People are interesting

I had an interesting drive to work this morning. Just after pulling out onto Route 27 I saw a car in my rearview mirror, wildly pass a car some distance behind me. Everyone was going at least ten miles over the speed limit but this car was screaming down the road at probably 80 or more in a 55 mph zone. It came up on me really fast with several cars coming at us in the other direction, making it impossible for it to pass me. My first thought was WTF? What an idiot driver! But then I remembered Rick’s post the other day about never assuming what’s up with someone else. So I looked in my rear view mirror as she was tailgating me at 60 mph and noticed that it was a woman, probably about 65, not your typical fast driver/tailgater. It occurred to me that maybe she wasn’t just one of the late for work idiot drivers who often scream past me in the morning, but perhaps there was some crisis she was responding to. The way she was leaning against her door, hand over her brow, she looked pretty distressed. When she turned off onto Leighton Road I was really tempted to follow her and see where she went. I would have been really disappointed if she’d pulled into an office someplace. But in any case if not for Rick’s post I probably would have just written her off as some jerk driver.

So just after she turned off another woman came up behind me at a stop light. I looked back and saw her obviously singing her heart out. We sat there for a couple minutes and she never let up for a second. She wasn’t just singing a line here and there, she was going full bore through an entire song, giving it all she had. I drove a couple miles and came to another stop light and I looked back and she was still going at it. I realized that she looked familiar. I thought maybe she was the lead singer to a band that we sometimes see in Hallowell called School Street Band. She is quite a character. One night Rick and I were sitting on the sofa at The Higher Grounds and she came over with her cordless mike and practically gave Rick a lap dance while never missing a beat in the song she was singing. I know she works at a bank in town and sure enough just before I pulled onto the rotary I saw the car turn into the bank parking lot.

People are interesting.