New Roads

The road I'd been driving on seemed like the shortest route to my destination and I was confident it would get me there. But it had a lot of potholes. I found that if I drove the speed limit, I couldn't avoid the potholes. I ignored the danger and ended up blowing out a tire and nearly crashed. I was a little shaken and because I was shaken, it took me longer than it should have to put on the spare. 

Once the spare was on, I decided that I couldn't risk driving the speed limit anymore, because the next time I hit a pothole, the damage might be much worse. As I drove on, the road deteriorated to the point that I was barely creeping along. I had serious doubts whether I'd reach my destination as soon as I'd hoped.

I checked the map and found that there were other roads to my destination. One road was just ahead and it looked promising. So I turned onto this new road and there wasn't a pothole in sight. After driving down this new road for a while, it started getting dark, so I turned on my headlights.

But my headlights didn't work.

The darker it got, the slower I drove, because I couldn't see what was up ahead. So I kept it in second gear and didn't dare drive faster. At the speed I was driving, I might as well have stayed on the old road. And that's when it hit me--what if I'd read the map wrong? What if I'd turned onto a road that would take me nowhere near my destination?  

I thought about turning around, but which was better? Driving down a dark road that was barely passable (and which might not be passable for much longer), or continuing on this new road, not knowing if it would take me to my destination? 

The moon came out and I could see the road ahead of me a little bit better. I took a deep breath and let it out. The old road or the new road? Either one might get me to my destination. Or not. The old road was treacherous, but this new road, so far, was really good. I didn't know anything more than that, except that I had to make a decision: the old road or the new road?

I put my hand on the gear shift, pushed in the clutch, and shifted into third.