It was dry and clear,
but dark, and I was going
much too fast.
I had cut off several people,
in the hopes of getting there quicker,
but this one driver
in his large, black, shiny truck
decided to pay me back
for 12 miles
by highbeaming, tailgating,
raising fingers
at me through glass.
He had these
halogen headlight upgrades
that made it like
he was arc welding
in my back seat.
I was screaming
Motherfuckin’ cocksucker
shitforbrains bastard!
I tried some things.
Going 70. Going 15.
Changing lanes.
Nothing worked. He kept on.
I saw two orange signs,
but not what they said.
Lots of brake lights,
and then the third sign,
which read
LEFT LANE ENDS
¼ MILE AHEAD
The lane ended on a curve,
concrete barriers everywhere,
and as I bolted over,
just in time,
I just caught a glimpse of this
six by eight foot flashing arrow
made of yellow bulbs
mounted on a 6 ton truck.
This guy behind me
raced forward,
when I changed lanes,
I could hear his engine rev up,
all of it.
I saw his face just then.
eyes open wide, mouth agape,
laughing
between giving me the finger
and screaming at me,
and he was making no effort to
slow, stop or move over
when he slammed into the six ton truck
at 60 miles per hour.
I moved on,
though everybody behind him stopped there,
to watch what was left of the blinking arrow
shine intermittently on his
webbed shatterproof windshield,
like frames in some yellow washed movie
shown for one half second each
with black pauses between them.
– John LeMasney
Stories of Failure & Kindness 