Special Report

Dateline, Friday May 19, Marietta, Ga:

After a fairly easy Friday afternoon commute, I arrived at the last red light prior to turning into the subdivision where my brother lives. I was talking to Dawn, but driving normally--I'm a fairly conservative driver, and as of Friday, I was not overly sure of the condition and quality of my brakes and other parts of my car, so--I take it pretty easy.

I was turning right on the red light, no problem, easy turn, up a slight hill--I was accelerating--I looked into my rear view mirror and this guy in a red truck was just inches from my bumper and clearly swearing at me...I reacted by looking up to my rear view and back at him and saying something to the effect of "get off my *##**#*#@ bumper." He noticed this and got in the turn lane, flipped me off--I flipped right back.

Then it got weird.

The guy gets out of the right turn lane he was in, and rides way up to my bumper again, and begins to follow me. Not wanting any trouble, and especially not to bring any trouble to my brother's house (I knew his kids were there by now, and I wasn't even sure that anyone was home) I just kept going. I made several turns and this nut continues to follow me. Finally, at a major intersection (I more or less made a circle) I went straight, and he turned right. He got right before I got left so I turned back right and went in the direction I needed to go, staying well behind this yahoo.

So he turns off into Kroger again, so I go straight, do a uturn, and then come back down--I suspected he was going to try to "catch" me on the other side of the street from Kroger again, so I went really slow and took my time getting back through several intersections. I didn't see him in the Kroger parking lot or in any intersection--so I went ahead and went into my brother's neighborhood--when I got into the subdivision, I thought I saw the guy again, but I think it was just someone in a similar truck--though I'm not totally sure. I made it home and didn't see or hear anything of it, though I kept looking around outside.

Of course, I told my brother and sister-in-law as soon as I could about the situation, and they said it isn't uncommon.

Stay off my bumper, keep your road rage to myself, and I'll keep my finger to myself.

Thanks to Dawn for staying on the phone with me the entire time...and for helping me out driving again on Saturday. She's a trooper, and she puts up with a lot from me when I'm lost.