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TITLE (EDIT)
Bad Habits |
DESCRIPTION
Sometimes old habits aren't useful in new places.
[710 words] |
AUTHOR
Mark A Stuart |
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
43 year old former Naval officer and professional manager that grew up in Southwest Georgia and believes that others may find interest in the lifestyle and events of small towns. I am a father of two beautiful girls that has been married to a wonderful woman for 18 years who has encouraged me to follow my desires and write.
[November 2004] |
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL ADDRESS
marcusastu@aol.com |
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (10)
Charity (Short Stories) Lessons of about human kindness and the shortage thereof. [3,818 words]
Comparisons (Short Stories) Being thankful for the things that you don't have. [1,020 words]
Driving Miss Rachel (Short Stories) Some advice on dealing with new drivers in your household. [719 words]
Dying (Short Stories) Story of the coming death of a small town in SouthWest Geargia. [1,227 words] [Writing Resource]
First Love (Novels) Story of a young boy's first foray into the world of the opposite sex. [4,987 words]
Flight School (Short Stories) Story about a young boy's refusal to accept conventional wisdom. [1,733 words]
Gone Already (Short Stories) COnfusion can arise out of good intentions. [2,452 words]
Grass Fields (Short Stories) Learning lessons the hard way. [3,276 words]
Snakes (Short Stories) Teenage foolishness involving reptiles, drunks, and firearms. [3,107 words]
The Abduction Of Sammy Lee (Short Stories) Tale of a kidnapping in a small SouthWest Georgia town. [6,320 words]
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Bad Habits
Mark A Stuart
Bad Habits
One thing that you may not be aware of is that living in a small town can produce some bad habits that may come back to haunt you should you ever move away. Habits like waving at people.
I was driving my youngest daughter Anna somewhere the other day, when I waved at a passing motorist.
“Who was that?” Anna asked me.
“I don’t know. It was just someone in a car”, I said.
“You didn’t know them?” This seemed to strike her as very odd.
“Nope. Just being friendly. It’s still ok to do that isn’t it?” I asked because like most men my age I am hopelessly out of touch with what is socially acceptable these days.
“Well, I suppose so”, she stated,” but the next time that you are going to do something like that let me know so that I can duck down in the seat.”
I didn’t think much about our conversation until some weeks later I was driving around town and waving as usual to people that passed going in the other direction. I happened to look in my rearview in time to see a huge SUV of some make pulling a U-turn in the middle of the 4 lane that we were traveling on. Tires screeched and smoke was coming from the pavement as the lady that was steering the big rig completed her turn and accelerated back in my direction. Her horn was sounding and the emergency flashers were on and she was moving like Moody’s Goose. I couldn’t help but wonder where she was heading. From the looks of things, to the nearest emergency room. Something dramatic had obviously occurred in the confines of her vehicle.
I pulled to the side of the road like any sensible motorist would, to allow the lady to make her way to the hospital or where ever it was she was traveling at mach 3 to reach. No sooner had I stopped when the SUV came to a screeching halt beside me in the middle of the road. She totally locked that SUV up which I could now see was a Suburban. A short little lady about my age, jumped out and raced around to my window. She looked pretty agitated. She was saying some words that I had forgotten existed and had not heard since I had been in the Navy. I was not sure what the problem was but from the look on her face I was glad that I was not the target of her wrath. Maybe she needed some help with directions or an escort.
“Who are you and what do you want?” She screamed this at me with a volume that was truly impressive coming from a person of her small size.
“Well ma’am. I’m Mark and as far as I know I don’t want anything.”
“Well what in the ______ (several colorful phrases deleted here) do you mean by flagging me down like that? I’m on the way to take my kids to soccer practice and I have to deal with freaks like you getting their kicks by pulling over innocent ladies?” I had by this time, a few questions about her innocence or lack there of. The way she beat me down would have made my old Bos’n Chief proud to have exchanged some professional greetings with her.
“Ma’am, I wasn’t flagging you down for anything. I was just waving.”
This apparently dumbfounded her beyond any further tirades, and she spun on her heels, reentered the Suburban, and with out looking in either direction, pulled another U-turn and screamed away. She did roll the window down and was making some hand gestures in my general direction. I think she must have felt bad about the way things had gone because from her hand signals she seemed to be indicating that I was number one.
Now this hasn’t happened to me since that day but I will admit that I am more cautious about what vehicles I wave at. Unless I personally know who is driving them, I avoid Suburbans like the plague. There are probably some other habits that I developed while growing up that I should be careful of as well. Habits like smiling.
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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2004 Mark A Stuart |
STORYMANIA PUBLICATION DATE
December 2004 |
NUMBER OF TIMES TITLE VIEWED
1968
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