Do you Say “Oh God” Often?
(formerly “Oh God”)
A short story by Nancy Hilton
“Oh, my God” she exclaimed!
“For God’s sake, don’t let this happen to me.”
She implored God in a way that she knew how, but this time she was really trying to talk to God.
Carol worked hard at her job in the videotaping division of the television news department.
She was in charge of the final product before it was shown on television.
Every day she came to work, not knowing what the latest tragedy would be.
She watched the video and corrected or shortened it to fit the new schedule.
Was the news too long or too short?
Was it too wordy or, just, right?
She edited, fixed and then timed it to fit its slot.
Every time she had a glitch she said, “Oh, God!”
She used this term a lot as if it had no meaning at all.
It was just something to say when she got frustrated.
Then when she was really mad or upset with someone or a situation, she would say,
“Jesus Christ!”
These terms were as common to her as “hello.”
She said them without thinking.
But one day a tape came in from a major highway accident.
It had just happened and the people involved were so mangled she could not see who they were.
As usual, she started the video and her timer.
She was glancing away, but something caught her eye.
It was the car. Her husband had one just like it.
She looked closer and then saw the license plate.
It was her husband’s car.
She sat stunned in front of the machine as the video played on.
Its dispassionate resonance echoed in her mind.
“Oh God!” she said with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“No, please God, NO!”
Who was this God she was talking to?
The one so casually dismissed before or the one she asked help from?
She found the crew that filmed the accident to find out what happened to the
people inside.
They were killed—crushed inside of their car.
“They?” she said.
“One of them was my husband.”
“Oh, God,” they said. “We are so sorry.”
But who else was killed?
They did not know, but there was another person—a woman.
Carol talked further with them and found out where her husband was taken.
She walked into the darkened corridor toward the area where the bodies were located.
She saw her husband first and then the other person. Who was she?
Someone he worked with?
How did the accident happen?
All sorts of thoughts coursed through her mind—unwanted thoughts.
The police officer approached her and asked her quietly to identify herself.
After looking at her intently, he told her that her husband was a victim of a drive-by shooting.
The killer, unknown, was long gone.
The woman was not in her husband’s car, but was actually driving the car next to him.
Both cars careened off the road and landed in a heap at the bottom of a hill.
Both people were killed instantly.
The woman was married with two young children.
It was just one of those everyday deaths that she saw on the video.
One of those common occurrences she had gotten used to seeing.
She had seen so many that she had become numb.
But why her husband?
He was such a good man and now it was too late for him to live his life.
“Oh, God!” she moaned, not thinking about the meaning of her statement.
“Oh, God.”
© Nancy Hilton 2011
All rights reserved
