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Traffic Jam |
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Disclaimer: The following is a work of fan fiction and is not intended
to infringe upon the copyrights of MGM, The Mirsch Group, Trilogy, CBS or
any others with claims. The characters of the Magnificent Seven belong to
MGM and company.
Note: Another short ficlet written mostly for my own entertainment. But if you liked it [or even if you hated it] please, please let me know. The city described in this fanfic is made up entirely, I just mixed any number of US cities into this imaginary one. Enormous thanks to Amy for beta-reading this for me, her patience and kindness knows no bounds <g> Thank you dear lady.
The bumper-to-bumper traffic on Washington Bridge was slowly evolving into the traffic snarl to end all traffic snarls. Nearly three miles of frustrated drivers stuck in their immobile cars, stretched across the bridge, across Kings Way and was starting to ensnare commuters coming from the downtown business district. Those tuned into the local traffic report were able to choose an alternate route and escape the escalating traffic problem but for those already on the Washington Bridge, there was nothing to do but wait.
At least the idiot behind her had stopped leaning on his horn. Nici Freeman sighed in misery as she leaned her head against the steering wheel. Glancing at her radio’s clock, another sigh emerged as the stupid dial still read 6:49. ‘Please change – just let this day end!’ Determined to actually see some time pass, Nici stared at the stubborn dial, waiting for the magic moment when the eternal seconds would accumulate and the dial … would … change.
6:50
"Yes!" Nici looked up at the deadlocked cars in front of her and groaned – still no one was moving. Sighing again and stretching back into her seat, she found herself singing along with the radio, unconsciously miming the words ‘Never have to knock on wood … really wish I could … Na na naaanana….. I don’t know the rest of the words! Nan na nana na… mmmmmm.’
With her hand beating out the catchy tune on her steering wheel, Nici looked out of her open window, scanning the cars around her for the hundredth time. Directly opposite her on the right was one of those space-age looking vehicles with a smartly-dressed lady inside, her windows rolled up, sitting reading what looked like a business report. She looked cool, calm and collected, unfazed by the heat or traffic outside.
‘Man, I wish I had air-conditioning!’ Grabbing her make-shift fan, her mail from the office, Nici tried to stir the warm air inside the car. This day was never going to end.
It had started with arriving late to work due to, what else, traffic. Then her temperamental and forgetful boss realised his progress report on the Phoenix project was overdue and what followed was chaos. Nici spent the morning running to and from the filing room, trying to get all the information that was needed and then collating it. Just as she had been about to slip out for lunch, her boss had stormed out of his office. He was late for a business lunch and as he passed her desk, he thrust the first draft of the report back to Nici, barking that he needed it retyped by the time he got back.
Pulling out all the stops in order to have enough time to grab a snack from the lunchroom, Nici had pulled the last page from the printer just as her boss walked in, his face grim, carrying more files to be included in the report. The afternoon had gone rapidly downhill after that. Nici ran, literally, out of the office the moment he seemed satisfied with the final report. She was not hanging around for him to find yet another ‘appendix’ to insert and for her to then unbind, re-punch, re-page and then re-bind the half-a-dozen reports. Not again! And then she ran straight into this, the mother of all traffic jams!
‘This day just keeps on getting better and better.’
The song ended on the radio, and the all-together, far-too-cheery voice of the DJ came on.
"Yep folks, it looks like it’s been another beautiful summer’s day in the city by the bay."
‘Hell no.’
"Here’s a heads up for commuters heading west, traffic on the Washington Bridge is completely at a standstill, bumper to bumper traffic in both directions now."
‘No kidding.’
"The headlines will follow in about five minutes and we’ll give you an update on the Rangers game at the top of the hour. But first, here’s a little something for all those folks stuck on the Bridge…"
Softly the initial notes of the Stereophonics’, Have a nice day issued from the radio and Nici sank back into her car seat. ‘You have got to be kidding me!’
She was about to reach down the turn the insensitive contraption off when a blur dashed past her window. Sticking her head out of the window she caught another glimpse of the man running through the deadlocked cars. He soon came into view again as he jumped onto the trunk of a white sedan and ran over the roof, jumping onto the next car. Nici pulled herself up out of the car and sat down on her open window, her arms leaning on the roof as she watched as the man bounded from car to car garnering more than a few shouts and fists shaken at him as he landed on people’s cars.
