Aphrodite Bites -

And the story begins:

Hit and Run

Mary fumbled with the knobs on her car stereo as she drove down the deserted neighborhood street. It was only eight o’clock, but the sun had already been down an hour when Mary left the restaurant. She had felt exhausted as she climbed into the car, but now felt more alive as the refreshing October air flew in her open window. Houston summers were long and hot, but the fall was perfect – tonight’s temperature was a crisp 62 degrees –which was slightly cooler than the last week had been. The restaurant was the brainchild of Mary and Claire. Mary had gathered the capital from investors and ran the daily operations, but her younger sister Claire was the genius behind a majority of the items on the tasty menu. Since Mary could remember Claire was always in the kitchen making food. Even now, with four children running about the house, Claire made time to whip up a fresh batch of pesto – made straight from the garden that flourished in her back yard.

Mary, taking her eyes off the vacant street for about three seconds, peered up at the stars and thought to herself how peaceful the Universe felt tonight, “I love October” she sighed. Mary brought her focus back to the road, just in time to see a stop sign on the looming street corner and just in front of the car a human body. Forcing her right foot down on the break as hard and fast as her mind could reach her lower extremity was not quick enough to prevent what happened next. The human on the road realizing too late that the driver of the car had not seen him, had fortunately moved the majority of his body from a full impact of the vehicle, but was still thrown aggressively to the asphalt as the car came to a halt. Mary screamed and hurled herself out of the car.

“My arm, oh my arm” a man’s voice moaned has he lay uncomfortably on the ground clutching his shoulder. As Mary approached the man, her hands fell away from her face and she disbelievingly stuttered, “Ki - Kirk? I was, oh my gosh, are you ok?” Kirk pushed himself into a sitting position on the pavement, road debris was smeared onto his white t-shirt, blue jogging shorts and worn in Brooks, still clutching his shoulder, he took a deep breathe and replied in a relaxed voice, “I think it’s dislocated, I’m going to need to go to an urgent care, would you mind giving me a ride to my house Mary?” Mary held her hand out to steady Kirk while he stood up. Humiliated, Mary spoke, “I’m so sorry, I should have paid closer attention to the road, Kirk, I’m terribly embarrassed – let me drive you to the urgent care?” Kirk was suddenly annoyed at the inconvenience of being thrown off his jog and now having to deal with a dislocated shoulder, not knowing how long he’ll have to rest, “I appreciate it Mary, I’ll be fine, just a ride to my house please?” he replied calmly.

After apologizing again, several more times, and offering any help she could, Mary dropped Kirk off on his driveway and watched him disappear through the front door. It wasn’t until she backed down the driveway, and turned out of his cul-de-sac into the direction of Claire’s home again, that she burst out laughing at the irony of the situation. Kirk and Mary had an awkward history together, which began in February of last year, a month before going on their first date.