Mother Knows West

May 9th, 2010. "There's too much traffic. We're not going to get back for another twenty-five minutes."  I moaned. I wished, now, that I had taken a different route. But, I had wanted to stay within range of the weakened, FM broadcast, so I bypassed the stereotypical, metro-business route for a more centralized, less discriminating commute.
    "At least we won." said Karen. Karen always tried to say nice, positive things when she rode with me in the car. I don't know what she  said in the car when I wasn't there. Maybe she said nice, positive things whether I was there or wasn't. She was , after all, a nice and positive person. And if she wasn't saying anything nice, maybe she wasn't saying anything at all? 
    Then she said, "They're heading west."
    "They're heading south." I corrected her.
    "Really? I thought they fought hard today. You were listening. The radio doesn't lie." she said.
    "Yes it does." I responded. "But, I'm talking about the traffic. It's spilling out towards the landfill. I should have taken the freeway."
         "Oh." she said. "Is the landfill full?"
    She was lost. "Yes. They're headed west." I tried to tell her.
    But Karen was confused. "But you just said the landfill was south. Is there another landfill?" she asked. 
    "They're heading out to the desert." I continued.
    "This all used to be a desert. Do you think any of these hills are old landfills? Filled with trash?" she wondered.
    "God makes the mountains, Karen. God doesn't make trash. People make trash." I reminded her.
    Suddenly, Little Karen's big mouth interrupted from the back seat. "God made the people and his people made the trash." she said.
    Ignoring the outburst from the third party passenger, I concluded, "God doesn't make trash, Karen. Cleanliness is godliness. Trash is forbidden in Heaven. It's in the Bible."
    I turned up the radio. The tiny voice of the famed broadcaster had just reported that mobilized artillery units from Traffic Town were massing in the dry, desert battlegrounds near the Arizona border.
    Then Big Karen dropped an incendiary bomb. "God makes trashy people. I hope General Glory pulverizes those dirty snakes!" she hissed.
W is for Mom.