I had to run an errand yesterday morning. This is the high season here on Florida’s gulf coast. We’re overrun with snowbirds and we don’t mind because their vacation dollars keep us from paying state income tax. During the high season, the traffic is pretty bad here so I was surprised when, pulling out of our neighborhood, there was no cars at all. I turned right, away from the island. About a mile up the road, I could see lots of flashing lights. No traffic was coming my way. They had the road closed down, and were forcing all the cars to turn around.

I stopped at the light. My windows were open and a guy walking by asked, “What’s going on down there?”

I replied, “I have no idea!”

I continued driving, and realized I didn’t know how I was going to make it back home. The traffic was backed up for miles and miles. Ug! After arriving at my destination, I called Richard. He said he’d try to figure out what happened. He later texted me to say there was a high speed chase that ended with an accident on the Cortez Bridge. They weren’t letting anyone past 75th Street and all traffic was being diverted to the only other route onto the island. Richard said to take a back neighborhood to Cortez. His directions then had about 20 turns and…let’s just say that wasn’t going to work for me. They were just going to have to let me through.

I hit the traffic on the other main road, and made it back to Cortez through a back neighborhood before flashing my driver’s license at an officer who happily let me cut through a parking lot, and go home.

Turns out a teenager had (allegedly) stolen a truck, gone on a joy ride, sped away from the police, and hit 23 cars in the process. Ali’s boss at the restaurant was on the bridge when it was happening and he said he saw the guy hitting one car after another. He slid as far over toward the passenger side of his car as he could, thinking he would be hit, too (he was not).

When they got him, he was driving on one tire and three rims. That sort of thing might not be big news in big cities but it was ALL the news in these parts today. Helicopters, news crews everywhere, neighbors coming out to see and talk. The good news is there were only minor injuries.

This Week’s Masonism:

Mason (age 7) was looking at his pocket dictionary the other day. He started giggling, and asked, “Mommy, can I look up a bad word?”

Remembering myself doing just that in school, I replied, “Which word?”

He giggled again, and whispered, “Potty.”

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