Split Screen Reality

...in a car somewhere between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It's the only time of the year that the desert can be described as "lush" and it lasts just a few days...

Tom has his hands gripped tightly on the wheel and is already mentally in Vegas with a pair of dice in his hand. He's focused on the mountains in the distance and can't help but think that they seem to be walking away as fast as they drive - never really getting any closer. Damn, this drives takes forever.

Karin sees a cloud. A rare sight out here. It's pretty small and seems to be awfully lonely. As if by magic the cloud transforms into two. With that problem solved, her eye catches a reflection high up in the mountains - way off to the right. She imagines that it's broken piece of mirror lost by a long forgotten prospector and starts reflecting about his life - just as naturally as you put on your pants - she has created a wonderful world of gold, horses and a touch of little house on the prairie in her mind.

He's sure he just saw "disco lights". Yup here they come down the other side of the highway. Looks like they're after that - what is it? Looks like a beemer. Hard to tell from this distance.
Man, they are absolutely screamin. Yup, they're able to get away from the mountains without a problem. Oops, he's swerving now...hold on buddy. He grips the wheel tighter and watches as the now clearly identifiable BMW starts to quickly lose control - using up both lanes on the other side of the highway.

Her prospector is riding his mule through a desert valley of flowers. She comes to the surface long enough to perceive the colors of the desert bloom that have found their way into her story. The colors! Wow - she never imagined after all these trips to see colors like this out here. Fine paint brush strokes on a canvas dominated by large and awkward dimensions. She's transported. Absorbing the sights, taking it in; remembering, memorizing, absorbing. The clock stops ticking. She's alive.

Tom watches the BMW's first roll, the second and my god - that wasn't a body that just flew out the side window like a puppet? The action is just about parallel with their car now - he slows a little, but just a little, mindful of the truck behind him and stares to the left trying to remember the movie where he saw a scene just like that.

The accident and the bloom now behind them. The mountains getting closer: They turn to each other and say - almost simultaneously - while pointing behind them - one to the left and one to the right, "Did you see that?"