Bridge-Out

Bob began a job back when he was young in the city. Every morning on his way to work he had to take a stretch of road that only went in one direction. It was a nice road, with a great view. In fact this road was his favorite part of the morning commute.

One day as he was making his way to work he passed by a sign on the road that said “road construction ahead” and it made him curious.

“What are they doing?” He thought. “Are they going to add an additional lane for traffic to go in the opposite direction?”

Secretly he hoped that would not be the case.

Weeks past with no sign of any type of construction, until one day, as he passed the construction sign he noticed some construction vehicles way out in a field to his left.

And He thought…

“Oh they must be making an alternate route and are planning to connect it to this road. I wonder if it will be quicker?”

Days passed by and he watched with interest the building of the new road and wondered what it would mean for him and his morning commute. Until one day as he was traveling to work, a new sign was positioned where the construction sign had been. This new sign was white with two black arrows one pointing straight and another that came out of it pointing left… announcing that the new road was complete and ready to be traveled on.

As he approached the spot where the new road was he noticed the entrance to it was large with several lanes. This too was a road that only went in one direction. So Bob got very excited and was about to turn on to it when he noticed a sign on the right hand side of the entrance to the new road that said…

“Bridge Out”

So Bob adjusted his course and remained on the road he normally traveled on.

Day after day he would pass the new road, wanting desperately to travel on it but choosing not too, as any person would because of the bridge that was “out”.

One day as he passed the entrance to the road he noticed a few people digging around the “bridge out” sign and he thought…

“Are they planting a tree?”

And sure enough the next day there it was… a tree… planted at the base of the sign. It was a Cyprus Tree and the tip of it filled the space between Bridge and Out.

“Now why would someone plant a tree in front of that sign?” He thought.

Weeks went by turning into years. And the tree grew and eventually covered up the sign.

Well, Except for the upper left hand corner of it, which was just enough to see from the road if you knew what to look for.

It was a reminder to Bob that the bridge was still out…

Or was it?

For day after day some of the other drivers on the road would take that road. Sometimes Bob would be traveling with many vehicles until that point and they would seemly all turn left and take the road by the Cyprus Tree.

The truth is, Bob was tempted everyday to take the road by the Cyprus Tree but what kept him from taking it was the little “white” corner of the sign he had seen years ago that said Bridge-Out. And even though His road had issues and the Other road seemed to be well kept, He stayed his course.

One day, a long time friend of his was in another car on the road they took to work everyday. They were traveling together, just in separate vehicles. They had talked many times about the road and the Bridge-Out sign and what it meant. Discussions centered around if it was obsolete or not. His friend’s thought, just the day before was; “maybe someone just forgot to pull the sign up”.

As they approached the intersection, to Bob’s surprise his friend took “Cyprus Road”…

and he never saw him again.