Crazy Days
This weekend we were headed off to a nice family picnic and birthday party. The sun was shining, the temperature was the hottest day all summer. It was a great day. We were driving into Holyoke eating Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwiches and sipping our iced coffee when I notice an agitated-in-a-rush-to-go SUV sitting at a stop sign we were about to pass. You know the kind, they keep jumping as if they are about to pull out in front of you but don't because it would surely cause an accident.
Well, he pulls out and immediately begins tailgating us and swerving left and right as if he wants to pass. Now, its one thing to be in a rush, but we are driving down a one-way street, with cars parked on both sides of it AND in a line of traffic at least 6-7 cars long (in front of us). Meanwhile, I just keep eating my sandwich and listening to Hi-Fi Companions and the wife is pleasantly sipping her iced coffee and dealing with my hippie music - a day like any other. Well, now he begins to try and pass us. He's not just looking crazy, he is now acting crazy. So, like all egotistical men, I decide "screw you man, you've already endangered us 100 times, honked at us back at that intersection - you can wait like the rest of us" so I proceed to pull to the left (which is all of 6 feet on a one way street) and stop him from passing us. He tries again on the other side and I patiently move over toward that side and block him again. Realize now, that this is a one way street. I to this day cannot figure out what the hell he was trying to accomplish because he would've had to mow down a line of parked cars to get past the car/cars in front of us. Anyway, he is obviously agitated (and clearly crazy) and we finally reach the stop light that is at the foot of the hill which has the on-ramp to Rte 91.
He proceeds to open his door (he is on the right side of us) and begin screaming at us and then reaches over and grabs a BAT from the passenger seat and starts waving it at my wife in the seat next to me. My wife begins screaming "JUST GET OUT OF HERE" over and over again and I am simply staring at him awaiting my next move. A little trick to others out there - in situations like this, maintain your cool and allow them to make a first move. Always calculate you possibilities while waiting - they are not thinking, if you are, you'll almost always walk away from these things much better off. At this point I had already mapped the only available escape route and was hoping the light would change so we could simply pull away. Well, after more yelling at bat waving, he decides he is going to go around the back of the car. Now I'm thinking he is going to smash out our taillights or a back window. I still have no clue what was up this guys ass. Remember that his road rage began before we even got to him (refer back to the jumping forward at the stop sign). We have inherited the wrath of someones anger, for no apparent reason. Don't get me wrong, not letting him pass surely upset him, but as I said, he was clearly agitated long before he began tailgating us. Anyway... So what do I do now? There is a man walking around the back of the car with a bat. I slam it into reverse, hear the bat hit the back of the car with a bang, and come to a stop about 20-30 feet back, with him standing on the side of his SUV taunting me to come forward (oh how I would've loved to Grand Theft Auto his ass) so I sat there, with my wife screaming "GET US OUT OF HERE" awaiting his next move and mapping out the two new escape routes that this had opened up for us and half-eyeing a jeep full of 4 women whose mouths were dragging on the pavement over the spectacle they were getting to observe. Luckily BTW, the people behind us saw it start happening and they had already backed up. Whomever you are in the blue buick, I thank you for opening the hole for us to stay safe, well done.
So, you'd think it'd all be over by now. But no, he goes into his truck and starts rummaging for something. All I can think is "gun", cuz this guy was clearly not well. Anyone who keeps a bat on their passenger seat is surely the same person that would A: use it on every given occasion and B: carry a gun. An aside to all this, is I gave my wife a weapon (a mag light) for these very situations (and poorly lit ones). Neither of us even knew where it was, nor ever thought to grab it until we were 25 miles away from the incident. As opposed to SUV jackass who keeps his at the ready...
Anyway, she is REALLY screaming now "JUST GO!!!!" Yelling at me to jump over the curb, to cut through the parking lot etc. But I am just watching, awaiting his next dumb move so I can trump it again like the last one. FINALLY after what felt like an hour, the light changed. He is still outside the car on his side rummaging for something inside. I nail it, jump over the intersection (its one of those fun raised ones) and proceed up the hill at about 75 mph. We fly onto the highway and off we go.... I'm doing a solid 90 and I look in the rear view and here he comes again. He drives right up to our rear end and stays there about 5 feet away talking on a cell. All I could think was "this guy is calling in OUR plate to the Police! WHAT A FREAKIN NUTJOB!" Then, he pulls into the right lane to pull up alongside us and I slam the brakes on and bring the car down to 65 and we lose him, finally.
After all this, we never thought to get his plate so we could have him arrested. It was so unnerving that we got into an argument about the way it was handled, over whether to call the cops, over my "ego" etc etc. It was absolutely horrible. I was so hopped up on adrenaline (as opposed to the CRACK this asshole was hopped up on) that I didn't even begin to feel fear or anything of that nature until we hit 691 in CT, about an hour away.
