Bryan McDonald

God’s Plan

It was 1:30 in the morning, and time was running thin. Nodding, light-headed and starving, Derek Spiller pondered over his Mythology paper. Derek was nearly finished with college, and with each step closer to graduating, his lack of motivation emerged as well.

“Stupid! Why do I need to write a paper on the genealogy of the Greek goddesses anyways? He exclaimed.

“Dr. White already has a friggin' degree in. Why does he need me to tell him more about it? This is ridiculous!”

Derek pressed on, stringing together incoherent thoughts about the Medea, Zues, and some very lackluster points concerning The Iliad. Derek was weary, spread thin like grout over too many bricks. He felt like his walls were crumbling, and he was inside. Derek never really wanted to go to college. He had always dreamed about playing professional sports or being a race car driver; all those aspirations that every little boy has conceived. But nothing had ever transpired quite the way he would have liked. High school was supposed to be the best years of his left, but ironically, it seemed to be a prelude to what he would endure as an adult.

Derek squeezed out a few more lines, trying to implement some crafty crescendo to an otherwise mediocre essay.

“It’ll be enough!” Derek conceded. “All I need is a ‘C’ on this anyway.”

He was moving quite slowly by now. A procrastination derived homework session is never enjoyable. Especially since work is only five and a half hours away. Derek was eager to crawl into bed. As exhausted as he was, he seemed excited to go to bed. He hopped deliberately onto a stiff dorm room mattress. Kicking, turning, bouncing, trying to get to just the right spot. “Aahhh” he exclaimed, closing his eyes.

            But he didn’t fall asleep immediately. Derek lay awake wondering, about his paper, classes, work, and every other thing that crosses a twenty-five year-old’s mind at almost three in the morning.

“How did I end up like this? Is this where I want to be?” Derek said as he nodded off to sleep.

….

Knuckles white, a bloody knee, and this throbbing in my shoulder.

“One more play!” he proclaimed to himself victoriously.

            There were only seconds left in the biggest game Connick High School would ever see. Derek Spiller was having the game his life. Ironically, it would be the last time he ever stepped on the field.

            “Ten seconds! We got enough for one more!” Derek urged to his teammates.

This was a chance for greatness. He had caught a dozen balls that night. He was a human highlight reel. The ball snapped and he tangled with the defensive player. Helmets clashed as each player attempted to get position on the other. Derek jabbed with his left foot towards the middle of the field, then quickly stepped right and pushed off of the defender. He looked over his shoulder just as the quarterback looked his way. Joey Simmons reached back, giving everything he had to make this perfect. The Connick Coyotes would be District Champions in moments. Derek outstretched his hands as he watched the loft in over his shoulders, then fall onto his fingertips, pulled the ball into his chest, and then he turned towards the end zone.

“Derek! Talk to me Derek! You alright? Don’t move!” Unfamiliar faces were hovering over him.

 “Ahhh! Oh my God!” Derek shouted in pain. “Derek I need you to stay still; the Ambulance is on the way.”

As Derek turned, he was devastated by All-State safety Cortney Jones. The ball flew from Derek’s hands and into those of a nearby defender. It was not the ending he had hoped for.

…..

Beep.Beep.Beep.Beep.

The alarm clock buzzed noisily rousing Derek from his bed.

“Seven already! Argggh!” he groaned angrily. He pushed himself up slowly using only his left arm, while keeping his right tucked in across his body. Stumbling to the bathroom he went though his morning rituals. Turn on the shower, let the water get hot. Brush teeth, shave, and then shower. He stood in the shower letting the warm water streaming over his sore, scarred right shoulder. After three surgeries, Derek was stricken with pain and stiffness each morning.

“A cold front must have come through.” He spoke while rubbing his collar bone under the wrath of the water.

The titanium plate in his collar bone practically made him a meteorologist. But he would rather have other things than the ability to predict the weather.

Derek quickly dressed and hustled to his car. He was running late as usual. However, today he would have liked to be on time because it was his first day. He sped down unfamiliar streets with only fifteen minutes to get to work.

“Damn suburbia!” he groaned.

“It all looks the same”.

