Drive (continued)

As she pulled into the cinema parking lot, she glanced at the digital clock display which glowed brightly beneath the spot where the small amulet had hung before. It was a quarter past six, forty-five minutes before she was supposed to meet her friends at the theater, and it was still raining heavily. ka-thunk, drizzle, ka-thunk, drizzle. She sighed. If only Donny had let her drop him off at practice on her way here, then she wouldn't have been so early. But then she remembered a lesson her father had taught her long ago:

"If you are running late, or you get caught at a red light, never worry. Don't try to speed up, or rush through life, because maybe the delay is meant to be. One day, that red light might save you from a car crash or who knows what else."

She wondered if the same thing applied to being early. Was she avoiding some awful, unknown fate by waiting patiently in her car in the local cinema parking lot? The rain was still pouring down around her, and as she shut the engine she pondered this as she watched other movie-goers clamber out of their cars and rush frantically through the parking lot. Why are they in such a hurry? What are they running from? She watched them with a mixed expression of mild interest and pity until the ka-thunk of the wipers quietly dwindled to a stop and her windshield was flooded with rain.