The Gas Station

Remembering the future

The 1957 Chevy pulled off the mountain highway into a gas station. The family inside had been traveling across the country; the two parents in the front and the four children in the back. The second oldest child — a boy named Scott — was born the same year as the car, and was now eleven years old. As the four kids scrambled out of the car one of Scott’s younger sisters asked, “Where are we?”

“Colorado,” said Scott as he raced ahead of his siblings and made it to the restrooms first. But Scott could think of nothing else until he had relieved himself. He had not peed since New Mexico. Closing his eyes, he completely emptied his mind.

Coming out of the dark restroom, Scott’s eyes were greeted by a very bright sky. He shielded his eyes with his hand and looked around. There was a man in a uniform putting gas into the car. Scott’s mother was getting something out of the trunk. The rest of the family was in the restrooms or waiting to get in one. Scott then looked around at the tall mountains surrounding the gas station. Though it was summer, there was snow on the summits.

Suddenly, Scott got the urge to walk around to the side of the gas station. At the edge of the gas station property, Scott saw a green meadow with a small stream running through the middle of it. It was incredibly beautiful, but there was…