Young Squatters Read Free Page B

lowered the window, and instead of cursing out the entire world, he leaned out to have a look.  He knew he wouldn’t be moving anytime soon, since the traffic was at a standstill for miles from what he could see.  The Prius in the lane next to him had a young businesswoman in it.  She sat talking on her cellphone, dressed in a black business suit.  He could see her air conditioning blowing her curly blonde hair out of her face.
    He looked away, feeling too old and frustrated to be checking out women half his age.  He had Nora; that was enough.  That had to be enough.  Still, he couldn’t help but to remember a time when she had blonde hair like the woman’s, a time when she didn’t care about hairstylists and perfect houses and money.  They’d worked their way up from nothing together, but he didn’t understand how all of that could have happened and left them so...mundane.
    Ding-dong ding-dong, ding-dong ding-dong, ding-dong-ding-dong-ding….
    Nick glanced at his phone and was annoyed to see Nora’s name flash up on the caller ID.
    He’d only been gone fifteen minutes and she was already calling him.  What on earth did she want to say that couldn’t wait until he got home tonight?
    He wouldn’t answer it; he’d let it go to voicemail.  He was in a foul mood due to the traffic, and the last thing he wanted to do was get a lecture from his wife about not listening to the traffic news before he’d left.
    He knew it wasn’t Nora’s fault he was stuck in traffic, so it wouldn’t be fair to take it out on her, so he continued to ignore the ringing.
    Ding-dong ding-dong, ding-dong ding-dong, ding-dong-ding-dong-ding… filled the car.  He finally hit “Decline,” tempted to turn on his radio and blast the music so he didn’t have to think anymore.
    A couple of minutes later his mobile phone flashed, displaying a text message from Nora on the screen.
    I hope you listened to me this morning and checked the traffic news for the roads.  There was a big crash on the A12 involving three cars causing a massive traffic jam.  See, I don’t always nag as you put it, for no reason.  I hope the meeting goes well.  Speak to you tonight.
    As Nick read the message he felt livid and frustrated both at the same time.  Mainly he was frustrated at himself.  He was truly an idiot.  Only an idiot would live near a huge city and choose to drive into the traffic, hoping to get to work in ten or twenty minutes.  Someone behind him honked.  Like that was going to do a lot.  Nick spun around and honked back.  No one seemed to notice.
    He was now glad he hadn’t answered the phone.  That must have been what she was telling me this morning when I stupidly put my fingers in my ears.  If only he’d listened to her this morning, he wouldn’t find himself in this situation.
    “Don’t forget to check the traffic on the news before you drive off, love.”
    Nora would repeat the same thing to Nick every morning when he first started commuting to the office.
    “Yes, my love, it’s the first thing I do every morning after I’ve turned the engine on,”
Nick would tell the same lie to his wife to pacify her.  It’s not that he liked lying to her.  He just didn’t see the point of listening to the boring traffic news every day.
    If there was an accident and he knew about it, the likelihood was other people knew about it too and the alternative routes would be just as busy.  That was Nick’s logic behind it which he stuck to most of the time, apart from this moment in time when he was sure the alternate routes would not be anywhere near as slow as the A12 was right now.
    “You know I’m only thinking of you and trying to be helpful, ”Nora would explain to him if he told her about this mishap.  She would start to tell the story she had told him so many times that he tuned out when he heard it nowadays.

CHAPTER TWO
     
    “I mean, if only he’d checked the traffic before he left he wouldn’t have missed the