The Map in the Glovebox
By: Catherine
I was driving along a multi-laned highway one day. The music was
playing and I hummed along, with the cruise control engaged, my finger only lightly touching the wheel. The sun was shining
brightly and my journey seemed easy and I was content to glance ahead of me, behind and to the side, to see that I was in
good company; one among many going my way. But after a while, the road began to get monotonous, and I was no more positive
of why I was there and where I was heading. My eyes began to droop with boredom and doubt, and so I pulled off to the side
and slept.
I awoke from my sleep to find the cars on the highway still plodding on, their drivers
sure of their destinations. But I was no longer sure of where I was going. I felt confused and dazed, and wondered if I should
look at a map. Now, I remembered that there was one in the glovebox, but I hesitated at first to get it out, for someone had
told me before that it would be too difficult for one such as myself to possibly understand it, and instead they had written
the road directions on a piece of paper for me to use. I had lost that paper long ago, and had been driving instead by what
I thought I'd remembered it said. But now, I was no longer sure. I needed to look at the map for myself. So, I leaned
over and pulled it out from among the many other items there in the glovebox and held it in my hands. At first, I wasn't
sure where to begin, there were so many pages. To my astonishment, once I actually opened it and started to read it, I could
see that North was North, and South was South, etc. I saw in its pages streets I'd never heard of, streets I had heard
of but never traveled on, and some streets that I knew quite well. And what was even more astonishing and frightful to me
was that I now had a clear picture that the road that I'd been on all along actually ended at a huge brick wall. I could
see all the cars that had been with me crashing into it one by one, with none leaving so much as a skid mark, as such was
their blindness until the last moment. The wreckage was almost unbearable to see, and when I realized I had been blissfully
heading for the same thing I wept.
And so I studied my map, to see which road would take me to
the place I wanted to go. To my surprise, I realized that I could have made a right hand turn at any point along that big
multi-lane highway and all would have led me to a small two lane road that stretched as far as the eye could see. The road
was called Eternity. So, I turned the key in the ignition, illuminated my headlights to their brightest beam, broke off my
rear view mirror and made a right hand turn from where I had stopped. I was never going to look back again. I planted my hands
on the wheel firmly at ten o'clock and two o'clock, just as the map directed, and my foot held steady on the gas pedal
- there would be no more cruise control for me. My eyes were focused on the road ahead. I reached over to the passenger door
to unlock it and I eagerly searched for anyone lost along the side of the road and offered them a ride with me. Some said
they didn't need it, and so for those I tore out pages from the map and gave to them. Each time I tore out a page, another
appeared in my map, so there was never a shortage. And with each person that accepted a ride, the car never completely filled,
as new seats became available to accommodate them. There was much singing in the car, and everyone took turns reading the
map. We were all going to the same place. We prayed whenever a car came from the opposing direction, their headlights dimmed
to nothing, for we knew that they were headed for the multi-lane highway.
And so my journey is
begun, and I do not know how long I will be on this road before I reach my destination, for the distance is never calculated
for us to know. We know only that we need to stay on it and never stray. We know that at the end of our journey, we will have
great reward, more than we can conjure.
I am so thankful that "someone" left me a map.
