Yesterday I was on my way home from school on my bicycle, turning a 5-mile trip into a 25-mile one. On Friday the 13th, no less!
I was approaching the major highway that I have to cross in order to get home, always an adventure crossing that bad boy. That has nothing to do with this post.
I saw a car ahead of me, coming toward me and turning left across the lane. Only it stopped moving. It was apparent the driver was having some difficulty. A car had just passed me, and I could tell the driver was either unaware of the car across the road or didn't care. I was concerned about how long he had the opportunity to see the car, yet he was not reacting in any of the expected ways: braking, swerving, stopping, maybe even SLOWING DOWN? At the very last moment he swerved around the car and HONKED THE HORN. Like someone would CHOOSE to be in that position.
When I got to the disabled car, I realized it was a woman, and she was trying to push the car out of the road.
"Hang on, I'll help you," I yelled. I noticed she had a young child (or two) in the car. Her car was smoking, and the driveway was just enough uphill that she couldn't push it by herself. Even with two of us, it was a struggle.
Another car stopped, driven by a young girl, presumably a high school student. (I'm not profiling here. The words "Seniors 2012" and "Your beautiful" were painted on the windows of her car. I almost told her she needed to correct her friends' punctuation if they were going to paint on her car, but I decided it wasn't the time for it.) She also got out of her car to help, even if it did take her so long to park and get out that we pretty much had the situation in hand.
A truck coming from the same direction I had come from also stopped. A man got out (mid- to late-twenties, I'm guessing) with a tag on his shirt that said "Visitor." He said, "I don't know how much help I'll be."
Seriously, dude? Two women, a slip of a girl, and you wonder if you can be of assistance?
Luckily for the woman, it was HER driveway she was trying to turn into, so once we got the car out of the road, our job was done. Even with three (and a half) of us pushing, it was still dicey getting it completely out of the road. It was just enough of an uphill that there was a danger of the car rolling back on us, but we managed it. She said something about calling her husband, and we all went on our separate ways.
A few cars had backed up in both directions, and it made me laugh to think of how our Good Samaritan crew must have looked: A teenager in a tank top and jeans who probably weighs 87 pounds; a slender man wearing a "Visitor" tag; and a middle-aged woman in spandex, cycling shoes (made it difficult to get a purchase on the pavement), and a bicycling helmet.
At least if the car HAD rolled backward on me, the helmet might have protected my head. The rest of my vital organs were on their own.
I know it isn't nice, but I was wishing all sorts of bad karma on the guy who honked his horn at her. Two strong men in that car, but a teenaged girl and I were the first ones to stop and help.
Hmph.
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