Red Light

      “What do you have planned tonight?” Deborah asked her friend Sarah. It was a snowy Saturday afternoon, and they were on their way to the airport to pick up Sarah’s boyfriend, who was returning from 2 months in Colorado. His mother had died on short notice, and he had gone to Colorado to help out the rest of his family with the funeral arrangements and unfinished business.
         “I don’t know. He said he’s got a surprise for me,” said Sarah as they pulled up to a stoplight. Deborah smiled and laughed a bit, and Sarah looked up at the red light. This one color is so powerful, she thought. Stoplights, stop signs.. All red. All discourage you from going further, saying ‘if you don’t listen, you’re putting your life in danger.’
         “I bet you’re excited, eh?” Deborah said, bringing Sarah back from her thoughts about the red light. “I mean, you haven’t seen him in over two months and he’s got a surprise for you? Lucky you.” The light turned green, giving them the signal that it was alright to go, and the car slowly moved closer to the airport.
         “Definitely. I can’t wait to see him in the airport either!” Sarah replied, as Deborah pulled her car into a parking space. Sarah opened the door and got out. “Thank you so much for driving me here.”
         Deborah smiled. “No problem. Let me know what happens tonight with James, alright?” Sarah nodded and ran towards the doors, to get out of the snow. Gate A25. Her eyes scanned the signs above her as she walked. Gates B, C... Where was A?
         The airport was fairly large, and she always seemed to have trouble navigating her way to the correct spot. Though she had been in it many times before, she usually relied on her traveling companions to find the way. Never had she been here by herself, and it was more confusing than she had realized.
         “Pardon me,” she said to an airport worker pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair. “Can you tell me where Gate A25 is?”
         “Sure honey, it’s that way.” The woman pointed in the direction that Sarah had just come from.
         Sarah looked behind her, and sure enough, there was the sign. Gates A1 – A25. She smiled, embarrassed, and thanked the woman. “It’s nothing,” the woman replied. “People do that all the time. This place can get pretty confusing at times if you’re not used to it.” She continued pushing the wheelchair, and Sarah began walking in the direction of A25. People were busily moving in all directions, some running to catch their flights. God, airports are so chaotic, she observed. She looked up at the board telling if flights were delayed, and moved down the list. Albany, Albuquerque, Anchorage, Boston, Burbank, Dallas, Detroit, Denver. Delayed, 15 minutes.
         “Oh.. Well, that’s not too bad,” she remarked. She looked down at her watch, realizing that would make it about 30 minutes before his plane was due to come in. With nothing else to do, she walked back to a restaurant she had passed on her way to the gate. “Bubba’s Sports Bar and Grill,” she read as she entered. The cheering from the bar was almost deafening, as some football team won a game that was playing on the huge TV’s. Music was playing loudly in the background, lights were flashing on and off, and smoke floated through the air. This usually wasn’t the kind of place she would go to by herself, but it was better than sitting at the gate waiting for half an hour. She took a seat at a small table near the wall, away from the bar, and opened the menu sitting on the table.
         “Good afternoon,” the waiter approaching her table said. “What can I get for you today?” He was somewhat tall and skinny, with short dark brown hair. He looked to be in his 20’s, around Sarah’s age.
         “Uhm, I think I’ll just have a water,” Sarah replied. She was sure that when James arrived, they’d go out to dinner someplace.
         “Alright. Nothing else?” The waited asked. “We’ve got great hamburgers. Half price, since we’re victorious over there.” He pointed to the bar with the men cheering, and smiled.
         “No thanks. Water will be just fine for now.”
         “I’ll have that right out for you.” He moved to another table, and took an older couple’s order. Then went to the bar, and returned to Sarah’s table with a glass of water. “That’ll be a dollar and fifty cents,” he stated. She pulled two dollars out from her pocket and handed it to him. “Thanks. Have a great day,” he said, and walked back to the bar. Sarah sat there, sipping her water, and looked out the window. Families rushed by, pulling their kids by the hands to catch their flights on time. Businessmen dressed in dark suits were carrying briefcases and standing off to the side, alone, talking on their cell phones. A teen boy sat against a wall, playing some sort of game. His mother walked up to him, said something, and he got up and walked with her towards the bar. Then she saw James.
         She jumped up, left her water on the table, and ran out of the bar. “James!” He stopped and turned towards her, looking perplexed. Then he recognized her, and ran towards her. “How are you? How was your flight?”
         “I’m good. Even better now that I’m home and with you. My flight was good, though we got delayed in Denver because of the snow.” He put his suitcase down, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her. “Let’s go, babe. I’ve still got that surprise for you.” He smiled and picked up his suitcase again. He took her by the hand and led her out of the airport, to his car in the parking garage.
         “How did you get here?” He asked as he opened the car door for her.  He closed her door and got in on the driver’s side before she answered.
         “Deborah drove me.” Her mind flashed back to Deborah asking what they had planned for the night, and a smile spread across her face. “What’s this surprise you keep talking about?”
         “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.” He grinned and started the car. It didn’t start easily, since it had been sitting there for two months and it was freezing outside, but once it did start he turned the heater on. “I’ll tell you, though,” he said as he backed out and exited the parking garage, “that you’ll love it.”
         The snow came down hard, and James turned the windshield wipers on. Then he turned the radio on, to their favorite station. He turned it up. “This weather sucks,” Sarah muttered.
         “You think this is bad?” James asked, smirking. “You should’ve been in Denver. I’m surprised that my flight was only 15 minutes delayed. It was like a miracle, getting out of there only 15 minutes later.. I’ve never seen snow that bad in all my life. But I’m so glad to be back. Seeing your face made me happier than ever. Colorado wasn’t easy, let me tell you. My mom’s death... Some of the workers from her business, all they were after was her money. Every day we got people coming up to the door saying ‘She promised to hand the business over to me if anything ever happened.’ And when we told them that it wasn’t in her will, they left without saying anything. Money greedy bastards....” he trailed off. “But it’s all over now. Tonight will make up for that.”
         He reached over and grabbed Sarah’s hand. The car swerved a bit. “James, you’d better keep your hands on the wheel for now.. It’s icy on the roads,” she said as she took his hand and moved it back to the steering wheel.
         On the radio, James’s favorite song came on. He sang along with it, and Sarah thought she could faintly hear sirens in the distance. James stopped singing and looked over at Sarah. “I love you so much, you know that? I can’t wait to see your face tonight... You’re going to love this, I know you will.” Sarah’s mind wandered. What could he be planning? She secretly hoped it would be a proposal, though she wasn’t sure. She wished time would go faster, so she could know what this surprise was that she had been waiting two months for. The suspense was killing her.
         The sirens seemed to be getting closer, and James didn’t appear to have noticed them. They were approaching a stoplight; It had turned yellow, and James started to slow down. Then he changed his mind, and sped up to make it through the light. Sarah’s mind flashed back to the car with Deborah, when she noticed the light on their way to the airport. Red means stop. Risk of danger. Yellow warns you, she thought, that danger could be coming soon. No one ever pays attention to the yellow. It’s always the red. When people run red lights, it could be too late...
         As James went through the intersection, the light turned red.  Red light means danger. Sarah noticed flashing lights to the left in the distance, and turned her head to get a better look. Those must have been the sirens I heard, she thought. They were coming towards the intersection, fast. “James!” she shouted. He slammed on the brakes, and turned to look at her for a second before the ambulance crashed into the driver’s side of the car.