Positioned thus, her view un-obscured by windshield or car door-frames, Nici turned to look behind her, in the direction the fleeing man had come from. She felt her jaw drop, as the vision running towards her, burnt itself into her memory as one of the most spectacular examples of the male gender.
He wasn’t particularly tall nor was he short. Long and lean, he ran with the ease of a predator, muscles bunching and pulling in a concerted effort for speed, nothing spared, nothing held in reserve. His short hair spiked in the wind as he threaded his way through cars and vans, nothing seeming to slow him down. Form-fitting faded denim jeans covered his lean legs as they spurred him through the maze of traffic. A light blue, checkered shirt trailed behind him, exposing his bare chest and drew her eyes to the incredible sight of hard, toned muscle, united to work in concert with the rest of his body. His face was set and determined, no flush creeping onto his cheeks, still running with ease, obviously very fit. Strong jaw line, high cheekbones, eyes narrowed in concentration from tracking the not-so-distant figure ahead of him. Even though Nici couldn’t see his eyes, somehow, she knew they would be blue. As he ran right past her car, gracefully dodging fender and bumper, she felt her heart beat quicken ever so slightly.
‘Oh … My …’
It had taken no more than 10 seconds for him to appear, run past her and then gain enough distance from her car that Nici had to squint to still see him. But those ten seconds had slowed down enough to become a slow-motion ‘Baywatch’ moment in her head. Feeling a little breathless, she turned her head to see where he had come from. Nici felt her mouth drop open ‘again’ in astonishment at the sight now running towards her.
The early evening sunlight tinted his blonde hair into a blaze of fiery colour, his own eyes fixed on the figures in front of him. As the tall, well-built man ran towards her, dressed in tight black jeans, and a black t-shirt he sent a shiver of wonder down Nici’s spine. She stared at his decidedly handsome features, and muscular torso rippling beneath the black material of his shirt and felt a slight flush creep up her cheeks.
Right behind him ran another jaw-drop-inducing man. He was shorter but no less well-defined and running in what looked to be a very expensive suit. An indistinct tie fluttered on his shoulder as this man followed hard on the heels of the one in front. Devilishly handsome in a smooth sort of way, his face was partially obscured by a mobile phone as he held it to one ear. His mouth was set in a firm determined line and he seemed completely capable of talking on the phone and dodging cars as he ran.
The two men directly behind him were a stark contrast in looks to each other. The tall black man running in front of a young white kid was obviously keen to catch the men in front of him. His face was set in a concentrated frown as he pushed himself forward. The kid behind him was more interested in dodging cars and flicking his overly long hair out of his eyes than catching up. Nici had taken so long in staring at the first two men, that all she caught of the last pair, as they hurried past her, was the sound of the kid panting as he struggled to keep up with the black man’s pace.
Barely five seconds passed before another two men appeared, both looking more than a little ragged. Running at a much slower pace than the ones before, yet still determinedly jogging on, a tall moustached man led this pair. His face was red, and his chest heaving beneath a loud floral Hawaiian shirt but he still had time to wink at Nici as he jogged past, dazzling her with a wide smile. Jogging steadily behind him, with less obvious exhaustion, was an older, grey-haired gentleman, his wide face set with determination. He obviously noticed the wink and smile and said in a low rumble-filled voice as he ran past, "Come on Buck. We gotta catch Masters before Vin gets a hold of him."
"No kidding! But who is gonna stop Chris?" The moustached man shouted back as he moved a little faster, the gap between them and the four men ahead growing. Nici only vaguely heard the older man reply, "Hell if I know…"
Blinking rapidly, Nici pulled herself back into the car and saw more people staring out of their windows, as the various groups ran past. A little stunned by the unexpected sight of seven very fine men running right past her, Nici vaguely heard the song chorus streaming from the radio and broke out into a huge smile.So have a nice day
Have a nice day
Have a nice day
Have a nice dayChuckling to herself, she thought, ‘Well if you insist.’
The End
Comments to: rhicy@hotmail.com
| STEREOPHONICS - "Have A Nice Day"
San Francisco Bay |