He exited the residential area and recognized the area. Realizing he had a few minutes to spare he figured there was still had time to grab some coffee. He stopped at a corner station just down the street from his job and that left him about five minutes to get in and get out. He came rumbling into the parking lot not mindful of pedestrians, threw his car in park almost before coming to a complete stop and quickly exited the car.

“This place had better not be busy!”

Derek had never been to this coffee shop before. But figured this should suffice given his time constraints. As he walked in he got an eerie feeling that he had been here before. That feeling that you get when you swear you have been in the exact moment. But this was the first time he had ever been to this place. So why did it seem so familiar? “I need to get some more sleep.” he murmured. He walked to the back where the coffee and donuts were spread through a plexi-glass display case. Derek decided this morning he wanted and needed, the big cup of coffee.

 “Twenty-four ounces of hot aromatic caffeine should do the trick!”

Derek stood there with the lever pulled as he waited for what seemed like an eternity as he filled his behemoth cup of joe. He looked around at the store. It was a strange place. It felt very homely, but complicated, and still a little strange. But Derek felt comfortable. Like he knew this place, and none of this was a surprise.

“Ah, damn!” Derek had slowly moved his cup as he scanned the store, and astreaming of scolding hot coffee had just violated the tender skin of his hand.

“You alright?” the girl at the counter was staring at Derek curiously.

“Yeah. Um, oh, yeah I’m fine.

 “You sure?” The pretty face said with some obvious concern in her voice.

 “Yes ma’am. I just had the strange feeling that I had been here before. Kind of zoned out.” Derek said in bewilderment. “But I haven’t.”

 “Ahhhh. I know what you mean.” The girl answered,

The woman behind the counter, her name tag said Sam, looked around as if to see if anyone was listening. She made a gesture with her hand for Derek to come a little closer.

 “You know, I my mom would to tell me ‘bout little things like that. When you feel like you’ve done something before. Ya know? But you don’t remember it?”

“Sure that sounds about right.”, answered Derek.  Sam had gained his attention.

“She would say that you have done things. But it’s like you in another place that’s done it.” Derek gazed on attentively, but not because he believed her.

He thought to himself, “This is kind of weird, but she is cute!”

Sam continued, “She would say that those other ones. They are living a different life. Because different things happened, and it took you on different paths. And every now and then, your paths kinda cross. You do the same thing. I bet the other you somewhere, he was at the exact same place at the exact same moment. Well, but somewhere else.”

Derek looked on in amazement. But he surely did not believe in that kind of thing. In fact, he didn’t believe in much of anything. Not with his luck. He looked at his watch. He knew he need to go, but something kept him there, listening.

            “My mom would say that feeling, the one you just had. That is God’s way telling you  this place, this moment, is exactly where you are supposed to be.”

            Derek looked back at his watch.

            “I really have to go. Nice to meet you.”

Sam smiled from behind the counter as Derek dropped a few bucks on the counter and jogged out the door.

“That was strange. Way to start the day Derek” he laughed.

            He practically jumped into his car and sped off to work. Work was slow as usual, and Derek counted the hours until he could go home and get some much needed sleep.      “Mythology sucks.” He mumbled occasionally.

By the time Derek got home from work he was exhausted. He plopped onto his bed, not bothering to take his clothes off. Soon he was going through his bouncing, turning, kicking, routine until he had arranged the blanket and pillow just right. As he was falling asleep when he began pondering over what happened that morning. He thought about that strange girl, Sam. That familiar thought came into his head.

“How did I end up here?” and then he wondered, “Could I actually be somewhere else? If I did some things differently would I still be right here?”

The puzzling thoughts ran through his head. He often debated how life might be different if he had never been injured. How life would be different if he had held on to the ball. Maybe he would be in college playing football instead of just milling through classes. What if he was never an athlete, but played tuba in the band instead. Or maybe he could be a swimmer. He always loved the water. After only a few minutes, Derek was enjoying some much needed sleep.

…..

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Aahhhh.” Derek yawned as he stretched his legs and arms.

He crawled out of bed and headed to the shower. He pulled his right leg over and lifted it off the bed. He slowly stood putting just a little bit of weight on it at a time. He started his morning routine. While was in the shower, sometimes he would just lean back and let the warm water pour down on his sore, stiff right knee. Almost every morning he would think about how things might be different had he never gotten in that car.

…..