So, we call the cops in both Holyoke and our home town. She was very nervous that having our plate # would somehow give him access to our home address and she was afraid to go home. Me, I was afraid that for some perverted reason, he was gonna claim I tried to run him over in the car and then fled the scene. The sound of the bat hitting the back of the car played over and over again in my head and I convinced myself that I maybe had hit him too. She however confirmed that she saw the whole thing and I didn't even come close to hitting him (which didn't make me feel better for some reason) Anyway, I was nervous, not that he'd be at the house, but a trooper would be there ready to ask me questions and possibly put me in a cell for the night (which SUCKS). Luckily my sister-in-law said to me later in the day "even if you did hit him, which my sister clearly says you did not, he would have to explain why he was behind your car and holding a bat at a busy intersection" which was very true and suddenly made me feel much better.
So our beautiful day had been destroyed. We were so happy to go see the kids, the family etc. We love these days... It instead was ruined by some asshole that thought it right to ruin everyone else's day because his life clearly sucked. Ya know what else sucks? I now keep a 1.5" bar alongside our bed just in case this asshole does manage to track us down and break into the house. How sad is that?
Come to think of it, I've just realized something even sadder. Our friends came over last night and one, who will remain unnamed, tried to pin the blame on us!!! Then she decided to downplay the scenario anyway because "my dad had a knife pulled on him in a subway once" Its always nice to have good friends in a time of crisis... It was 24hrs+ later and we still weren't well and our friend is eating our homemade corn chowder and blaming us... Thanks! I loved the other comment too. A quick aside: about two weeks ago my parents house was vandalized by some local kids. Our car is for sale and just happened to be parked there too, but luckily was untouched. The vandals really did a number on them too. Both cars had an entire roll of priority mail tape wrapped around them, aside from all the broken things, the stolen pain killers and everything in their cars spread out all over the lawn. Anyway, to shorten the story, our "friends" response to this was "thats what they get for leaving their cars unlocked." For a fleeting moment I embarked on an angry daydream where I went upstairs and pulled a bat on her just to see the reaction and look on her face. I was floored... Somehow it was my parents fault???? They live in a town where noone locks the doors on their HOUSE! Nevermind car doors. A town so small and so pleasant that there is probably 4 crimes a year, literally. Somehow it was their fault, just like this bat incident was somehow our fault. Huh... Okay.
Funny, this started out as a way to get some stress off my chest regarding that fateful afternoon and now I literally loathe one of our best friends. Come to think of it, she never said thank you for her birthday present! I'm quite sure thats our fault too, right?
I don't understand this world.
Well, he pulls out and immediately begins tailgating us and swerving left and right as if he wants to pass. Now, its one thing to be in a rush, but we are driving down a one-way street, with cars parked on both sides of it AND in a line of traffic at least 6-7 cars long (in front of us). Meanwhile, I just keep eating my sandwich and listening to Hi-Fi Companions and the wife is pleasantly sipping her iced coffee and dealing with my hippie music - a day like any other. Well, now he begins to try and pass us. He's not just looking crazy, he is now acting crazy. So, like all egotistical men, I decide "screw you man, you've already endangered us 100 times, honked at us back at that intersection - you can wait like the rest of us" so I proceed to pull to the left (which is all of 6 feet on a one way street) and stop him from passing us. He tries again on the other side and I patiently move over toward that side and block him again. Realize now, that this is a one way street. I to this day cannot figure out what the hell he was trying to accomplish because he would've had to mow down a line of parked cars to get past the car/cars in front of us. Anyway, he is obviously agitated (and clearly crazy) and we finally reach the stop light that is at the foot of the hill which has the on-ramp to Rte 91.
He proceeds to open his door (he is on the right side of us) and begin screaming at us and then reaches over and grabs a BAT from the passenger seat and starts waving it at my wife in the seat next to me. My wife begins screaming "JUST GET OUT OF HERE" over and over again and I am simply staring at him awaiting my next move. A little trick to others out there - in situations like this, maintain your cool and allow them to make a first move. Always calculate you possibilities while waiting - they are not thinking, if you are, you'll almost always walk away from these things much better off. At this point I had already mapped the only available escape route and was hoping the light would change so we could simply pull away. Well, after more yelling at bat waving, he decides he is going to go around the back of the car. Now I'm thinking he is going to smash out our taillights or a back window. I still have no clue what was up this guys ass. Remember that his road rage began before we even got to him (refer back to the jumping forward at the stop sign). We have inherited the wrath of someones anger, for no apparent reason. Don't get me wrong, not letting him pass surely upset him, but as I said, he was clearly agitated long before he began tailgating us. Anyway... So what do I do now? There is a man walking around the back of the car with a bat. I slam it into reverse, hear the bat hit the back of the car with a bang, and come to a stop about 20-30 feet back, with him standing on the side of his SUV taunting me to come forward (oh how I would've loved to Grand Theft Auto his ass) so I sat there, with my wife screaming "GET US OUT OF HERE" awaiting his next move and mapping out the two new escape routes that this had opened up for us and half-eyeing a jeep full of 4 women whose mouths were dragging on the pavement over the spectacle they were getting to observe. Luckily BTW, the people behind us saw it start happening and they had already backed up. Whomever you are in the blue buick, I thank you for opening the hole for us to stay safe, well done.
