STORY: ‘Life is Peachy’

I was stuck in a traffic jam, going nowhere fast, when there was a thump on the window. I jumped and nearly dropped my phone, which I put down anyway, just in case it was a cop knocking.

The guy outside looked nothing like that. He was bony and bent, with a straggly beard. Hands jammed down deep in his jean pockets, he looked miserable out there, shivering in his baggy old Korn t-shirt.

Drugs, I thought. The guy’s after money.

I looked up ahead to see if I could get away but nothing was moving.

Then I did something I thought I’d never do. I wound down the window.

What’s up, I said.

Your sticker, said the guy. It’s wrong.

My sticker?

The one on the back window. Is it yours?

I had to think. Yeah, it was mine. I’d stuck it there on a whim last year when things were going well. I’d got into uni, moved out of home and got my first car – this one. I was on top of the world.

The guy was watching me hard, his grey eyes big and unblinking.

It’s a bumper sticker, I said. What’s the big deal?

Life, he said, isn’t peachy.

Because that’s what the sticker said, with a picture of a big fat peach.

You got out to tell me that, I said. Really, you should go back and wait for the traffic to clear.

The look on his face didn’t change. It was like he hadn’t heard me.

Sure, he said, it starts out all sweet and tasty, and you’ve got juice running down your chin. But then –

But then?

He hitched a little sob or something and looked down, at the road.

Then there’s the stone. A hard fucking black thing in the middle.

It’s a seed, I said. And it’s not bad, it’s good. Seeds bring life, they don’t destroy it.

Crazy stuff. I was babbling, and suddenly there was a seed in me, or maybe a stone, burning in my chest, threatening to sour everything even more.

I looked at him and he looked right back.

Then I heard the engines of the cars in front. The guy did, too, and there was panic on his face.

Time to go, I said.

He put a hand on my car.

But the traffic was starting to move. Winding up the window, I let off the brake and rolled away.

Crazy stuff.

I glanced in the mirror. I couldn’t see him anymore but his car was still stopped on the road behind, empty. Horns were blaring.

I sped up and reached for my phone. That’s when he went past, running fast. That’s when he lurched in front of me and there was a thump and then a much worse bump and I was stopping again and the stone was back.

That’s when I decided to get rid of the sticker.