The cabrio red Buick

Gabriel-anoikti-kokkini-Buick
show it to your friends ...

Through the fog glasses, the tops of the mountains, sprinkled with last night's snow, look imposing, inaccessible and foggy. But as I cross the endless straight lines of the plain, they are becoming more and more visible. Less spooky, more passable. You are confident that you are capable of climbing them. But you are not, the senses once again deceive you… The large pastures I cross, very different from the scenery of the peaks in the background. With farmhouses, surrounded by flowers and pergolas, with domestic animals, full of colors and warmth, reminiscent of the first years of my youth.

I press the right pedal gently and firmly, maintaining a speed of memories, as she liked to say. Big enough to change the landscape, small enough that you can forget, to get lost in your thoughts. The murmur, bass sound of the eight-cylinder engine at these speeds does not bother the flashback at all. A slight chill, which penetrates through the fabric hood of my old open car, causes an intense but almost pleasant shiver. This feeling, which in combination with the stories of the past that come to mind, causes the familiar sensation with thousands of tiny pins all over my body. Pins that you feel when you think of something special, something touching, a great truth or when you communicate with God… Maybe I just get cold…

The radio is playing an old ballad, amplifying the nostalgic tone of the moment. It is the only option, since the cassette that could play the old car is now an endangered species. My gaze escapes from the radio to the rest of the dashboard, which is maintained without any obvious signs of wear over time. Like my memories… With bright red details, the stylish dashboard challenges passengers to visualize its exterior color. Red pearl, ideal to color the passion of youth. Unique in shade and shine for its time. It was charged extra, but it was worth the money down to the last cent. I look at the road again. The moment has captured me and I have lost the sense of time and space, ignoring the geographical point where I am.. Only this déjà vu comes to confirm that I went through it again years ago. Or I just dreamed it and now I see it in front of me;

A white smoke interrupts my metaphysical worries. For a moment I think it is fog from the humidity, which at this time and hour hovers over the meadows. Unfortunately the smoke comes out of the hood of the car, testifying to the incomplete work I had done a week ago in the fridge of my beloved Buick. In seconds I regain the sense of time but mainly of space, as I remember that in a few kilometers there is a gas station. Its image is similar to these that someone sees in the movies. The gas stations that are in the middle of nowhere and that are waiting to serve all the unfortunates who ran out of tyres, water or fuel. As there will always be some good friends…

The thought that the gas station would not offer a solution to my misfortune, it is not very pleasant. At least the entrance to it is unobstructed. No signage, nor chain from one end to the other, nor any other obstacle. But unfortunately no other car or man. They always disappear with your luck… I stop in front of the pumps, as if I were going to refuel, and with difficulty I open the hood. The temperature had been transferred everywhere to the front of the car, causing a large cloud of evaporated water to leave violently upwards. I react quickly, making a leap backwards leaving the painful burn experience just for my Buick. An instant irritation makes me clap my hands on the sides of the car. I recover quickly though, finding refuge where everyone finds themselves when something goes wrong. In thought, that everything happens for a reason…

I walk to the store and look out the door glass. Closed blinds, no light, no trace of life. I turn the knob as if something is about to change. Nothing changes when the indicators are so strong... I stand in front of a wheel made of glossy cardboard, which is hung outside the entrance of the store. The light breeze turns it and the sun reflects on it, pulling my gaze. I sit still looking at it and I lose the sense of space and time again. It reminds me once of my old car in its youth and its shiny wheels. When she first saw her face in them and smiled. It was then that Buick's wheels lost some of its luster...

The outline around the instruments on the dial was also shiny and circular. The chrome that 'coated' the perimeter of the round instruments did not go unnoticed. My favorite car did not have many indications, but the speedometer was big. With red needle, dominated the center in front of the driver's eyes. Its font was retro, condensed, with the last indication one hundred and eighty, a rather optimistic number. Like the initial expectations of a lover… A smaller instrument showed the revs of the large engine, which barely caught the four thousand. The third indicator, also with chrome border, showed the fuel level. It reminded you quite often of the need for refueling. It could not escape the rule that says that all intense emotions consume energy and cost. And in fact very expensive…

