Flaxton Falls

"What the hell, Jimmy?" Tom bellowed as he opened his car door. Jimmy was already out of his truck, looking over the damage, and replied, "I was about to ask you the same thing, you damn fool. I had the green light." Tom shook his head and angrily spit out, "No, I had the green light! You been drinking your homemade again?" Jimmy laughed at the accusation. "Not at 9:00 in the morning," he chuckled, "I ain't you." The gentle teasing snapped the tension. "Ah, it's not all that bad," Tom said as he assessed the damage, "ol' Clarise here has had worse." "Sure, sure," Jimmy agreed, before sporting a quizzical look upon his face. "Say," he pondered, "I did have a green light." "I swear to you, Jimmy, I had one as well," Tom stated. Both men looked up at the traffic lights.

All of them were green.

They looked down Main Street from their intersection. Flaxton Falls wasn't a large town but did warrant a few intersections requiring traffic lights, and from what they could see all of them were green as well. "That's the damndest thing, ain't it?" Tom whispered in awe of the strange situation. "Yeah," Jimmy mused, "I'll drop by Watkins' office, see if he has anyone on it." They returned to their vehicles and backed away from one another, resulting in a brief, high-pitched screech of metal against metal. As Tom drove away, Jimmy did a quick look to make sure there wasn't a lot of debris on the ground before heading to Flaxton Falls Town Hall.

Jimmy parked his truck and made his way into the hall through the front doors. "Hey, Watkins," Jimmy bellowed, "you in?" "Sure, sure, Jimmy – come on in," Mayor Watkins invited warmly. "Glad to see you," the mayor said as he shook Jimmy's hand, "how's Maggie and the kids?" "Fine, thanks for asking," Jimmy answered, admiring how Watkins managed to handle the day-to-day duties of his office yet still remember the smallest details of the folks in town. "So, what brings you by, Jimmy?" the mayor asked. "You seen what's happening to the traffic lights in town?" Jimmy inquired. "Not since I drove in around 5:00," Watkins replied, "why?" Jimmy motioned for the mayor to look out the window. "They're all green," Jimmy explained, "all of 'em." The mayor looked out. "Huh. That is odd," he stated. He backed away from the window and made his way to his doorway. "Estelle, can you get Ernie to come in and see what's happening with the streetlights?" Watkins asked his receptionist. Turning his attention back to Jimmy, the mayor said, "Ernie will check them out. I'm sure it's just a glitch or something." "Most likely," Jimmy agreed, "thanks, mayor." He smiled at Estelle on his way out, got into his truck, and headed to the garage.

A few short hours later, Jimmy's phone rang. It was Mayor Watkins. "Hey, Jimmy," the mayor started, "the traffic lights. Ernie checked them all out. None of them are burned out, he replaced all of the circuit boards and checked the wiring – there is no reason why they shouldn't be working properly." "They're all still green?" Jimmy queried, a little surprised at the news. "They are," Watkins answered, "Ernie can't find anything. He suggested waiting a day or two to see if they begin working properly again." "Fair enough," Jimmy said, "and appreciate you letting me know. You didn't have to." The mayor laughed and said, "I just didn't want to see your ugly mug darken my doors again for a few days." "Back at ya, Watkins," Jimmy retorted, "Talk to you later."

A few days passed by, and yet not only had the lights remained green, but they were now significantly even brighter than before. Jimmy looked out his front window, taking note of the eerie green glow that seemed to bathe the entire town as a result. Maggie brought in a coffee, set it on the table, and said, "Over here, sport." Jimmy turned away from the window, a forced smile upon his face. "What is it?" Maggie asked him, their years together allowing her to see past Jimmy's façade. "Something… something just isn't right about it," Jimmy confessed, "I just got this feelin', you know? Like…" Just then Kayla ran into the room, a sheet of paper in her hand. "Look, daddy," their precious 5-year-old said excitedly, "I drew a picture of the green lights." Jimmy unfolded the paper and looked at the drawing. It was a crudely drawn rectangle, with a big, green crayon circle in the middle. "Green means go," Kayla giggled.

The color in Jimmy's face drained immediately. "Dammit, dammit," he shouted as he jumped up, "Maggie, get the kids ready. Pack what you can into your truck. I've gotta run to Town Hall, but as soon as I get back we're leaving. We'll go to your mama's house." "But…" Maggie tried to say, but the look of terror and panic in Jimmy's eyes told her to do as he had asked.

Jimmy jumped into his truck and sped to Town Hall. Barging in through the front door, he ran to Mayor Watkins' office. "Jimmy, good to see…" the mayor began. "Watkins, listen to me," Jimmy barked, cutting the mayor off mid-sentence, "you gotta warn the town. Everyone. We need to evacuate now!" The mayor was silent for a moment. "Evacuate?" he finally asked, "that's crazy, Jimmy. Why?" "Because green means go," Jimmy replied as calmly as he possibly could, slamming Kayla's picture down on the desk. "Because green means go," Watkins smirked, "I'm going to need more than that. How do you know we need to evacuate?" "It's just a feeling," Jimmy said sternly. The mayor burst out laughing. "Oh, come on, Jimmy," he said as he wiped a tear from his eye, "this is Flaxton Falls. Nothing happens here. It's a glitch in the wiring somewhere, that's all. I'm not evacuating the town because some dumb ass state employee crossed a wire down the line somewhere, and sure as all hell not going to do it because you've got a feeling about it."

Jimmy stared at Mayor Watkins, speechless. "Now Jimmy, I can't stop you from leaving town if you want," the mayor said as he guided Jimmy back out the door, "but I assure you, nothing bad is going to happen."

"Because it's Flaxton Falls," Jimmy vacantly said, in disbelief that his warning was given no thought at all. "That's right, Jimmy," the mayor said as he saw Jimmy out the door, "you'll see."

Jimmy sat silently in his truck. He knew it was crazy, probably overreacting, but he couldn't shake the ominous feeling that besieged his every thought. Taking one last imploring look towards the town hall doors, he saw the mayor nod towards him and walk back inside. He backed up and drove back towards home, slowly at first but speeding ever faster as his terror forced his action. He rounded the corner and slammed the brakes in front of his home. Maggie had everything ready as he had pleaded. Jimmy jumped into the driver's seat of Maggie's truck and drove away, like a bat out of hell.

They were barely five minutes out of town when the force of the blast shook the truck. Jimmy strained to keep the truck on the road, the tires only barely gripping the pavement. After finally regaining control, Jimmy pulled over to the side of the road and looked back.

They would learn later an undetected asteroid entered the atmosphere and struck the town dead center, leveling the entire area. At the moment, though, all Jimmy could do was gaze at the destruction, tears rolling down his eyes. Tom was gone. Watkins was gone. Estelle. Tisha, the young lady at the coffee shop who always had a coffee ready for him every morning. Gavin, his apprentice at the garage. The town hall. Bucky's Pub. All of it, all of them, gone.

This was Flaxton Falls.