Merging

I woke up late this morning so I had to practically run through the shower, throw on some clothes, hug the kids and jump in the car. There was no time for food, or coffee – I just had to get moving. While I drove through my neighborhood I turned up the music on the radio and checked my cell phone for messages.

Once out of the neighborhood I made a quick stop for a cup of coffee, paid a little under three dollars, but still a lot less that someone might pay at other businesses. But while considering that I could imagine my Dad’s voice commenting on the fact that when he owned his own convenience store he used to give away free cups of coffee (in the “good ole’ days”).

Things seemed to be going well, there were no problems at home or work- so all I really had to do was cruise into the office. As I approached the interstate I swung around the on-ramp, its one of those big, banking circles that leads to the main road, and then I started to merge. Usually I have plenty of horsepower to merge with no problem, but this morning some guy refused to allow me to merge and when I slowed to merge behind him he slowed down – it seemed as if he was just trying to block me from entering.

I slowed down even more to allow him a wide birth in an effort to let him move on down the road with no further incident. As he pulled away he flung me the finger out his driver’s window and gunned the engine. I’ve read about road-rage stories that had bad endings, and I’ve also read that the safest way to handle anger while driving is to avoid the conflict – you just never know what kind of day each person has experienced.

Another driver let me merge onto the thorough-fare and I motioned a “Thank you” to that person. Traffic continued moving on down the road and I called the office. Mostly I called the office so I could hear a friendly voice and calm down. This guy impressed on me the fact that emotions can escalate with no apparent reason and be really dangerous.

About 10 minutes later the traffic started to move even faster. I had my music playing and things seemed to be back to normal. But just when I started to forget the ordeal and fall back into the normal flow of traffic a sea of taillights flashed red in front of me and I hit the brakes. It was at that moment I heard a horn blaring from behind me. I looked in the rearview mirror and immediately realized that the same guy was behind me waving his hands around; banging on his dashboard.

I immediately started shaking; it might have been more like a shivering motion. But at the same time I was steaming mad, I just wanted to jump out and do something.

Then I caught myself and thought, “This could go bad. He might have a gun”.

But I really wanted to do something, something that would teach him a lesson, teach him that he’s not my boss and everything doesn’t just go his way. I grabbed the door handle, pulled backwards and then I actually said out loud, “Idiot, close the door and lock it”, and that’s exactly what I did.

He kept honking the horn, and I could see that he was still pounding on the dashboard. He opened his door and stepped out of his vehicle. It was at that moment I thought, “I need to call the police, or a have a big gun”. Then I recalled that I do in fact have a permit for a concealed weapon and that pistol is in my car.

Looking in my rearview mirror I watched as he slammed the driver’s door of his vehicle.

I reached for my pistol, took another look in my rear-view mirror and realized he was no longer in sight. I became more scared, but more angry too. I checked the ammunition in the weapon’s chamber and then looked over my left shoulder to be sure he was not advancing toward the driver’s side door of my car.

I couldn’t locate him, so with the pistol in my right-hand I opened the door and jumped out to realize the he was kneeling on the ground looking at the tire on the passenger’s side of his vehicle.

Trembling, I sat on the ground.

Maybe 5 minutes passed while I sat there considering how my life could have ended, how I could have shot him or been shot over a spot in traffic. Once my nerves were calmed and I was sure that this guy wasn’t violent I walked over and asked if everything was ok, not counting the flat tire of course, and if there was something I could do to help.

After the two of us had a chance to speak and I learned that his name was Bob, we both agreed that we were lucky to have not been injured. I also learned that during the emergency stop of his vehicle Bruce was able to avoid ramming my vehicle by quickly turning his vehicle to the right; this is what caused his wheel to blow out and become flat.

***
Please keep in mind that this blog posting was an exercise in creative writing.

I have to be clear and say that this story is entirely false. I do not have a pistol in my automobile, no incident took place today, or any other day and I pray that nothing like this ever takes place. Please keep in mind that violence like this leads to nothing good, and emotions can get the best of the best person. Be careful!

Hometown Stories

Did you see where a good old Southern boy, Jimmy Dean died June 13, 2010? This is a momentous occasion for country music fans (and ham fans too). Over the years he wrote several songs and had a couple #1 hits, one big hit was “Big Bad John”. I never really kept up with his music but I can still hear him singing the title.

He also did several television shows, and once I read that he donated $1 million to a home town church (a million dollars in spite of the fact that he never graduated high school). If you’re familiar with Jimmy Dean you know that he was the spokesman for a company he created, the “Jimmy Dean Sausage Company”, which was later bought-out by Sara Lee; and then they fired him when he got old. ;-(

Hearing about his death caused me to think about how we take things for granted until it’s too late. I haven’t thought about this man for years, probably not since he lost the position of company spokesman. But immediately after reading about his passing I could hear him singing that song!

It was a similar day when Elvis Pressley died. I had spent little time thinking about Elvis and shortly after he was gone I wanted tickets to a concert and I read that his album sells kicked into high gear. I can’t say the same type of memories flooded my mind when I heard about Gary Coleman’s passing, but when my kids asked who he was I had no problem looking at them and responding, “What cha talking about Willis”?

What have you taken for granted? What did you miss after it was gone? I went away to college, then moved out of state and rarely see people I know from high school or college. Facebook has made it possible for me to be connected somewhat but it’s not the same. However Facebook does provide us all with contact information right at our fingertips. But many elderly people from my younger life have passed away, and with me living far away.

Don’t wait until it’s too late, give people a call or visit them in person; email just doesn’t have the same impact as a personal visit. You’ll feel better about it too.

How could a story be developed from a hometown life? Hometown stories are common. Young person grows up poor, needy, and looking for a break or goes away to live the good life and then dies knowing that it was not all necessary. After living through some grueling drudgery or a spectacular life, many characters realize that all the years being away were not necessary for achieving happiness. The wanderer returns for love, fame or fortune (or with a fortune), or like the epic Star Wars hometown saga the main character lives an action packed life only to realize that family meant more and it could have been better. After all, when you’re alone and lonely family is often the only thing you can really count on, right?

To write a hometown story you’ll have to come up with some sort of ‘twist’ that allows your writing to stand-out from the rest of the world. Predictable is something that I would try to avoid unless you’re writing for the Hallmark network.

Star Wars had the twist!