MONDAY EVENING

I HADNT SEEN it rain this hard since the historical tornado season of 1970. Then I realized I didnt know where I was. How did I get here?

The wind must have been blowing at 60 miles per hour. The rain was coming down in sheets and blowing almost horizontally across the deserted two-lane highway. The ditch alongside the road was filled with rainwater and was rushing by my face as I tried unsuccessfully to lift myself off the ground for the third or fourth time.

The rain pelted the back of my head as I managed to roll toward the pavement and away from the ditch. In the not too far distance was a loud crack and blinding flash of lightening illuminating the evening sky.

For some unknown reason the muscles in my body werent responding to commands from my brain. I could only manage to lift my torso a few inches off the ground before my arms would give way and my face would hit the ground with a thud. I felt, and it probably looked like, I was a bobble-headed doll with its head gyrating uncontrollably in the rear window of a car.

Frustrated with my inability to control body movements and feeling weary from trying to gain control, I lay face down and motionless with my hands covering the back of my head trying to protect it from the relentless pounding of the rain.

Whats wrong with me? I almost said out loud.

My head began to clear as each minute passed and the sudden realization of lying on a road in the pouring rain flooded my thoughts. I was having major difficulty trying to recall why I was in this predicament in the first place. I found that in one moment I could put thoughts together and in another moment I was taken back to earlier years when I would occasionally space out on drugs. I was disoriented and lethargic. Discounting the torrential rain, everything around me seemed out of focus. I knew, or at least I thought I knew, I was not on drugs.

Another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. I reacted by jerking my head up off the pavement, only to lose control of my neck muscles and crash face down into the pavement. That hurt. Badly.

As I regained some control of my right arm, I rubbed my throbbing nose and pondered my situation. I must have laid there for what seemed like hours, and probably was, contemplating what to do next. Thankfully that I was slowly regaining some physical strength and most of my mental faculties. Now Im sure its not drugs.

The rain had somewhat subsided. It was now dusk.

For the first time since discovering my predicament I was actually able to sit up. I was woozy, but sitting up nonetheless. Now I wish I had some drugs. I may as well get the high while experiencing memory loss.

I smiled as I realized I had on my best suit and my favorite dress shoes. Now this is just great. My white shirt was ruined from lying in the muddy ditch and on the wet asphalt. Was I at a party? Man! I just cant remember!

Aside from my physical problems, there was the rain. How could I forget the rain? I was drenched from head to toe. It was relentless. My suit was no doubt ruined.

Well, I said as I looked at my suit jacket, Im certainly dressed for the dance. I chuckled.

I reached into my inside jacket pocket where I kept my wallet. It was missing. I checked my other jacket pockets. Nothing. I rolled over on my side just enough to reach my back pants pocket. Nothing there either. This cant get any worse.

With an overwhelming feeling of confusion at my circumstance, followed by a well of emptiness in the pit of my stomach that I was totally alone, I placed my head between my legs in disgust and let the rain hit my neck and run down my back. I just didnt care.

Suddenly, a flash of light flooded the roadway a short distance from me. For that split second, I could clearly see my surroundings. It reminded me of walking onto my high school baseball field in pitch darkness and then flipping the lever to turn on the intense overhead field lights. Thinking it was a lightning bolt that had struck the ground nearby; I rolled away from the ditch away from the road, curled into a ball and covered my head with my hands. Please, God. Dont let me die this way. I then heard the distinct sound of tires squealing on wet pavement. I peeked under my arm just in time to see a car slide sideways past me and off the road and into the ditch a few yards beyond me. What the?

The car came to a sudden and abrupt stop as it plowed front end first into the roadside ditch. The headlights were emitting an eerie sort of fog through the torrential rain. The rear end of the car was slightly elevated because of the cars position in the ditch. The wipers were slapping across the windshield as fast as they could go. The trunk had dislodged and was standing open. The sound of the cars horn filled the air with a steady, ear-piercing blast.