A Sad, Weird Interlude

Photo by Xx xx on Unsplash

We were on the way home from an Easter luncheon, taking the mostly empty, very windy country roads

(Think: Serious carsickness if not driving)

when just around a blind curve a vehicle screeched to a semi-halt and the passenger door flew open right in front of us.

A woman was pushed out.

'Holy shit' I uttered, slamming on the brakes. I stuttered onto the gravelly shoulder and stopped. Keith and I both scrambled out of our seatbelts running to the obviously stunned woman. The other driver began to viciously perform a wildly fast U-turn in a dangerous, dangerous place. (For a second I thought he was going to ram into the three of us standing in a stunned cluster. But he just peeled out.)

'Are you hurt?' my doctor-husband asked.

She shook her head.

'Can we call anyone for you?' he followed up. She said she had no one to call. When Keith offered to phone the police she asked him not to. 'Then we'll take you where you're going.'

She accepted gratefully.

'He's not going to be there, though?' I asked.

'No. I was paying him to take me out there.'

'Ok, let's go.' I got back behind the wheel, she climbed in next to me and Keith pulled out one of the grandkids' carseats and got in behind her. I kept one eye on the road and the other in the rearview.

(Aside: I wasn't exactly sure what his car looked like, though.)

Her destination turned out to be far, far, far down an even windier road than the original one. Which was fine. I started off trying to chitchat with bland topics. It soon became clear, however, that I might not having been reading the room correctly.

So we drove in silence for like half an hour and then in the deep heart of MAGA country a lone sign popped up in my peripheral vision proclaiming that, 'Trump is weird.' I was so surprised (and nervous) that I started to laugh. When queried by my spouse what was funny, something told me to make up an alternative response.

I didn't.

I described what I saw. Which got our passenger going.

Her: I've been to Trump Town!

(Aside: this is a real place in Virginia.)

Me (to myself): This is (hopefully) the worst day in her life. Be quiet.

Also Me: Oh. We tend to avoid places like that.

Her: I'm glad that Trump got elected because he is going to fix the economy.

Me: Until peoples' checks stop.

Her: Well the economy is very bad.

Me: Right. We're on the way home from someplace where half of the guests just lost their jobs due to his policies.

Her: There are states on fire and states with flooding.

Me (to myself): Uh-oh. This is sounding an awful lot like the End Times.

Also Me: Yes, climate change is horrible.

(Aside: I could feel Keith's gaze boring through the headrest.)

Her: And soon you won't be able to even tell the races apart.

Me: Nothing wrong with that.

Her: More silence.

We finally arrived and wished her luck.

I don't know what any of this means. I'm glad, of course, that we stopped. And I am pretty sure I don't feel bad for gently pushing back.