Space Oddity

On the way to work this morning, this lady was trying to parallel park her green Mercury Cougar in a tight space, and as I was watching, I knew it was going to be trouble. She kept backing up, inch-by-inch, when suddenly she smacked into a motocycle that was parked behind her. The whole thing tipped over. It was quite surreal. I was the only spectator in the vicinity, and she immediately glared at me, checking to see if I was going to come over. She got out, pretended to inspect the motorcycle, made a half-hearted attempt to lift it, failed miserably, and then got back into her car. She then sat there for a minute, panicking, I'm sure. I was cutting it tight as far as work goes, and was torn between the good samaritan side, which said, make sure she at least leaves a note - accepting responsibility for the damage - and the just don't give a fuck side, which said, this has nothing to do with you, dude, you're going to be late for work if you get involved, and really, who knows, maybe the guy with the motorcycle is a cock and this is some kind of karmic justice? Anyway, I kept walking, a little slower now, debating the merits of each side in my head. Finally, though, I said forget it, it's not my business. Once the woman in the Cougar saw that I had left the scene, she put her transmission in drive and mashed around the corner, out of sight, out of mind, and as I turned one last time to see the motorcycle just lying there, I was struck with this weird taste in my mouth.

Soon, though, I was at Starbuck's, getting a triple espresso, and then later at my desk, combing through e-mails, and within an hour, the whole thing will be a distant memory, just a blip on the radar of life in the big city.