Bad Samaritan
Yesterday, I decided to try a different way to get to and from Malden Station than I normally use. I used some major roads instead of the neighborhoods I normally cut through. It was pretty good in the morning, and actually, I did it again this morning. But the evening commute was retarded. I’ll be going back to my back roads thank you very much.
Anyway, as I was leaving the station, my car dinged at me, annoyed and thirsty for gasoline. So, when I saw a gas station offering premium at a “mere” $2.57, I slowed and waited for an opportunity to turn left. In fact, the guy in front of me was also on the same task. And, to complicate matters, the guy going the opposite direction was trying to turn left into whatever it was that was across the street from the gas station (we’ll just assume it was a pizza shop for the sake of making it easier to talk about).
Then, the idiot arrived. Impatient at the pizza-loving guy in front of him, the idiot passed him on the right. Of course, simultaneously the pizza-loving guy waved at the gas-needing guy in front of me, encouraging him to take the opportunity to make his left. He almost made it.
*Slam!*
The idiot, who was very obviously at fault (even if it’s a no-fault state, the insurance companies still like to assign blame), and the gas-needing guy both pulled into the gas station parking lot. A feat I soon mimicked. They examined their damage while I impatiently waited for a gap in the randomly strewn cars to get to a pump.
The though of stopping to offer my eye-witness account crossed my mind. It’s something I would hope someone would do for me if I was in an accident with an idiot. But I stayed in my car. I pulled to a pump, rummaged through my purse, noticed that the station took cash only, discovered I had only $6 in cash, apologized to the station operator, and eked out back into the traffic.
I felt guilty. But I wanted to get home. I still needed gas, so I stopped at the next station, which was a few cents more per gallon, but which would accept Discover. With Haley happy, I turned back into traffic and went along home.
As you might guess, I still feel guilty.
Hi, Malden resident. I am a Boston resident. I used to have a couple of friends in Malden and I always got so lost coming home from their place. I would end up in some super-industrial area and get completely turned around…
oh no! this just makes me think of when some twink passed my little sister on the left, the LEFT, while my sister had her blinker on to turn LEFT and swiped the front bumper off my sister’s car. Nobody stopped and Amy even posted fliers for eye witnesses. nobody came forward. she had a battle with the insurance company, who was also, unfortunately, the company of the person who hit her, and they faulted them both 50 50 and only after my sister harassed them some more, gave her 200 dollars for her sadly demolished car.
Rhea – Malden can be terrifying. I don’t actually live there, I just take the T from there. But it is a very zig-zag place! I get lost weekly.
Laura – Now I feel even worse. :( I’m sorry! I hope the idiot wasn’t a horrible, evil person. I will look out for posters at the site, though. If I see posters begging for a witness, I’ll call. Man… I’m terrible!
Boy and to think of all those “civic duty” lessons gone to waste. Oh, wait a minute, we’re not allowed to have classes like that anymore.
I don’t remember such a class…