Possumblog

Condition Red

I was in the van yesterday morning and decided, since it was nearly out of gas, to stop at Sam's Club on the way in after dropping the kids at school and fill up before going on to work.

I pulled in, and the place looked deserted, but the pumps were on, so I knew it was open. I undid the cap, stuck my card in the pump, put the nozzle in the filler tube, locked the handle on, noticed way over on the other side of the parking lot the attendant guy picking up trash, and turned around to relax a bit.

Sam's is up on a hill, and you can see for a long way. It was foggy and cool, and it was very peaceful to look back over toward the hill where I live and see all the trees and the low-slung clouds, and listen to the still quietness. I would like to live up high like this, where you could wake up and look out over a valley of green. So very pretty, even if might be a bit chill and rainy. And it just smelled good--we hadn't had a rain in a while, and so the mist made everything smell alive and fresh agai--"HEY THERE!"

I whirled around in a near panic and standing there right by the door of the van was the chubby little old guy who'd been picking up trash. He'd gotten the drop on me. I stammered and for some reason said "OH, hey, sorry!" and he stood there as impassive as an old heifer, "Looks like we're gonna get some rain today."

I relaxed a bit, and finished out the "conversation" which pretty much went like this: "Yep. But we needed it." "Yeah, it had gotten real dry." "Mmhm. We sure needed some rain." On and on. The pump finally clicked off and I had to make my way over and undo the pump handle and get my receipt, and he continued on chewing his cud and talking about the rain, pretty much seeming to me that he would have continued in this vein the rest of the morning if I'd not had to leave.

The whole thing really spooked me, though. Not the guy--he was just a lonely old guy who has to find someone to talk to or go crazy working at Sam's. But it was the fact that I had been so utterly and completely surprised.

I know some people think it's being paranoid to always have some sense of your surroundings when you're out in public and to be ready to react if necessary, but it's just always the way that I've been. I don't go looking for trouble to get into--I want to stay out of it, and the best way is to know where you are, what's going on around you, how to get away from trouble if you have to, and how to defend yourself if need be. Some defense folks teach a three-color system of awareness--green for when you're totally safe in your home, yellow for anytime you're out in public when you are actively searching for danger, and red, for when the poop hits the blower.

But yesterday, there I was--off wandering in the clouds. I had forgotten my surroundings. I had moved away from safety--out in front of the van instead of beside it. I had turned my back on a wide area behind me. And I had fallen into a deep reverie, ignoring everything.

I was just lucky it was a kindly old gent with a ball cap and a gift of gab--it could just as easily have been someone there to do mischief.

AND ANOTHER THING--don't go sneaking up on folks! You never know who might be packing.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at November 15, 2005 10:46 AM