After a long day of delivering packages, I couldn't wait to hop in my truck and speed on home. I needed something. Something that would purge this hunger and mental exhaustion away. Something that was sweet, fruity, and filling. As I pulled out my phone to search for a solution, it hit me as soon as I looked for a place nearby. The legendary Tropical Cafe, down the street from my house. After placing my order, I could already taste the delectable, perfected blend of sweet pineapples, earthy acai berries, fulfilling chia seeds, and whatever the hell else they put in that damn smoothie. It was something that I needed, no questions asked. Still had a 20-minute ride to knock out before I got to it, so I turned my radio to full volume, Samara Cyn on full blast. I then put my truck into drive and whipped her right out of the parking lot and straight onto I-94 going 80, not a cop in sight and all lanes free of traffic.

 As the 20 minutes flew by, along with the songs on my playlist, I exited I-94 onto Telegraph and pulled in right into the parking lot of Tropical Cafe, still high off the excitement of finally getting to drink this heavenly treat of the gods. It was there, waiting for me right in the pickup area. I collected my prize and headed straight back into the car, which I parked right in front of the cafe, where both sides of Telegraph were right in front of me, with the only protection from the insane traffic jam being the sidewalk and a patch of grass.

As I finally sat down and really paid attention to what was going on, I noticed that there were two traffic hold ups and both sides of Telegraph. Both cars were broken down. On the street closest to me was a small grey car in the middle lane, hazard lights on, with another car directly behind it blasting the horn. On the other side, a red car was in the middle lane with its hood up, being looked at by an older black man. As I switched my focus back to the grey car, the passenger was a big white lady with glasses who began to scream at the driver behind them, telling them to go around. As that was happening, I heard tires screeching from the other side and saw an SUV blast through the median separating the two sides of Telegraph. As the SUV sped through a speed sign, the older man working on the red car was thrown into the air right in front of the grey car.

As the old man landed on my side of Telegraph, it felt like the world had paused. The man wasn't moving, and everything had happened so fast that my mind was still catching up on what to do. As the others in the cafe parking lot stepped out of their cars, phones already dialing 911, the lady in the grey car rushed to help the old man. Within a minute, the police sirens were already visible to everyone in the area, and the man in the SUV was running towards the scene he caused. As the police pulled the glasses lady and the SUV man to the side to give space and help to the old man, I began the drive home, still trying to put everything together. I hope the older man is still alive, and I hope he has a speedy recovery. Now every time I look at a smoothie, it reminds me of how I need to slow down and be mindful of my actions and thoughts on the road, as well as prepare to jump into action when shit hits the fan. If any of those other people in the parking lot behaved like me, maybe that man wouldn't have had a better chance of living.