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It was cold and clear as I drove home from Tammy and David's house tonight after Survivor. And someone was trying to go ten miles and hour faster than I was (and I was already going five over the speed limit, as usual). The trouble is, this person was behind me.
Now, there aren't many places on Stony Point Road to pull over and let someone pass. And even if there are places, they're hard to find in the dark. Besides, I wasn't inclined to pull over. I was more inclined to slow down to an even 50. When someone's that close to your rear bumper, the smart thing is to let them ram you at a slower speed. Or maybe "smart" isn't the right word, but you know what I mean.
Then a funny thing happened. Just before my turnoff, another car pulled out in front of me. I had time to slow down to 40, then 35, then 30. This car had somehow come to the decision to go twenty miles an hour below the limit. Now I had a maniac behind me and an idiot in front of me.
In the old days, I would have boiled over. I would have been right on the new guy's bumper, just as the other car was on mine. But I'm over that. I wasn't in all that much of a hurry to get home anyway. So I waited for my left turn lane, and then watched as the guy who was tailgating me moved in on his new victim.
I made it home safe and sound, under the clear night sky. At my house on a night like this you can see almost as many stars as you can see from Shasta Lake on a clear summer night. It's a lot colder, though, so I didn't stay out admiring Orion's Belt for very long. | 
