Traffic Questions
Last week, I typed this on twitter:
Then I didn’t give any indication as to why I was given the finger in morning rush. Mostly I didn’t include that information because it was pretty trivial. Sure, I didn’t let him merge in front of Me when construction dropped things to one lane, but I couldn’t. I merged when it was appropriate, not after I shot as far up the closed lane as possible in order to improve My position in line. Plus, no one in My pack of seven cars, seven random strangers bound together to keep people like him out, had let him in and I was not going to be the last car and the weakest link.
I hugged the bumper in front of Me and watched as the man in the Camry played Chicken with the construction barrel. He honked, he gave Me the finger, the barrel won. And it wasn’t just a casual finger. It was one of those fingers that’s thrust toward the windshield with dramatic emphasis. Not two minutes later he pulled up ahead of Me in the neighboring (and now open) lane where I read the bumper stick and proceeded to laugh and tweet while driving. Why tweet while driving? Because if he was allowed to be hypocritical, so was I.
Then I relayed the story to Her that evening on Our way back to from the store. He was in the back seat, silent. That silence means He’s listening. Listening and processing and leaning up from the seat by propping Himself up with His elbows. Eavesdropping is the only time of day that He’s quiet. So I relayed the story and there was a solid ten seconds of silence before He asked “what’s ‘gave the finger mean’?” Then He repeated the phrase to himself under His breath one more time.
“It’s something adults say.”
Our new favorite answer for everything and it came out in unison. Really it’s just a way to get out of explaining. Because We explain everything all day long. He’s well out of the “why” phase and now he’s into the “can you explain the logic, reason, and/or theory behind it” phase. It’s crippling. I could have said that sometimes people give the finger when they’re mad and sometimes they’re just assholes . . . like the guy in the Camry. But “it’s something adults say” is so much easier. And faster. And seriously sometimes he just needs to not ask!
But that won’t happen. And right now We’re staring down a three and a half hour road trip to Wisconsin so I’m sure We’ll be using that phrase frequently. And He may even get to see someone give the finger on Our way.
Author: Me
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One Comment
Thanks for not letting the guy in. We can’t let crap like that happen. BTW, I caught myself starting to give the finger to some asshat on the road the other day, but realized that my son was in the car. I contained myself.
seattledad
1/2/2012