Tailgaiting

“Watch out. You’re tailgating.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me. Just slow down. Stop looking in the rear view mirror.”

“But.”

“Those things behind you need to watch you. Forget about them. Watch the road.”

“But..”

“Watch the road!”

“An asshole is tailgating me,” she said. She kept looking in the rear view mirror. “He’s flashing his headlights at me.”

“You’re in the right lane,” I said. She was late to slow for a car that was making a right hand turn. His signal was late, but Dee should have been more careful. I was caught by my seat belt.

She said, “He scares me.”

“So what.”

“He’s trying to get past me.” She no longer was looking away from the rear view mirror.

“Just drive.”

“I’m going to slow down.”

“Don’t.”

She rode the brakes.

“What are you doing? Drive.”

No Shrink, Exorcist - Part 3

A loud horn blared. Was that at Dee? Brakes screeched. Someone must have been cut off. I wanted to look behind, but I had to show Dee to look at the road ahead.

A Cadillac Escalade stormed past us. It’s engine roared with acceleration, loud as if the noise was played through the car’s sound system. The SUV swerved into our lane, braked suddenly and hard.

Dee slammed the brakes. Our wheels screeched. I pitched hard against the taut seat belt.

“Asshole!” I yelled. I tugged my shoulder against the locked seat belt until it let go. “Damn.”

“Are you OK?”

“It’s my shoulder.”

“The right one?”

“Pay attention,” I said squeezing my shoulder to create more pain so that when I let go it would only ache. This shoulder was certain to turn arthritic.

The light at the intersection ahead turned yellow. The SUV rushed forward. It didn’t get to the intersection before the light turned red. It barreled through the anyway, blaring the horn.

There was no retribution. There should have been.

The drivers in the cross traffic lanes had seen the Cadillac. They waited even with a green light.

Dee and I were stuck. We didn’t start speaking until we had a chance to make a right hand turn up ahead.

… continued

——

No Shrink, Exorcist

Part 3: Tailgaiting
Part 2: Make The Light
Part 1: Dee Motion