almost

The second my girl caught her breath, she whipped out her phone and texted her friend: “OMG, I almost just died!”

So dramatic!

It was scary, though. I was driving a route that my car knows by heart: home to Oggi’s. I was first in line for the left turn on the inside, the car to my right had the outside. When the arrow turned green arrow lit up, we both accelerated.  

Was he also swept up in the belting out of One Direction with his front seat passenger?  Was he starving? Was it like a desert in his car?

I didn’t gun it, I just accelerated like any normal driver would do. Thing was, it was raining. Have you ever driven in Southern California in the rain? Not for the faint of heart.

So we both accelerated, and the guy on my right put a little more pedal to the metal. Suddenly, he was spinning out of control, right in front of us.

It was all so fast, but felt like slo-mo. I hadn’t had more than a second to start going, it was just as easy to make the car stop. Of course, adrenaline and fear slammed my foot onto the brake. Our selt belts seized, my car lurched to a halt as the other car’s spin left it juxtaposed in the middle of the road, my front bumper nodding hello to the other driver’s door.

Someone was letting out an unholy string of really bad words right in front of my girl! Oh wait, that was me.

The other driver was laughing, which was unexpected but not totally misunderstood. We were all fine, there wasn’t even a fender bender to mess with. It as just an almost.

I almost hit him. Right there into his door. Into him. It wouldn’t have been my fault, but I almost hit him. My girl was in the front seat, just barely heavy enough for the button to light up indicating that the air bag was armed.

Almost a disaster, but technically nothing. We exhaled.

“OhMyGod!” she shrieked.