From the very first visit to the paddock with the old cars, I knew I would pay for this Buick a lot. Especially the version with white leather and red seams, it looked at my low-fat wallet from the first moment. Looking outside, the white seats blended harmoniously with the additions of white to the otherwise red car. On the doors but also on the profile of the tires, the white color is clear that it was there to emphasize even more the special red. My wallet finally had no hope and would be the victim of the magnetism exerted by my open beauty. At least the transaction would be fair. You will pay for it, but the beautiful car would give you what it promised you at the beginning. How much fairer than love… White leather, it also covered a part of the dashboard, as an ideal aesthetic continuation of the seats. The seats you were either a driver, or a passenger, they allowed you to enjoy the route in the best way. So comfortable, so warm. And yet. They reached perfection when he first hugged me in the back seat of Buick…

The warmth that the seats offered you and the warm air from the air ducts, they allowed you to open the hood of the open car, even in the first months of Spring. Nature is a pleasure to the senses when you drive an open car. Especially when the car is my favorite red Buick. Enjoy each of the senses separately. From the flowers that bloom and musk when you move slowly, to the smell of addictive gasoline when accelerating. From the clear blue sky that you can see high as you go at the 'speed of memories', to the fluttered landscape you see left and right when you are in a hurry. From the gentle caress of the air with a few kilometers, to loud bursts when the speedometer reaches three digits. From the rustling of leaves and the purring of water when you move slowly, to the bass metallic sound of the supercharged engine when accelerating. Only the taste she complemented, after each stop…

A sixth sense makes me think I'm not alone. I take my eyes off the glossy cardboard wheel and look back at the car. Smoke keeps coming out of the front, as if it has not calmed down at all. Buick seems distant to me. As if it does not want to walk with me again. Sad findings usually come after an 'accident': Nothing lasts forever... But Buick is not unfulfilled love. It was dedicated to me and I lived in full intensity the love with it before it transformed into love… Unfulfilled love though, it comes and goes like the wind from your life, leaving behind only fallen leaves. Until the time decomposes them, they will stay there to remind you of it. So, she appeared like the wind. She upset my life, she made me see snapshots from the dream and disappeared. Leaving me to reminisce, to have doubts, to make assumptions, to want to find her again…

And here it is now, after abandoning of her, came the abandonment of the last company that was left to me. Of the red, open my beloved…


show it to your friends ...

22 thoughts on “The cabrio red Buick”

  1. Very nice story with good descriptions.
    Images jump in your mind and sometimes you feel the thousands of little pins in your body!
    Smells, melancholy, memories, sounds familiar, Countless thoughts and realizations overwhelm you…
    Yes, nothing lasts forever unless it becomes a beautiful and living story!

    1. These thousands of little pins have bothered people… Thanks for the full impression reading… Texts remain…

  2. Great story,comprehensible to the reader and enriched with images that prompt you to imagine the time but also the place in which the story unfolds. It also has romantic elements that create beautiful feelings and motivate you to love the red Buick❤️

  3. When the written word is so easily transformed into vivid images and your senses wake up and “they get a job” right away, then surely something has gone very well!

  4. Really very exciting. With the necessary details that form complete images, without becoming unnecessary and tedious at all. With emotions that are filled with their intensity and color the story appropriately. With the sweet and well-structured flash-back. With the nostalgic but also very witty “finish” of history.

      1. I hope you are always healthy and continue to offer us stories of a similar level, that take us to the world of fantasy and dream, that take us to the world of fantasy and dream. that take us to the world of fantasy and dream, the time of apotheosis and the confinement of the individual in prison is called routine, the need for such trips is truly a breath of life. So do not neglect to regularly maintain your light crimson Buick, in order for her to travel with us. Thank you for the space and time you give me to express my admiration for your work.

        1. Thank you for your kind words, I will maintain Buick but also the train and the tavern and Maxim and whatever else arises through the short stories…

          1. Konstantinos Hallas

            I consider it my duty to praise your work, encouraging you to continue on the artistic path that he has set and in which we want to walk many.

  5. It's really great! A very beautiful and easy-to-read story that travels you through space and time and enchants you!

    1. Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. You are the first to read and comment, I dedicate it to you…

      1. Strong story that combines romantic and surreal elements, American movie atmosphere with images of Greek countryside, I declare impressed!!!

          1. Your writing is a pleasant surprise. Your allegories are imaginative, Constantine.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *