
(Well, it looks more like a Puddle Jumper than most cars on the road.) But also because it's a clever name, given my Great Northwest local and the famed rain we receive on an annual basis. I truly did not believe it would take on aspects of a real puddle jumper, like a cloaking device making it apparently invisible to... you know... other drivers on the road.
A couple weeks prior to Halloween my car was rear ended again. Once again I was at a complete stop, this time at a traffic light with about 10 cars stopped in front of me. Ever since my first accident I've been hyper aware of cars around me in heavy traffic, so it's become a habit of mine to stop and immediately look in my rear view mirror. I saw a blue HHR roll to a stop behind me, then I looked towards the traffic light and heard a sickening thud, and a second later felt and heard a louder THUD.
My foot had been firmly on the brake, and now my fingers were threatening to bend the steering wheel, I looked up into my rear view mirror to the driver behind me and screamed..
screamed at top volume...
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME WITH THIS?!?"
I pulled into the turning lane and he followed, along with the car behind him. With a quick conversation it was determined that it was the third car that caused the accident. Actually, she spent pretty much the entire time saying "I don't know what happened" to which I replied...
"Let me spell it out for you. I saw the red light and cars in front of me and I stopped. Then he stopped. Then you hit him, and pushed him into me."
It's entirely possible that I sounded mildly patronizing in relaying the events in that manner.
It's all fine now - the damage was nowhere near what I experienced the first time, her insurance company took care of the cost and my body shop got the work done lickity split and returned my car to me good as new.
Again.
I've been - understandably I think - a little more tense about traffic since then. I'm a little jumpy maybe, a little reactionary to traffic way in front of me. When I apply my brakes I do it early, slowly, and check my mirrors to make sure the person behind me is paying attention. When I stop at a light I leave enough space in front of me that I can see the back tires of the car ahead - which I'm certain drives people behind me rather nuts (given my lack of height, I need more space to see those tires) but if I'm hit from behind again, I want that space so I'm not shoved into the car in front of me.
The other day I had several errands to run.
In one parking lot I pulled down an aisle slowly, saw a man loading the trunk of his car with groceries, so I stopped and put my signal on. I sat for a while (long enough to see him load the groceries, return the cart, come back and adjust things in the trunk, close the trunk, and start his engine.)
About that time I noticed reverse lights coming at me.
The driver of the car I was parked directly behind had returned to her car, started her engine, and started backing out. I have no clue what she was thinking... I can't understand how she couldn't see my giant car sitting right behind her. I barely had time to think "what the f....." before I reacted by leaning on the horn.
And I didn't "honk" my horn. I threw my body into it, from the hip, and leaned my arm on the horn solidly until she stopped her car, put it in drive, and pulled back into her spot... all the while thinking a healthy string of obscenities.
A couple errands later, and still on edge... I crept through a different parking lot towards the grocery store. In front of one store I noticed the reverse lights of a large SUV come on and I stopped, getting the feeling this driver wasn't looking. I don't know how I knew this, but I was right... I sat and watched as she pulled straight out to where I would have been had I continued driving... not turning her head once. I noticed she had her cell phone up to her ear, and when she was nearly out of the spot and had turned her car she finally saw me and jumped in her seat - looking very surprised that I was there.
It was all I could do to not roll down my window and suggest that she hang up and drive.
Today I ran a few errands, and pulling out of a parking lot I noticed a flock of pigeons take flight from across the way, flying straight towards me. They hardly even swerved around my car, I thought they were going to try to pass right through it.
Seriously... major cloaking device in action here.
(Lyrical title: Invisible - Clay Aiken)