He was a gullible teenager out on the weekend. Eighteen year-old boys seem to think they are invincible. His friend and swim teammate Joey Simmons wanted him to take a ride with him. Joey had just gotten some work done on his black Chevelle.

“Sure!” Derek said excitedly.

He loved cars, even though he didn’t know much about them. Two cruised through the neighborhood and made their way towards the local car hang-out. It was customary for all the hot-rodders rally at a local grocery store parking lot every Saturday night.

“It’ll be a good spot to find a race.” Joey exclaimed.

“Yeah, OK.” Derek hesitantly responded.

            Only minutes after arriving, Joey had a race in the making. Soon they were back in the car and following a red Mustang. They had decided a local road would be the best place.

            “No one is drives there this late.” The other driver insisted.

            A few minutes passed and they arrived. Each took a moment to get settled in their respective lanes. Each revved their engines, and jolted forward. The tires screeched and Joey’s car slide sideways as it accelerated.

            “Whoa! Slow down!” Derek shouted from the passenger seat.

            “No way, we are winning” Joey exclaimed while looking over at Derek.

“Son! Can you hear me?” Derek looked up dizzily, truing to focus with blood in his eyes.

“Are you alright? An ambulance is on the way!” an unfamiliar voice shouted.

            When Joey looked back towards the road a family sedan pulled out onto the claimed empty road. Joey swerved to his left, only to collide with the fellow racer. The car spun before striking the center median causing the car to tumble.

….

He took his time getting dressed, because he had waken fairly early, but he also needed some time to work out the kinks in his knee every morning. He buttoned up his shirt and tucked it in. He wrapped his watch around his wrist, and looked at his swim medals hanging on the wall. Derek staggered out to his pick up, got in and headed on his way. Derek drove to the local coffee shop for his morning cup of coffee. He walked in and headed towards the counter. As he approached the coffee, he debated which size cup felt right for today.

“The big one sounds good today.” he began pouring the cup.

He always enjoyed the scenery here; it was homely, yet sophisticated. Not to mention he enjoyed the pretty face behind the counter

.“Ah! Damn it!” shouted Derek.

He had turned to glance around and spilled hot coffee across his arm.

 “You alright?” a girl questioned from begin the counter.

“Yeah Sam, I’m fine!”

            Her friendly smile from behind the counter was quite reassuring. The eerie feeling left Derek as he admired Sam sitting behind the counter. For some reason, despite everything he had been through, he knew this place, this moment was exactly where he belonged.

Revision Account:

I received a lot of feedback regarding this piece. I was very pleased with all of it. I specifically got a lot of help with grammatical errors, which is outstanding because I am a terrible proofreader. In addition, several classmates provided in text notes to help conform quotes and speech. Although, I am still not sure I have that correct.

I simply deleted much of the Football scene near the beginning. Yes, it was a little long. Sorry. In an effort to maintain some balance, I revised and expanded the car crash scene. However, to really create a sense of balance, I would almost like to make each “story” of Derek a mirror of the other in terms of form. Alarm, shower, flashback, etc. I have worked on expanding or shorting several passages, so that none overpower of drag on in comparison.

One of the biggest obstacles, or at least tasks, was to produce an applicable title. I wanted something that implied the theme to some degree. Amber Buitron suggested “Trading Places” and “Déjà Vu”. I was fond of the “Déjà Vu” notion because that was the “feeling” the is implied during the story. However, I decided that I wanted to add play off of the déjà vu concept and instead decided upon “God’s Plan”. Thanks Amber, you got me started there.

Several class mates expressed the need for more Sam. I gave a few sentences more during her and Derek’s initial meeting, but also used the moment to expresses some more thematic elements. Ion regards to Sam, several advised not to make Sam sound nutty, but rather “quirky” would be the most appropriate term. Any negative reactions from Derek, as I did have before, conflict with the message I want to express. So instead I added how Derek though she was ”cute” despite being a little odd. Additionally, the narrator adds a few lines to finalize the “constant” idea of Sam. There were several requests to give Sam more dialogue. I had finding a way to do so without significantly revamping the story. However, it has inspired me to make this a possible collection of stories. Perhaps Sam could have her own separate story, as would Joey Simmons another constant who goes seemingly unnoticed. But I have briefly begun brainstorming some possible roles for Sam.

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