A Writers Mind

On the long 16 hour drive home from Victoria to Edmonton, I noticed a u-haul trailer left on the side of the road. Now to most people, this would be something to note and then forget, but I will take this example to explain the difference between normal people and writers.

I saw the trailer and immediately asked myself, why would someone leave a trailer on the side of the highway? I saw that the blinking hazard lights were on, and wondering why someone wouldn't be worried about the batteries dying? They must be coming back right away. But why would they leave?

I looked around. The trailer was left at the bottom of a dip in the road. Ahead and behind were hills and a large truck pulling a trailer may have trouble climbing with any speed. So the person probably needed to leave in a hurry. In steps my imagination.

I closed my eyes for a moment and saw a man trying to run from someone and ditched the trailer to get away, but that didn't work with my theory on leaving the lights on, so I scraped it. I then saw a couple, the wife a pregnant woman who had gone into labour early. Yes that worked.

You see in my mind I saw that the man and woman were traveling away from Kamloops, north. They were about twenty minutes away when she went into labour. The man pulled over to the side of the road, and when they realized it would make the best sense to turn around and go back to a Kamloops hospital, the man had lost any momentum needed to climb the hill they just came down. If he wanted to get his wife to the hospital quickly, they would have to ditch the trailer. But my mind wouldn't let it be so easy.

The trailer had to have something important in it. Perhaps they were moving? No, it is was too small of a trailer. Maybe he was selling something? Vegetables? No you would need something with ventilation. It would have to be something stacked. Woodwork? Yes. The man was a master wood carver and inside the trailer was his finest pieces. He was going north to try and sell them. Would he be traveling far north? Yes, perhaps all the way to Jasper where he would have the most luck selling his work for top dollar. His wife was only 8 months pregnant and so they should have been fine for a week in Jasper.

So he must leave his master carvings on the side of the road and travel back to the Kamloops to ensure his wife has a safe delivery. He speeds like a mad man. Half because he wants his wife to be safe within the hospital walls, and half because he wants to get back to the trailer.

They reached the hospital within 20 minutes, and the doctors said that the baby boy was on his way. It would be a fast delivery. Now the man had to make another choice. Go back and get the trailer, or stay and watch the birth of his first born....

D broke into my thoughts and asked me how far away the next town was. I took out the map and told him as if I hadn't just create an impossible story in my mind over the last few minutes. Sometimes I wonder how accurate I am (or not) when I create stories like this.

Sometimes I wonder if writers are sane at all....