{"id":288,"date":"2011-06-16T08:50:28","date_gmt":"2011-06-16T08:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=288"},"modified":"2011-06-16T08:50:28","modified_gmt":"2011-06-16T08:50:28","slug":"sue-ellis-has-a-change-of-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/sue-ellis-has-a-change-of-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Sue Ellis has a change of plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Change of Plans<\/span>

I am driving left-handed, right arm draped across the back of the empty passenger seat. The lake mirrors a grove of aspens from the shore, and the afternoon sun is at my back. <\/span>

A deer leaps out onto the highway and I instinctively swerve to miss it. Airborne, the car lands with a jolting thud onto the shimmering surface of the watercolor.<\/span>

It's been on TV a half-dozen times–what to do if your car is submersing–but I can't remember if the drivers' window should be opened or closed. Panic clamps around my thoughts–I am a fish in a waterless tank, windows sealed. <\/span>

I exhale, the sound indistinguishable from the whoosh of water rushing in. When the car goes under–yes, that's it–the pressure will equalize and I'll be able to roll down a window, pull myself through it, and swim to the surface.<\/span>

Just then a rainbow trout flashes past the windshield and I am momentarily stunned that it's going about its business while I'm in a life or death situation, but something about it makes me feel better at the same time, like whether I make it or not, the impact isn't going to be that devastating. I unfasten the seatbelt and clip my sunglasses over the visor<\/span>



*Sue Ellis<\/span>'s work has appeared at <\/span>The Shine Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Flashquake, Camel Saloon, Mused<\/span>, and <\/span>Cynic Online Magazine<\/span>.<\/span>
<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Change of PlansI am driving left-handed, right arm draped across the back of the empty passenger seat. The lake mirrors a grove of aspens from the shore, and the afternoon sun is at my back. A deer leaps out onto the highway and I instinctively swerve to miss it. Airborne, the car lands with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}