My Contribution to AinsleyJo's "It's A Wonderful Life" WO Jan 15 '06    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Books Rick Bragg - Somebody Told Me: The Newspaper Stories of Rick Bragg From $6 260 Drum Machine Patterns From $8 The Bottom Line To fall down you manage alone but it takes friendly hands to get up. Susan Ann Green was thrilled to be driving away from a town that held nothing but heartache and troubles. Three weeks ago, her life had taken an unexpected turn when she found herself arrested for DUI. She had not planned on driving that night but her good for nothing boyfriend had called saying he was drunk again and stranded at the bar needing her to pick him up. The transmission of her car had been giving her problems during the past month and she was having a hard time saving up enough money to get it fixed. With a great deal of anger towards him and a lot of praying her car would not fail her, she headed to his favorite hangout where she found him staggering around with a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey in his hand. He was making a drunken fool of himself by waving the bottle around and singing Joe Diffies Prop Me Up Beside The Jukebox When I Die. She had had it with him. After tonight, they were through. With a great deal of difficulty, she managed to get him in the car but not until he had spilled half the bottle of whiskey on her, even getting it in her hair. She felt dirty, stunk like a brewery, and was furious at him and herself. What had possessed her to go out with this drunk, pathetic slob? She must have been out of her mind. All she could think about was getting him back to his apartment, dumping him with the rest of his low-life friends, and getting back home where she could wash the smell of whiskey off. It was not until she heard sirens behind her that realized she had been going faster than the speed limit. God, what else could go wrong? She found out when the officer, after smelling the alcoholic fumes coming from the car, arrested them, and faster than she thought possible, they were standing in front of a judge in night court. She was thankful the breathalyzer test proved she had not been drinking and nothing would be on her record, but she still felt the heat of embarrassment when the officer arrested her for DUI. She was relieved when all the paper work was completed and she could finally go home. She was exhausted, in need of a bath and disgusted with life in general. Wearily she climbed inside her car heading towards her apartment but never made it. She woke up in the hospital 2 days later. The police informed her she had fallen asleep at the wheel of her car crashing into a family on their way home from an out of town trip. Luckily, no one in the other car was seriously injured. She had a mild concussion, which resulted in another twenty-four hour stay in the hospital for observation. She had not been to work in three days, and was dreading the thoughts of her first day back. Her boss was going to have a royal fit. Lately, things had steadily gone downhill with her job as law clerk with Constant, Churning and Dickham. According to her pompous boss, Richard Dickham, she had been abusing her position there. She had been arriving to work late due to her car problems, getting back to work from lunch for the same reason, she seemed distracted on the job and was not giving the firm a hundred percent of her attention. The list went on and on with her constantly apologizing and promising to do better. Even when she stayed late at night to work, he was never satisfied. What did he know? He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He had it all handed to him and never had to struggle just to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for supper. Struggling to save enough money to get her car fixed was something he knew nothing about. There was no getting out of it. She had to face him and try to get him to understand what happened was not all her fault. As she approached her desk, she saw another woman sitting in her chair talking on the phone. She was about to ask her what she was doing there when Mr. Dickham came out of his office and saw her. He simply looked her in the eyes and said three words, "You are fired" So, here she was, heading towards nowhere in her disaster of a car, carrying the baggage of the past three weeks like a shirt on her back. In a relatively short period, she had managed to make a thorough wreck of her life. She wanted her grandmother. She could talk to her about anything and she would make everything okay, but her grandmother died 7 years ago. "Oh Granny," she thought, "What should I do? How do I fix all of this? Please, if you can hear me, send me a sign." POW! The car spins out of control and comes to rest on the side of the road. Susan shakily gets out, walks around her car and finds that she has had a massive blowout. "Great!" she cries, "Why not? Everything else in my life has blown up." She grabs her purse out of the car, locks the doors and looks around. To her right she sees a sign that reads "Welcome to Bedford Falls." Two miles later she finds herself in front of a small diner named Baileys Café. Exhausted, sticky with sweat and hungry enough to eat the proverbial horse, she manages to climb the steps to the door and walk in. The atmosphere of the place reaches out to her, touches her and there is a feeling of invisible arms hugging her. It is as if she had been gone a long time and was finally returning home. How odd! Old pictures and memorabilia of a time long past covered every inch of the small restaurant. In the corner stood a wood burning fireplace that undoubtedly lit the dining area up in the cold winters spreading warmth and joy throughout; a small piano stood opposite. Red checked cloths covered the tables with a single silk white rose set in a vase on each. "How may I help you?" she heard a voice say. Turning, she saw a young woman close to her own age with beautiful auburn hair and sparkling green eyes. Surprisingly, she felt connected in some way with this woman. For a moment, all she could do was look into those green eyes that seemed so familiar. With a deep happiness in her heart that she had not felt in a long time, she said, "Yes, my car had a flat about two miles down the road, and I was wondering if I could use your phone to call a tow truck?" "What rotten luck! Of course, you can use the phone. It is behind the counter. Here, let me show me. Just call young George at Baileys Garage and he will have your car towed and fixed in no time. He is a mechanical genius. If it can be fixed, he is the one to do it, and if it cannot be fixed, he can find a way to fix it anyway! Forgive me. I seem to be chattering away like a magpie. My name is Mary Ann. I just have the oddest feeling I have seen you somewhere before? Are you from around here?" Susan gave a lighthearted laugh saying, "No, I'm not. I was leaving a dead end life heading towards nowhere and yet feeling as if I was going somewhere special when one of the tires on my car blew out. I have been having trouble with the transmission for months and something tells me it is getting close to beyond repair." "We will let young George see what he can do," said Mary Ann. Susan could feel Mary Ann's eyes on her, studying her, trying to place where she had met her before as she talked to young George on the phone. He has promised to get her car and bring it to his shop where he swears he will have the tire fixed and the car running in no time. Susan cannot help but laugh at his eagerness in getting his hands on her car and making sure it is in tip-top condition. After hanging up the phone, she asks Mary Ann if there is a small, inexpensive hotel where she can spend a couple of days� In no time at all Susan is booked for two nights at a bed and breakfast owned by one of Mary Ann's relatives. She sits down at one of the tables and asks if she can order a sandwich with a cold drink? Mary Ann hurries to the kitchen where she brings back a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and a large glass filled with ice and Coke. Mary Ann thinks the poor girl looks as if she has been starving. With little thought to table manners, Susan quickly eats the food in front of her and over a second glass of iced Coke, she finds herself talking to Mary Ann as if she has known her all her life. She bares her soul lifting the heavy load of hard times and worry off her shoulders to this young woman she has just met, this woman who is a stranger and yet, is not. The café is starting to fill up with customers but before Mary Ann goes back to work, she asks Susan if they can meet later, maybe go for a walk around the pond in the park? With a happy laugh, she tells Mary Ann she will be back later to eat again and would love to take a walk. Mary Ann watches Susan for a second. She is still trying to recall where she has seen her before? She knows her, she knows her from somewhere, but where? A bell rang inside her head when she knew without a doubt exactly where she had seen Susan before. As Susan exited the door, she glanced at the biggest picture on the wall. There must have been twenty people in it. As she examined each person more closely, her eyes opened wide when she saw a stunning blonde haired woman that looked shockingly familiar. At the bottom of the picture, she read the names of each person to herself. When she reached the blonde haired woman's name, she gasped. It was her grandmother's name, Violet Bick! AJ, I lost one story I was writing due to the power flickering off, and deleted two others. I was beginning to think this was never going to happen...grin. Here is the link to join AinsleyJo's WO on It's A Wonderful Life http://www.epinions.com/content_4598374532

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