul will evolve accordingly.” With that, Godfrey melted down the cube and initiated a process with his automobile manufacturing associates to reincarnate Car #9 as a calm, practical, muted red sedan.

 

Within weeks, the rubble of Car #9 had been transformed into a sedan that dependably shuttled a family to various destinations and activities. The sedan was very well-behaved. Godfrey was, in some way, able to maintain surveillance of the car, and he was pleased by its placid conduct.

 

One day, the mom was driving her kids to soccer practice, maneuvering the red sedan responsibly down the suburban streets. She dropped the kids off at soccer practice and proceeded to a salon to have her nails done. She drove the car at a reasonable pace, obeying all traffic signs and signals. Suddenly, upon arrival at the strip mall where the nail salon was located, the red sedan went berserk, its horn honking, alarm blaring, and high-beam headlights glaring. The car crashed into a gray convertible, sending the convertible’s driver flying through the air and into the nail salon’s advertising sign, a five-foot-tall neon hand with nail-polished fingers, fatally impaling him on the hand’s orange-nailed middle finger. As the mom opened the door and climbed out of the red sedan, it continued to honk and screech as if releasing a long pent-up cauldron of hostility. Eventually, Godfrey was contacted, and he towed the car back to the wrecking yard.

 

“I tried to give you another chance, and what do you do?” Godfrey exclaimed to the car later at the wrecking yard. The sedan sat quietly, apparently not regretting its actions. “You leave me no choice but to return you to the beginning of your spiritual journey. You will restart the path of your karma, and it is only by doing good works and being a positive force for the universe that you will grow and attain enlightenment.” With that, Godfrey crushed the car again into a steel cube. It was melted down and then rebuilt into its new identity.

 

“I want that car! It’s a red car and I know it’ll go fast!” said one of the two little boys playing with Hot Wheels toy cars. He grabbed the small red #9 car and placed it on the orange, plastic track. The other boy selected a blue hotrod, and they started their race.

 

Reincarnated as a Hot Wheel, Car #9 sped into the next straightaway. It was an opportunity to redeem itself and avoid the fiery pit after a history of going too fast on curves, heedless of pressed brake pedals, propelling past drivers through shattered windshields into the hospital, or worse. However, with malevolent glee, Car #9 slammed into the blue toy hotrod, somehow creating a fiery inferno. After dispensing with its competitor, Car #9 slid off the track, and under the heel of one of the boys, causing him to slip on the toy car and fall on his back, ending up in the hospital for weeks of traction.

 

With supernatural vision, Godfrey looked on from the wrecking yard and just shook his head.  Summoning all his powers, he pointed his finger at Car #9 in his mind’s eye. A lightning bolt jutted out from Godfrey’s fingertip and struck the malevolent toy vehicle, rendering it into a pile of evil soot.  “Well, that’s that,” he said, returning to other auto wreckage activities.

However, no longer contained within corporeal automotive boundaries, the essence of Car #9 was now free to infiltrate dreams, infect minds, and spread through the world like a malignant virus. With malicious, venomous force it created traffic mayhem around the globe, particularly taking pleasure in gleefully wrecking Godfrey’s daily commute.

 

Rate this story.

Copyright is reserved by the author. Please do not reproduce any part of this article without consent.