So, you'd think it'd all be over by now. But no, he goes into his truck and starts rummaging for something. All I can think is "gun", cuz this guy was clearly not well. Anyone who keeps a bat on their passenger seat is surely the same person that would A: use it on every given occasion and B: carry a gun. An aside to all this, is I gave my wife a weapon (a mag light) for these very situations (and poorly lit ones). Neither of us even knew where it was, nor ever thought to grab it until we were 25 miles away from the incident. As opposed to SUV jackass who keeps his at the ready...
Anyway, she is REALLY screaming now "JUST GO!!!!" Yelling at me to jump over the curb, to cut through the parking lot etc. But I am just watching, awaiting his next dumb move so I can trump it again like the last one. FINALLY after what felt like an hour, the light changed. He is still outside the car on his side rummaging for something inside. I nail it, jump over the intersection (its one of those fun raised ones) and proceed up the hill at about 75 mph. We fly onto the highway and off we go.... I'm doing a solid 90 and I look in the rear view and here he comes again. He drives right up to our rear end and stays there about 5 feet away talking on a cell. All I could think was "this guy is calling in OUR plate to the Police! WHAT A FREAKIN NUTJOB!" Then, he pulls into the right lane to pull up alongside us and I slam the brakes on and bring the car down to 65 and we lose him, finally.
After all this, we never thought to get his plate so we could have him arrested. It was so unnerving that we got into an argument about the way it was handled, over whether to call the cops, over my "ego" etc etc. It was absolutely horrible. I was so hopped up on adrenaline (as opposed to the CRACK this asshole was hopped up on) that I didn't even begin to feel fear or anything of that nature until we hit 691 in CT, about an hour away.
So, we call the cops in both Holyoke and our home town. She was very nervous that having our plate # would somehow give him access to our home address and she was afraid to go home. Me, I was afraid that for some perverted reason, he was gonna claim I tried to run him over in the car and then fled the scene. The sound of the bat hitting the back of the car played over and over again in my head and I convinced myself that I maybe had hit him too. She however confirmed that she saw the whole thing and I didn't even come close to hitting him (which didn't make me feel better for some reason) Anyway, I was nervous, not that he'd be at the house, but a trooper would be there ready to ask me questions and possibly put me in a cell for the night (which SUCKS). Luckily my sister-in-law said to me later in the day "even if you did hit him, which my sister clearly says you did not, he would have to explain why he was behind your car and holding a bat at a busy intersection" which was very true and suddenly made me feel much better.
So our beautiful day had been destroyed. We were so happy to go see the kids, the family etc. We love these days... It instead was ruined by some asshole that thought it right to ruin everyone else's day because his life clearly sucked. Ya know what else sucks? I now keep a 1.5" bar alongside our bed just in case this asshole does manage to track us down and break into the house. How sad is that?
Come to think of it, I've just realized something even sadder. Our friends came over last night and one, who will remain unnamed, tried to pin the blame on us!!! Then she decided to downplay the scenario anyway because "my dad had a knife pulled on him in a subway once" Its always nice to have good friends in a time of crisis... It was 24hrs+ later and we still weren't well and our friend is eating our homemade corn chowder and blaming us... Thanks! I loved the other comment too. A quick aside: about two weeks ago my parents house was vandalized by some local kids. Our car is for sale and just happened to be parked there too, but luckily was untouched. The vandals really did a number on them too. Both cars had an entire roll of priority mail tape wrapped around them, aside from all the broken things, the stolen pain killers and everything in their cars spread out all over the lawn. Anyway, to shorten the story, our "friends" response to this was "thats what they get for leaving their cars unlocked." For a fleeting moment I embarked on an angry daydream where I went upstairs and pulled a bat on her just to see the reaction and look on her face. I was floored... Somehow it was my parents fault???? They live in a town where noone locks the doors on their HOUSE! Nevermind car doors. A town so small and so pleasant that there is probably 4 crimes a year, literally. Somehow it was their fault, just like this bat incident was somehow our fault. Huh... Okay.
Funny, this started out as a way to get some stress off my chest regarding that fateful afternoon and now I literally loathe one of our best friends. Come to think of it, she never said thank you for her birthday present! I'm quite sure thats our fault too, right?
I don't understand this world.
