Loved the optomistic ending. the longing and tenderness of the narrator toward Ruby was just so clear and heatfelt.
This is one of your best.
LoA

Think there is the beginning of a good tale but you need to cut back on the trite, cliched expressions; “picture out of my mind”, “such a whirlwind” and “car got smaller and smaller”
Try a rewrite of the same scene but with different phrasing. Creating new image descriptions is one of the more difficult aspects of the writer’s job. All of us read more than most people and the cliches are tough to dump. 8<)

Thanks, Kermitgorf. And thank you, B. Somerville, for the constructive criticism. I appreciate that, and I’ve tried to teak some things so as not to sound so cliche. Thanks! :]

Sorry. *tweak