I See You Everywhere... Ch. 05 - Conclusion

This tale doesn't end the telling of Randy's story, it's just the ending. There are more tales to be told, I just feel the need to let this rest a bit first. Other things on my mind.

Once again it was time to move on. As Randy drove east on I-90 in central Montana he was reflecting back on all the women he had known over the last 40 plus years since he lost Carol to the drunk driver. Each and every time he felt the need to move on he'd had his "Carol" dream, each time he was closer to her. This last time she was just out of reach as they walked through an apple orchard in bloom. The sun was bright and the apple blossoms were dropping petals that swirled in the light breeze.

It was fairly late, nearly midnight, and there wasn't much for traffic going either direction in this windswept portion of the interstate. Randy was mildly distracted by both his reverie and by the various aches and pains that come of being 60 and having lived an active life. Randy looked away from the road for just a moment to try and find a decent radio station. When he looked up it was into the oncoming headlights of another car. Randy froze for an instant and tried to swerve but he didn't have an instant. The 2 vehicles hit head-on at a combined speed in excess of 130 miles per hour. The 5000-pound trailer Randy was towing crushed Randy's rusty old truck from behind as the other car crushed it from the front. He never had a chance.

Turns out the driver of the other vehicle was drunk. He had just gotten a provisional license that week. He had been out of prison just over a year after serving time for a previous criminal vehicular homicide. had he survived the crash, it would have been his 15th alcohol-related driving incident.

Randy was sober, had been sober since the spring of 86, 30 some odd years ago. The last thing Randy saw was the bright lights, then the jolt of the crash stunned him. Next thing he knew he was standing next to a crying Carol who wrapped him up in a hug and said: "why the hell did you take so long?" They were standing in a field of ripened grain with what looked like a Rockwell small town off in the distance. Carol took him by the hand and said: "let's go home."

It was almost a half an hour before anyone came along to the accident scene. another 20 minutes before the first of the first responders arrived. It was hours more before they managed to get what was left of Randy out of the wreck His body was delivered to the local morgue, a few tests run to see if he had been impaired, and he was delivered to the local funeral home. It took 3 days to locate and contact Randy's family. Several more days to decide to cremate his remains and ship them home. Between Randy's accounts and his insurance, his final costs were more than covered. Randy had a will and his estate was parceled out accordingly. It wasn't that much but it helped those whom he'd left it to. One of the Grand-nieces went on Randy's Facebook page and posted the time and date of his service, just in case someone he knew from out of the home area was still following him.

The day of the service was bright and sunny. It was being held at a local mortuary that normally could handle a sizeable crowd. as it turned out nearly 500 people showed up for it, Randy's local friends and family made up just a tiny portion of that crowd. There literally wasn't enough room in the building for the various floral bouquets that people who couldn't attend sent. There wasn't a flower to be had in a florist shop for nearly 100 miles. It was a nice average service with a gathering after at the town hall. It was there that the family learned of what Randy had done while on his travels these past 30 plus years.

In his own way and time, Randy had made life better for nearly everyone he met or did work for. There were a lot of women who expressed the wish that they had made other choices that would have kept Randy with them longer if not permanently. But they all agreed you have to live with the consequences of the choices you make. Most of the stories told were of how Randy appeared during a time of need and desperation with the right tools and attitude to make things better. When he left it was after things had been restored to normal and there was a need for him elsewhere.

So ends this story.