I’m headed over to a meet and greet with Lori Piestewa’s mother, Jessica Lynch and her little ones, and others from the group that survived that day of ambush in the desert seven years ago. (update: didn’t happen. my contact wasn’t able to make it due to a family matter, so i just made the trip there and back without meeting any of them. bummer.)
Last week was the week of car horns. I was at Costco filling up TMBWitW’s car before our road trip to Kingman, and I was trying to get a movie started for MEG in the back seat. I had the back door open, and was leaned in past her to reach the portable DVD player. An older gentleman laid on his horn, hard, as opposed to a quick tap to let me know he was there, and it about caused a heart attack. I came out of the car, looked at him, and he inched by with his window down, so I could hear his sarcastic remark: “Thank you for being so kind and helpful and letting me by!” The car ahead of me had left, and he was in SUCH a hurry to get going that he had to squeeze by me to get started on pumping his gas. Words failed me.
Thursday and Friday I was in a cab, and both days it seemed like the entire area would have been paralyzed without car horns. Normally, people are in a rush, but just swerve around issues and idiots; if someone doesn’t move as soon as the light turns green someone in the line behind is usually in enough of a hurry that a quick tap on the horn is enough to catch the attention of someone daydreaming. I was in a left turn lane, and heard a siren coming from my left. The turn arrow came on, and the guy right behind me laid on the horn, hard, and I lost it. I slammed the cab into park, jumped out, and went back to discuss the proper use of the horn in traffic. Most of my remarks were drowned out by the emergency vehicles going by at the moment, and when I finished yelling the guy looked at me and said, “Sorry, didn’t know there were sirens coming.” I reminded him that if he was in that much of a hurry, his two choices were going around or leaving his house earlier. He didn’t like either one. Later on, I was flagged down by a lady at a bus stop. I was way ahead of the crowd headed down the street, so I pulled to the curb, expecting her to jump in. Instead, she wanted to discuss how much it would cost to get her somewhere. I was just about to tell her to get in when a lady in a minivan behind me laid on her horn. I’d had enough of horns by then. I jumped out, walked back to her and asked her if her horn needed to be fixed? She looked at me like I wasn’t speaking her native language (I wasn’t, but that’s beside the point) and started cussing me out. I asked her what she would have done if it had been a bus, instead of a cab? She looked confused for a moment and then said “well, I guess I would have gone around.” “Bingo, lady. Go around. Quit blowing your horn unless you want to wear it in an uncomfortable position.” I got back in and took my passenger to her destination. On the way, we passed the bus, and the lady in the minivan ended up stuck behind it while the traffic around her zipped by…
One of my last rides on Friday was a non-emergency medical run (also known as vouchers) for an older lady and her mother. WHen they got in the cab, they had a rather distinct odor about them – if you have ever smelled what cat urine on clothes smells like, then you know what I’m talking about. It didn’t seem to affect them. Every time the breeze shifted, it sure affected me. The odor was treatable – that’s why I carry a can of Febreeze in my briefcase. However, when I got to the car wash to clean up before I turned in, I noticed that the back seat floor mats were covered in cat litter. Used cat litter. My guess is they walked through the cat box on their way out the door and didn’t notice.
Chat ya later…
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