Maria - Fall 2018

Maria Anderson is a stay at home mom. She has olive skin, long brown hair, and a bubbly personality. Women envy her for her slender figure; she always looks refreshed, and well kept. Ralph Anderson, Maria’s husband, is the owner of Ralph’s Auto Body Shop. The community raves about his exceptional work and fair pricing.  Ralph is quite handsome; ladies practically throw themselves at him. Maria surprisingly laughs. She knows Ralph would never leave her. Their relationship is strong, healthy, and far from boring.

They have three adorable boys under the age of ten. Noah is the oldest. He is eight years old and loves to skateboard. Jacob is the middle child and is six years old and loves to read comic books. Ethan is the youngest child. He just turned three last week. Ethan looks up to his older brothers immensely. Noah and Jacob really enjoy hanging out with Ethan, most of the time. Ethan gets so excited whenever his older brothers suggest making obstacle courses for his gazillion matchbox cars.

The Anderson family lives in a home that captures the early 1900 charm in Long Beach, California. Ralph works countless hours to be able to afford the mortgage. Ralph would do anything to ensure the happiness and safety of his family. Maria knows how hard her husband works. That’s why she always makes sure the house is spotless, the kids are decently behaved, and Ralph always has a delicious meal waiting for him at dinnertime. Ralph is always amazed how clean the house is when he gets home, with his three rambunctious boys you would think that was far from possible. He always raves to his customers about Maria’s cooking.

On Tuesday and Thursday evenings Sophia, a neighbor to the Andersons, babysits the boys so Maria can have some me time.  Maria really enjoys taking the hour-long yoga class on the beach, it’s just enough time for her to refresh. Plus, it’s only a three-minute drive from their house. Maria decided to take a few extra minutes after class to plop herself in the sand and reflect on how lucky she is. Maria has a family that is happy and healthy and would not trade her life for anyone else’s.

As the sun starts to set, Maria decides to brush the sand off of herself and heads towards her vintage navy-blue VW bug. Maria was going North on Pacific Avenue, not having a care in the world. The windows were down and the wind was blowing thru her long beautiful hair. She was at a red light waiting to make a left onto W 7^th Street. Maria looks in her mirror and notices a green pickup truck slightly swerving and not slowing down. Maria has nowhere to go. She was stuck. All she could do was brace for impact and pray. The sounds of smashing metal, screeching tires, and car horns were filling the air with noise pollution. Two other cars were in front of Maria and it created a domino effect. First her head bounces forcefully off the steering wheel. Immediately she felt a warm liquid ooze from her forehead and start to trickle down her face. Maria becomes lightheaded. It was getting harder for her to breath because of the broken ribs that punctured her lungs.

The once polished antique VW beetle now looks like a beat-up accordion with steam spewing out of the mangled hood of the car. Emergency vehicle sirens were blasting thru the streets. Sophia and the boys saw the emergency vehicles whip past the house. Sophia’s stomach dropped. She knew those sirens were for Mrs. Anderson. Maria was never fifteen minutes late; maybe a couple minutes late here and there, but never fifteen.

Ralph was getting ready to put the finishing touches on a red 1964 Mercury Parklane when his cell phone started to ring. He looked at his phone and did not recognize the phone number. Despite not recognizing the number, he had a feeling he needed to answer this phone call. “Hello” Ralph says concern in his voice. “Hi, this is Dr. Johnson from Memorial Care Health Systems.” Ralphs heart started to beat forcefully out of his chest. Tears started to form in his eyes. “Maria was in a car accident. She has been admitted into the ICU. Her injuries are pretty extensive.” Ralph hung up the phone and bolted out the door. He told Anthony to lock up the shop. Maria was in a bad accident. His mind was spinning and couldn’t believe this was happening. He quickly called Sophia and told her what happened to Maria. “Whatever you do Sophia do not tell the boys what happened. I want to tell them. I will call my parents to see if they can watch the boys for the rest of the evening. Ugh I have to tell Maria’s parents somehow. Anyways I know you have school tomorrow so I do not want to burden you with this. Thank you for everything.”

When Ralph gets to the ICU, he starts to fall apart even more. A patient coded and some of the staff is running past him. Among the ruckus a lady pops up from behind the counter and asks Ralph who he was looking for? “Ah, Ma Maria Anderson,” Ralph replies. “Mr. Anderson please have a seat over in the waiting room” said the woman. Ralph absolutely loses it “Why can’t I see my wife? Where is she? I need to see her?” In the middle of his rant Maria’s parents arrive. They briskly walk over to him and try to calm him down. Somehow, they magically got him to head over to the waiting room. An hour has passes, Marias family is exhausted and irritable. Dr. Johnson walks over to them and says “I am sorry. I am afraid Maria has passed. Her injuries were extensive and we were able to make her comfortable. About an hour ago she took a turn for the worst and we were unable to revive her.” Ralph felt like he was shot in the heart; he was in shock. Maria’s parents started to break down and hysterically cry. Their lives forever changed.
Natalie is the author of The Many Colors of Natalie, a book of poetry.  She holds an associates degree in Specialized Technology Le Cornon Bleu Pastry Arts and in her spare time is an artist and percussionist.