(no subject)

today on the freeway, i was passed by a red pickup. i'm going fast mind you, about sixty-five, in the far right lane. i'm listening to some song on a cd mystery has made for me, and i don't know who the artist is... it is a cool song, so i'm not really paying attention. he passes me to the right and sweeps into the far left lane. he's hauling two or three loveseats wrapped in plastic. they are snugly crammed into the back of his shiny new red pickup. they fit in the back real snug, big apholstered tetris pieces. as the red truck accelerates, one of them flies up a bit, and i've just got time to think "those really should be tied down...," when the top loveseat shoots right off of the truckbed and onto the freeway, right smack in the middle of three lanes of traffic. adrenaline shifts time into that strange debug mode, where you can see everything as it ocurrs, in slow-mo, one step at a time. the loveseat sheds its plastic coat, it falls right across the windshield of a bmw that is tailgating the truck. the wind whips it off and into the traffic across the median, where i quickly lose track of it. underneath the couch is cream colored with a beige pinstripe. the couch pirouettes on one corner, defying gravity, right in the middle of the two lanes. once, twice, it goes around, i swerve into the breakout lane and the guy next to me swerves right into the space where i used to be. the little bmw that was tagging right along behind the red pickup slams on the brakes as the couch launches up into the air right over the hood and into the far left lane, where it comes up against the median and stops. the couch, and everyone else, appear to be miraculously unharmed.

the red truck doesn't slow down at all, in fact, it is quite obvious that he floors it, and he shoots off into traffic. i am amazed that traffic hasn't dropped below fifty while all of this occurs, and no one is hurt. i dig into my pocket to get my cell and call the cops. thinking i'll get on top of the guy and get his plate, but mr. bmw has already thought of this, he's whipping off into traffic after the red truck, he's right up on his ass, and i realize i've forgotten my cell phone. it's still plugged into the wall under the ironing board by the kitchen, charging.