20160627 (id revealed)

Not quite the guy you want to see in your driver's side window on a fine Saturday afternoon

You can surprise yourself every

Once in a while as I did last

Saturday in the W117th Giant

Eagle parking lot. The background

Is I drive slower than the thirty

Five for Franklin. It’s my

Neighborhood and I know the

Possibility of kids running out

From between cars parked along 

The north side of the street. 

It’s dangerous enough at thirty 

So I do twenty-five. This can

Aggravate a driver behind me

Who, mindful of the No Passing

Double yellow stripes, may

Register his/her (typically, his)

Irritation by a little horn music.

I’ll usually pull aside and let 

Them pass. Mind you it’s a rare 

Circumstance because there 

Isn’t that much traffic most 

Of the time. That day, there 

Was this BMW seven series who

Blasted me a couple times but 

I had no place to pull aside. He

Then gunned his engine (which,

Surprised me by being so loud)

And roared past on the left, 

Crossing the yellow lines, but

Those are for other people, not

BMW seven series types. The

Advantage proved minuscule

As we were both in the parking

Lot at the same time—he traveling

Toward the store and I traveling

Away from the store but in the

Same lane. A car pulled out; I

Pulled in. I had Loki with me so

I set the front windows to be 

Open a smidge when a large 

Face atop a large body loomed

Angrily at my car window. “I 

Will give you two fucking seconds, 

You pansy-assed shithead to get 

Out of my parking space,” the 

Face announced. I was shaken

But calm enough to counter, 

“I’m sorry, I don’t speak your

Language,” which calmed him

Not a whit. “Don’t give me 

Any crap about my language.

You saw me pulling back 

To let the guy out,” he seemed 

To speak with his biceps

Which resembled small beer

Barrels. When I said I didn’t

Speak his language I thought

He’d catch on about the foul

Mouth but he didn’t. I shrugged

Again and he moved away as I

Opened the door to let myself

Out. I saw he had parked his car

On the other side of the lane

About two spots further. If he

Had been affronted, it wasn’t by

Much. He kept yelling about

My not speaking his language

As we walked toward the store—

He was ahead. I got in a pedantic

Mood and shouted up to him as

People watched and listened. “You

Know you really have to work 

On that mouth of yours. It’s

Gonna get you in trouble one

Day,” I replied in a surprisingly

Aggressive (for me) tone. “You’re

Lucky we’re in a public space.”

“Is that a threat? So far it sounds

Like an assault. Do I have to call

A cop?” By now I couldn’t believe

Mild-mannered I could loud

Sass somebody, scared as I was.

Gotta admit I was shaking about

It through the shopping. Talking

To the policeman in the store

Didn’t calm me much. I can’t

Take comfort in my response

Which bore nothing of either

Satyagraha or Christian respect 

For the offender.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016