Tuesday, September 24, 2013

JUST DRIVING BY

I got up one morning and got dressed and looked up and it was only 7:05. I thought “I’m way early; wouldn’t it be fun to drive over by where she works and go opposite the way she comes , and maybe as I’m going down Forest Ridge we will pass head on, and I’ll honk and wave and smile, and she will honk and wave and smile, and it will be funny, and we will laugh to ourselves all day long about it. Then I’ll call her, and we’ll laugh some more, and I’ll say something really cool like “We have to stop meeting like this!” and she’ll fall even more in love with me, the crazy kooky guy that I am, fate having brought us together on our way to work in the morning."

Well, the next thing I know I’m driving in front of where she works. And I’m coming up to a stop sign right out front, in broad daylight, and suddenly Forest Ridge seems a long ways away. I feel pretty much hung out to dry, completely out of place, and I come to the realization that what I’m doing is really creepy.
I mean REALLY CREEPY!
And now I’m at the Stop sign, and sure as shit, there she is right across from me, and now I’m trying to crawl up under the dashboard, or down an AC vent, anything to prevent seeing her look right into my eyes with a creeped out look on her face as I sit at the stop sign in front of her workplace, which happens to be WAY OUT OF MY USUAL WAY of getting to work, and I suddenly realize they have a name for what I’m doing:
STALKING!

As we passed each other in the middle of the intersection, basically 5 feet apart, tops, I did such a good job of trying to crawl under the floor mats that I had no idea if she had seen me or not.
I couldn’t imagine she had not.
I talked to her that night and the next day, and the day after, and there wasn’t a clue as to whether she had seen me or not.
Which was a good  sign, a very good sign.
Then at breakfast a few days later, just as I’m about to wash a pancake down with a huge gulp of milk she says, just right out of the blue:
“ I saw a guy that looked just like you by work the other day, only his car didn’t have the big grill on the front!”


I might have gotten away with it if I hadn’t spewed milk and pancakes all over the table. 

3 comments:

Lee said...

I just had to poke my nose in for a look and read after reading RDG's latest posting on her blog. I hope you don't mind. I'm not usually a sticky-beak, but my curiosity was given a nudge.

And then I read on your profile that "Atlas Shrugged" is amongst your favourite books (yes...I use a "u" in "favourite"...I'm an Aussie, so I'm allowed!)...it too is one of my favourites. The book sits permanently on my bedside table...a hard-back copy I bought directly from the States, New York, actually, back in the early Seventies after having bought and given away many paperback copies to others beforehand.

Cheers from Down Under!

bulletholes said...

Hi Lee!
There was a time that I had everything Rand had written. my ex-wife will tell you that I was a pretty nice guy BEFORE I read any Rand, and a real asshole after.

I tend to internalize her philosophy, and love the way she writes. I'm not too sure about her politics anymore, not as much as i used to be. The idea that the markets will eventually punish the immoral is a good idea, but the problem is is takes so long and in the meantimes people get hurt. We saw that in 2008.

I also enjoy listening to people talk about Rand, either for or against, by people who have never actually, you know, READ any Rand.

she is scattered pretty sparsley through my blog...here is one I like a lot...
http://srevestories.blogspot.com/search?q=Dagny

Waterbaby said...

Love this story Dad!