Misplacing the Flint Hills
What the Hell?
My name is Gina, Gina Sawyer. In my wildest dreams, I never thought I would have my very own Flint Hills story, given that I’ve been relegated to the status of inconsequential background character in others. Turns out I was wrong. While, I was born and raised in the Flint Hills—Newton, Kansas to be specific—to think I might ever do something in my life to warrant a Flint Hills story never crossed my mind.
In the grand scheme of the world, I was as close to a nobody as you could get—clerical worker at a small college in the middle of the Flint Hills. My only goal in life was to party a little, drink a little too much, and have fun. That’s how I met Adam. A night spent drinking a little too much, resulted in a hangover and slightly impaired judgement the next morning, all of which led to a parking lot fender bender with my future husband. Flash forward, we had a child, the marriage didn’t work, and after socially hibernating for a few months as a divorcée, I gave in to peer pressure for a night out with friends.
That’s how I found myself in a strange bed on a Sunday afternoon. My memory was fuzzy at best, recalling little more than my first few hours at the Rusty Ace with Lyndsey and Justina Saturday night. Most everything else was a blur. There’s a reasonable chance we congregated at Justina’s place come closing time with at least one new friend. I recall the new friend was a guy and he was really nice, charismatic, and personable—the type you could easily bring home to meet the parents. Lying in bed, stretching, I couldn’t remember his name, had I ever heard it. I sensed I enjoyed myself—a lot—the first time since the divorce.
I stretched again under the covers, rolled over, and caught sight of a clock on the nightstand.
The illuminated 2:17 caused me to immediately panic. I sat up and moaned, “Holy shit!” Noting a bright, sunny day through the opened window blinds, I realized, as suspected, it was not a.m. but p.m., meaning I was over two hours late to meet up with my ex-husband and daughter. I jumped out of bed and began searching for discarded clothing. Although I had hoped to find what I was wearing the previous night, my favorite little black dress, I was ready to settle for anything to cover my exposed body.
