Growing up, my siblings and I often had to perform small duties in exchange for the privilege of driving my parents' attractive minivan around. :) One of the duties that I had to perform every so often when I was a teenager was to pick my little sister Alicia up from work. She usually came right out to the van as soon as she saw me from the grocery store window, so I would pull up close to the sliding doors and wait for her.
One day I pulled up to my usual spot, and soon afterwards the passenger door opened. I looked over, and to my surprise, some strange guy who looked like he was a couple of years older than me started to get in my van. My initial reaction was panic. I was clearly being carjacked and was certain that I would soon be held at gunpoint and demanded to drive to some secluded location that would end up being the site of my demise. I contemplated jumping out of the van while I still had a chance. But then I realized how nonchalant the guy was as he got in the van and shut the door. It was obvious by his demeanor that he clearly thought I was someone else. When he realized that his driver wasn't going anywhere, he glanced over at me, then visibly jumped when he saw my face. The next few moments were a blur, but I clearly remember that he did not say a word to me. He practically jumped out of the van, slammed the door, and hurried back into the store. He was SO FAST!
I immediately realized the humor of the situation and burst into laughter. Alicia came out soon after that and told me that I would have to wait for her to bring in the rest of the carts before she could go. She asked me why I was laughing and I explained to her that I would tell her when she was done.
I knew it would take her about 10 minutes to bring in all of the carts, so I pulled into the first available parking space, rolled the windows down, and leaned my seat back so that I could relax while I waited. I kept giggling periodically at the thought of how silly that poor guy must have felt.
I had only been parked there for a few minutes when I heard a male voice say "Yes, I got in her car! I thought she was you!" then I heard another male burst into laughter. A little imp in me wanted him to know that I had heard him, so I slowly raised my seat up so that they could both see me smiling through my open window.
The young guy stopped, inhaled deeply, and whispered (quite loudly) "Oh my gosh, that's HER!". The older man who was with him (who I learned later was his father), laughed even harder at his son's embarrassment. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I had parked right in front of their van! So, of course they had to come right up close to me in order to get in their vehicle. The younger guy was beet red and he completely avoided looking at me as he climbed into the passenger side of his vehicle as quickly as he could. His dad could barely contain his composure as he came up to my window and said between chuckles "my son is too embarrassed to say so himself, but he's really sorry if he scared you". I was laughing too as I replied "It's ok, that totally made my day!".
As they drove away, the young guy finally mustered up the courage to look out his window and give me an embarrassed smile. It's funny how one person's most mortifying moment can be the best moment of an entire day for someone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment