Saved by McBreakfast

by Freya-Kendra

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Blair said aloud as he pulled into the drive-through at McDonald's. But he was hungry -- very hungry. And food was food, right?

"Jim would have a field day if he ever found out I'm willing to eat this crap." Fortunately, there was no one around to tell his Whataburger-loving partner about this apparent transgression against Blair's strong beliefs in healthy eating.

He had spent all night grading papers he should have finished a week ago, and preparing a lecture which required extensive research. Food was an afterthought -- at least until he started driving to the university in the morning. His stomach reminded him how empty it was pretty much as soon as he put the car in gear. There were few meal choices at 7AM, and even fewer that could be had 'on the go.' Sadly, McDonald's was his only real choice. Well, that or Tim Horton's. Eggs and sausage, or donuts? Hmmm. In the end, the idea of protein won out over pure sugar and carbs.

When he reached the first window and handed the cashier his money, both his attention and hers were caught by a swarm of emergency vehicles converging on the road in front of them, sirens blaring. Instinctively, Blair crouched down in his seat. An instant later he realized what a useless and foolish move that was. First of all, those vehicles were traveling much too fast to notice Blair in the drive-through. Second, if someone did happen to look his way, Blair's Volvo would stand out like a sore thumb whether or not they could see who was driving.

He smiled at the cashier, pulled forward to get his meal, and headed out of the parking lot. Almost immediately, another fire truck appeared in his rear-view mirror. As he pulled out of the way, he finally began to wonder about what had happened to require such an extensive emergency response. Did something happen at the university? No. That was doubtful. There were closer fire stations to respond to anything there. Whatever happened, had to be relatively nearby.

Blair had himself convinced there must have been a terrible accident ahead at the Haggerty intersection. That was always a bad spot, and one he tended to avoid whenever possible. Yet a minute later Blair realized the problem was right in front of him. The road was completely blocked with police cars, ambulances and fire trucks.

"Oh, man." Blair could feel his hands growing moist. His stomach lurched into his throat. If not for that last-minute stop at McDonald's, his Volvo might be in the thick of that mess right now. "Don't go there," he reminded himself. The fact was he *did* stop. He was starting to truly appreciate that McMuffin in the seat beside him.

With the road blocked, Blair had to follow a stream of cars into and through a parking lot, exiting at the cross street that had become inaccessible due to the accident. Since he was one of the first to reach the scene, it only took a few seconds before he found himself at a stop light adjacent to the road he had been traveling.

Oddly, the intersection itself was not blocked. The collision was due west of the crossroad -- most of it anyway. There was debris in the road directly to Blair's left. Further to the left, three wrecked vehicles were scattered in a somewhat surreal pattern. To his right, a red Dodge Ram pick-up had wedged itself into a telephone pole.

Four vehicles in all.

A gurney was ready to transport the first victim, but first they would have to extricate him -- or her -- from a mangled van.

A small sedan sat sideways in the turn lane. There was someone still sitting in the driver's seat. Fortunately, that someone was moving, seeming to swat absently at the deflated air bag. Unfortunately, he was still in the vehicle, swatting absently at a deflated air bag. Shock, confusion -- hopefully that was all that was wrong.

Blair sat idling at the red light, surveying the destruction around him. If he had not stopped at McDonald's.... He flinched when a uniformed police officer approached him.

"If you want to turn right, there's no one coming," the officer said calmly. It was kind of a 'no shit' sort of statement.

"No, I'm going straight," Blair replied. *Why?* He asked himself then. *Why not turn right? That was the route you had intended to take before all this happened.* Yet somehow going the back route held more appeal all of a sudden. He just did not want to be on the main road anymore.

Once he was across and starting his snaking journey along side roads, Blair's cell phone rang. He pulled over, not wanting to take any chances with second-guessing the fates. "Hello?" He answered.

"Sandburg? Thank god."

"Jim? What's wrong?"

"You tell me. I heard about the accident over on Ford and Taylor. I was worried that--"

"No, Jim. No, I wasn't in it. Almost," he added nervously, "but I, ah, I missed it."

"Good. I don't know how you missed it though. The first call came in at 7:06. Based on what time you left this morning, I'd swear you would've been right in the thick of it. Unless you were driving too fast. You weren't driving too fast, were you?"

"Me? With this car? Come on, Jim." Blair laughed. "No, I, ah, I made a stop," he added more soberly.

"Well, it's a good thing." A second later, Jim seemed to rethink what Blair had said. "A stop? Where'd you stop that was open this time of morning? You gassed up last night."

"I, ah," Blair cleared his throat. "I grabbed some breakfast."

"Breakfast? Breakfast," Jim repeated, knowingly. "You didn't."

"Yeah, Jim. I did."

"What? You're always telling me that stuff'll kill you."

"It will," Blair started emphatically before doing some rethinking of his own. "Well, it can. But maybe this time it did the opposite."

There was a long pause before Jim replied. "Chief?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad."

"Yeah, me too."

"I'm glad to see you've finally seen the light."

"What?"

"So, it's Wonderburger for lunch today, right?"

"What? Jim, no, I--"

"I'll pick you up at noon."

"No, Jim, I--"

"Or would you rather meet there? I can order for you. You'll want the works, of course."

"No, no, Jim, that's--"

"Hey, Chief?"

Blair waited before responding with a cautious, "What?"

"Drive safe," Jim said sincerely.

"Yeah, you too."

Blair clicked off the phone and set it down beside his life-saving, artery-clogging breakfast. Maybe Wonderburger wouldn't be so bad, after all.