Driving in the Dark

It’s ten minutes shy of four in the morning and I’m scrambling to prepare to drive to the airport. Mi esposa hermosa is off, in just a while, to visit her childhood friends for a two-day gathering in Charleston, South Carolina. This involves me as chauffeur,  driving said spouse to the airport to catch a six o’clock plane. A six o’clock flight from Little Rock requires a four-fifteen departure from “house del Hot Springs Village.” This is no problem for me, of course, except that I’d love to have coffee beforehand, yet I dare not drink coffee for fear I might need to eliminate said elixir from my body en route. So, I will simply cope. In just a few minutes, we will drive away in the dark. The last time I left the house this early, skunks littered the roadway. Today, I’ll take my favorite wife to Little Rock, return to the Village, and (maybe) stop off for breakfast at a dive on the return trip. Actually, getting up at this hour and hitting the road is exciting. We used to do this on a regular basis. I feel young again!