Flashing Before My Eyes

Christopher and I were on our way home from Costco tonight (having spent the remarkably small amount of only $150 - and buying almost nothing impulsive), when traffic got a little strange.

We were at a merge point, and a bunch of cars were kind of shoving their way into the lane to our right. I watched a big white Cadillac smush in in front of us, and basically next to us a huge black Chevy Silverado pickup wedged itself in. (Okay. I think it was a Silverado. I'm not 100% sure on that. It was really big, with an extended cab, and it was kind of extra tall. And I pulled up their website, and I'm pretty sure that's what it was.)

When I heard an engine rev and looked up to see the Cadillac floor it out of the right-hand lane, across the center lane (where we were) and go shooting down the left-hand lane, I turned to Christopher and said "You know, I really expected the Silverado to be the one to do that."

About the time I finished that sentence, the Silverado pulled into the lane behind us. This is when I noticed how tall it was, as well as confirming that it was a Chevy, thanks to the obvious insignia in the grille. Traffic was doing a little slow-and-go thing at about that point, and I was hitting the brake right along with everyone else.

Suddenly, I glanced in the rearview mirror and realized that the Silverado wasn't braking like the rest of us. It was accelerating - and just barely moving into the left-hand lane. I swerved right, praying (very quickly) that we could stay in our lane without hitting the car in front of us. And, of course, I threw out a "DUUUDE!" at the same time.

The Silverado was close enough to us that I could see the detailing on the grille, as well as the patterning of the light covers, in my rearview mirror. As it passed, I could see the individual strands of hair coming out of the young woman's ponytail. And I know that the vehicle in front of us was a white and silver SUV - something along the lines of a Scion - with high-mounted brakelights.

It all happened in a split-second. Christopher didn't really even react to it all - except for the swerving, of course - and the groceries didn't even get bumped around. But, in that split-second, I saw my car's life flash before my eyes.

I'm not sure why I didn't see mine...