You Never Know Who Is Driving on the Road

I stopped at a light. I began meditating on my life, wondering how I could have done better, if I had enough money to last me until I die. At the age of 85, I had begun to contemplate the inevitability of death. I was doing some serious pondering.

A car pulled alongside, vibrating heavy brass. The windows were open. In my peripheral vision I could see the driver keeping time on the steering wheel. I recognized the car. It had cut me off a few miles back as I exited the freeway.

He looked my way. I glanced back. I expected him to flip me off. I turned on my CD player to max-volume, with Lenny Dee on the organ and Dick Contino on the accordion belting out the Beer Barrel Polka. The rendition was so loud I expected my windows to shatter.

I never know how nutty some nut might be.

But, he might not know that I have a short fuse. Maybe confrontations excite me. Maybe I was actually looking for a fight.

I waited a micro-second as the light turned green. I wondered about the guy as he pulled away, if his mind was eroded by amphetamines, was he practicing for an audition on a stupid TV show or was he intentionally being a nuisance.

But then he didn't know I had a 380 Beretta six inches from my hand, 13 little killers in the clip and one in the breech, with a permit to carry'

But then maybe he had a Uzi on the floorboard. Could be, I didn't know.

We did not know each other.

His mind might be mangled from booze.

I may have just found my wife cheating and I had shot her. He didn't know.

I might be deranged, burdened, irrational and dangerous.

Maybe my partner has cleaned out our operating capital and I was bankrupt.

I might be returning from a physical where my doctor said I had incurable cancer.

Or my son had been arrested for drug trafficking.

Perhaps I had just lost my home in foreclosure proceedings.

It's possible the FBI had confiscated my computer looking for evidence of murder.

We do not know the temperament of someone in the adjacent car.

We don't always know the trigger to set someone off.

Jealousy can be a trigger. Hate can be a trigger. Drugs can be a trigger. Fear can be a trigger.

There are hundreds of compulsions that cause extreme reactions.

Possibly I can't stand raucous noises.

It could be I had just been fired and was flat-broke.

Maybe I had found out a neighbor's daughter had accused me of molestation.

Maybe I was late for a job interview and traffic was causing me to be even later.

Possibly I had robbed my grandmother and stolen her car.

Maybe I've always had a bad attitude, ticked off at the whole world.

Perhaps I was an escaped convict.

And then I may simply be one of the crazies always out on the highway.

There are many kinds of firearms...you won't know until the guns come out.

Then one of the drivers might not worry about shooting the other. Some people are never concerned about consequences. Sioux2222@gmail.com