Ahhhh....the sweet smell of suntan lotion....Midnight
rides in a T shirt...The crunchy, salty taste of ripe June
bugs! Summer’s here and the time is right for dancin’ in
the streets!
I was cleanin’ up the Shovelhead this afternoon and my
mind drifted [as it often does] and I got ta thinkin’ ‘bout
all the roads me and the old girl’s been down. All the
things that seemed to happen just ‘cause somebody or
something seemed to have it in the Master Plan.
Ever really think about fate? I used to believe
that we create our own fate... that what we do determines
what happens to us. But the truth is things can slip up on
ya from out of the blue. Something happened to a buddy a
while back that illustrates how life can surprise ya....
His name is Jim and he was in his car driving though
Youngstown, a relatively large city, when he happened to be
behind a red Ford Mustang convertible as he passed through a
bad section of downtown. At the time he worked for the
railroad and was just comin’ home from work.
Suddenly the Mustang stops in the middle of a block, the
driver gets out and runs across the street where an old
couple are walkin’ down the sidewalk. The dude tries to
grab the old lady’s purse, struggles with her, pushes her
down then gives up and yanks the old man’s wallet out of
his pocket before he runs BACK across to his car and drives
away!
Now, get this!...The OLD LADY gets up, crosses the road,
reaches in her purse, pulls out a gun, leans on JIM’S
front fender and fires five times at the fleeing Mustang!
Then she glances at Jim [as he sat with his eyebrows raised
and his chin hangin’ to his chest], slips the gun back
into her purse and hurries across to the old man, helps him
up and they take off down the sidewalk to a door, enter and
disappear!
Now remember this all happened in the time it took ya to
read about it!
There wasn’t a damned thing he could do! In fact I can’t
think of anything he should have done under the
circumstances. I’d say the old woman had a grip on the
situation [and her purse].
My point here is just that being in the wrong place at
the wrong time can really screw up yer chances for a long
and happy life.
I was talkin’ to a friend named Pappy about this at the
nursing home he’s doin’ time in.
“Bummer, ya just never know....one minute yer cruisin’
along thru life thinkin’ everything is cool, then next
thing ya know reality just goes out the window and yer
blindsided by them old sisters called the Fates.
