It started with a minor traffic accident. Nothing major. Just an idiot in a big SUV who would have been better of riding a Kiddie Kar at the local fair. They came barrelling down the road, changing lanes with great frequency, obviously in a hurry.
Sailing past me, passing in a gap that I thought a bit short for it, I noticed the little blonde driving. She didn't look old enough to have a licence and I dropped back a little, laying odds that she would cut sharply in front of me.
I didn't drop back fast enough and she cut in a lot faster than I expected her to. I felt the grate of the back step of the SUV scrape across the front of my car. She didn't even try to stop, just kept going her own sweet way. OK, she had a big solid car and she may not have felt the scrape. I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Still, I needed to exchange insurance details because I had a nasty feeling that the step may have sliced right across the front of my car. I could easily be up for replacing my bumper bar and other damages, and insurance companies did like to have details of other drivers so they can stick them with the cost.
I leant on my horn and indicated that I wanted her to pull over. She stuck her hand out the window and gave me a one finger salute. Now I'm a nice guy. I was willing to assume that she thought I was trying to pick her up and was rejecting me. I had her number plate so I could put that on my claim form.
She just went on charging through the traffic, putting on a godawful display of driving, making me quite happy to be behind her. I had no intention of following her. After all, I had no idea where she was going. That notion changed when she cut across a lane, causing someone to brake sharply and sound his horn, and drove into a McDonalds. I mean, wow, she was in a hurry to get some breakfast?
I pulled in next to her and checked the front of my car. The bumper bar was neatly sliced from the driver's side to about the middle. A nice clean cut that looked as though someone had run a very sharp knife along it. It was still going to be several hundred dollars to replace it. Not even worth going through my insurance as what with what with the excess I'd have to pay and the change to my insurance rating it would be a losing proposition.
I saw no reason, however, why her insurance shouldn't pay.
She'd been stuffing around inside her vehicle while I was checking out the damage and I nailed her just as she was getting out.
"Excuse me," I said, speaking politely and putting some charm into it. "You may not have noticed but you clipped me back up the road when you pulled over in front of me. Can I have some identification and your insurance details, please?"
"Piss off," came the short and sweet answer and she literally pushed past me and started walking over to the McDonalds.
"Excuse me," I said, speaking a bit more firmly and with no charm. "I require these details. If you don't give them to me I'll be forced to report you to the police for failing to stop after an accident."
She turned and gave me a bored look. I was a nothing who had dared to address her.
"One, I didn't hit you. Two, you can't prove that I did. Three, my father is a diplomat and I'm covered by his diplomatic immunity, so there's nothing you or the police can do. Now piss off."
With that she turned and stalked off, breakfast undoubtedly waiting.
There was nothing I could do but give her nasty looks and wish I had five minutes alone to teach her some manners. Not that I would do anything to her, but it's nice to imagine it at times. Actually there was something I could do. I wandered into the nearest cop shop and explained the problem to the Sergeant. He tapped away on the computer and then broke the bad news. The car was indeed registered as belonging to a certain diplomatic mission. I was officially screwed. He could sympathise but not help.
I made arrangements for a new bumper bar, surprised to find it didn't sting me that badly, and promptly forgot about a certain crappy driver. Until the next weekend, that is. I'd had occasion to go out into the country. While there I'd had to travel down some rather narrow back roads and coming along one of them I came upon this little bridge.
When I say little, I mean narrow, because it was actually rather long. About a hundred metres was my guess. It's one of those bridges where first on gets to drive across, anyone coming the other way having to wait. As far as I was concerned the bridge was clear and so was the road on the far side, not that I could see very far along it. I started across the bridge.
I was about halfway across when this little sports job came tearing around the corner ahead and straight onto the bridge. They didn't stop when they saw I was already on the bridge, just continuing towards me. We pulled up facing each other, me about three quarters of the way across.
The driver of the sports car stuck her head out, demanding that I back up as she was in a hurry. I just laughed and stuck my head out of my own window.
"Well, hi there. If it isn't little Miss Crappy," I called out. "What happened to the SUV? Did you break it?"
"What? I don't have an SUV. And what did you call me? Are you going to back up? I want to get past."
"You had an SUV when you clipped me the other day. Seeing the way you drive I just assumed that you must have broken it. I called you Miss Crappy. It's short for Miss Crappy Driver. No. I'm not backing up. I was on the bridge first and am entitled to finish crossing. You'll have to back up."
"What? A gentleman would back up and let me go first."
"I'm not a gentleman," I called back. "I'm just a compulsive reader. I'll just sit here and read until you're ready to get out of the way."
With that I picked up my eReader, turned it on and started reading.
She beeped impatiently and I ignored her. When I ignored her a second time she got out of the car and came storming over.
"Will you get your car out of the way?" she said through gritted teeth. "I have places I have to go."
I turned and smiled.
"No. I don't mind sitting here, reading. In case you think I might finish the book and get bored, I also have chess on this gadget and a library of around sixteen thousand books. I'm in no hurry. I can sit here all day. So why don't you just back up a little and I'll be gone and you can go your own sweet way. You do know how to back your car don't you?"
"Of course I know how to back a car. Why wouldn't I?"
"Well, I have seen the way you drive, so I did wonder. Off you go."
I made little shooing motions with one hand, turning to continue reading at the same time.
She went raging back to her car, there was a clash of gears and she went shooting backwards. She was right. She could back up. Just not very well. I winced when she reached the end of the bridge and backed off the road into the pass-me area. From the way the car jolted when she stopped I was quite sure she'd backed into something.
With the bridge clear I finished crossing, waving to her as I went. In my rear vision mirror I could see her high-tailing it across the bridge. A petty little revenge but who cares. I was in the right and she knew it.
It was pity she was such a bitch. She was quite an attractive little thing. I promptly dismissed her from my mind and went on about my business.