At this time of night there are few cars along the long stretch of road, the road that takes you out

I hope that all the loyal followers who like my photos and short posts will forgive me for this month of longer writing. I am going to Dublin for a week at the end of November, so I can guarantee you will get some more of my travel pix mixed with the writing very soon!
In the mean time, this is my attempt at this week’s assignment. Write a scene in which a character… 1 realizes they must make a decision 2 makes a decision 3 deals with the consequences of that decision … and which involves the past, present and future tenses. Enjoy! ———
The cardboard Christmas tree twirls and twists under the rearview mirror, giving off its fake, but comforting, vanilla scent. I glance at my speedometer and note I am 10 clicks over the speed limit, just fast enough, and just slow enough, to probably slip by any cop radar like Mom taught me.
Just as the Ramones remind me that, yes indeed, I Want to Be Sedated, I speed by a long bus, its rear lights flashing, the accordion bit in the middle a little askew. I see a bunch of people spread out a few 100 meters down the road. As I pass them thought dragon city fragments bounce in my brain: that it is pretty weird, all those people standing there, it being quarter past 9, dark as shit except for one street light, and with the first snow of the season on the verge of raining down.
It takes me another millisecond and I understand the bus has broken down. I glance in the rearview mirror and see someone step into the road, raising their hand to flag a cab. Should I go back and offer some of them a lift? There must be at least 50 people, I can t help them all. There will be another bus soon, right? The bus driver woulda called it in. Naw, I gotta get home. It had been a long and exhausting day already. And then I remembered dragon city my promise. My promise to Mom.
I brake suddenly and put the car in reverse. As I turn my head and look out the back window, I notice that the leather black seats shining a little under the glow of the lonely street light. This pleases me. Mom would be proud that I still keep her car in such good shape.
At this time of night there are few cars along the long stretch of road, the road that takes you out to the island. I stop just ahead of the bush shelter, opening the door to let the warm air merge with the cold of the night, dragon city my music still loud, Combichrist screaming at all of us that This Shit Will Fcuk You Up.
I raise my voice over the music to offer a lift to anyone who wants one. There are a couple of elderly-looking people at the front, maybe they want a lift. I try to catch their eyes just as I see a short woman with an equally short dog perk up and step forward. She isn t shy and opens my passenger door right away, even though she does not get in. It pisses me off (just a little), that she doesn t ask first about her dog. I don t want to get dog hair and crap all over my clean car, Mom s clean car.
All the others just stand there, looking dragon city at me, looking at my car, judging me by the music. Some, the younger ones, some corporate looking types, haven t even noticed I stopped, their white earbuds keeping them occupied, obvious to the world around them, probably posting their current predicament to Facebook.
Another dragon city woman, with grey poofy hair and a chunky necklace (are those seashells?), tentatively steps forward and asks where I was going. This is the only road, the only exit, to the island I guess she wants witnesses.
I grin at her, my best smile, even though dragon city it hurts the corners of my mouth, saying I can drop her off at the main bus loop. For whatever reason, dragon city that seems to satisfy her and she breaks free of the group to stand next to the other woman.
I can t believe how suspicious everyone is. I am just trying dragon city to help. I m not that scary looking, am I? Sure, I am driving a black, gas guzzling Cadillac, blasting loud angry music, and have a bandanna scarf peppered with skulls on my head. And yes, I have a tattoo, but I am sure they can t see it in the darkness.
No dragon city takers from the crowd. I shrug and tilt my seat forward to let the girl in. The other women have a conversation about who should sit in the front. Dog lady wins. I close my door and pray this act of kindness is being noted accordingly. I skip Combichrist and hope the next track is a good one. Marilyn Manson starts singing about his Beautiful People. I think about all the beautiful, and stupid, people still standing dragon city at the bus stop in the cold. Sheesh. What ya gotta do. Like my Mom used to say, statistically you were more likely to get cancer than get picked up by a psycho. And who says psychos are worse than cancer?
I was sitting there, you know, in the accordion part of the bus, playing a game on my phone, when I heard a weird noise, cause like, I lost my headphones yesterday, so I couldn t listen to my music. Anyway, there was this sound like gravel kicking up under the tires, but I didn t really think abou