Skip to main content

You Don't See That Everyday

The drive from Alabama to Arkansas. It is a trip I have taken countless times. Every summer and a few other times throughout the year, my mother and aunt would load me, my brothers and cousins in the car for the six hour drive. Most years, the trip was uneventful. Just the same same sights along the same roads over the same amount of time. But, one summer, road construction forced us to take a detour. It was on this extended drive that I saw something that you truly do not see everyday.

Our drive from Alabama to Arkansas was spent mostly on the highways of northern Mississippi. It always ended with our crossing a two lane bridge over the Mississippi River, heading into eastern Arkansas, and my grandmother’s home. This particular year, though, as the bridge was being repaired, it was impassable. Thus, we were forced to take a detour through a few small Mississippi towns.

Shortly before we crossed the border into Arkansas, we stopped at Sonic, part of a chain of American drive-in-style fast food restaurants. While waiting on our order to arrive, my mother looked out the window of the car just as an older model minivan pulled into the space next to ours. Within a few seconds, she told everyone in my car to look at the minivan next to us. In the front seats of this van were two people who appeared to be around late middle age. The middle and rear seats appeared to have been removed. Still, I thought I noticed someone, or something, else in the van. I took a closer look and realized what I had seen. Oddly, the two people in the front seats seemed oblivious to it. How could this be, I wondered, when, walking around the back half of the older minivan . . . was a goat.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Catch A Cab

We had been walking for about forty-five minutes, making our way from Manhattan’s South Street Seaport to the Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street. When we were within fifteen blocks of our destination, some of my companions decided that we should complete our journey by cab. Despite my attempts to convince them to keep walking, they were insistent. The trip that ensued was a true New York experience. After a few minutes of trying, one of my companions was able to hail a cab. However, we wanted to go north. The cab that stopped was going south. It did not seem to matter, though, as my companions still got in the cab. One person sat in the front while I slipped into the backseat, between the other two. Hardly before the doors could close, the driver had fought his way into Manhattan traffic. Without warning, he took a sharp right turn onto a side street and began to head north, steadily increasing his speed. Within seconds, the cab was weaving a...
1 comment
Read more

Looking At My Luggage

More than twenty four hours had passed since I had arrived in Washington, D.C. My luggage was still nowhere to be found. Despite the promises of the airline’s agents, my missing suitcase had not yet been delivered. With no other alternative, I had spent the day touring Washington in the clothes that I had worn a day earlier. Clothes that I was still wearing. A full day had passed. My friend and I had returned to her house from dinner to find that my belongings remained missing. I promptly began calling the airline, trying to track down my baggage. The agent assured me that my luggage had been located and dropped off at my friend’s home by a delivery service the previous evening. I assured her that it had not been delivered. After more than fifteen minutes of her continued assurances, I was transferred to the delivery service. As with the airline, the delivery service assured me that my luggage had been dropped off, going so far as to give me a specific time at which i...
1 comment
Read more

Universal Round Trip

In hindsight, we should have known something was not right. On our way home from an annual vacation in southwest Florida, we stopped in Orlando. Our plan was to spend a day at the area’s newest theme park, Universal Studios. The park had only been open a few weeks when we arrived. My family and I were excited to be among its first visitors. My parents, siblings, and I arrived just as the park was opening. We purchased our tickets and stood in line, waiting to enter the park. As we made our way through the gates, a park employee handed each of us something that looked like an index card. Excited to get to the rides, we only glanced at the cards, not really taking in what we were holding. It was not until we were in line for the first ride that anyone in my family really examined the cards we all held in our hands. A bright shade of blue, the front of each card was marked with the Universal Studios logo. On the reverse, alongside several lines of fine p...
1 comment
Read more