Before the start of school, to celebrate the perfection of the day, we went a-ridin’, my son and his friend, in our Jeep, doors and top off.
In the back seat, the boys had their water guns at the ready.
We drove all over the Lower Mainland, it seemed, and the boys had great fun “shooting” passing cars (and anything they could hit with the water).
I asked them a few times to stop in case we offended anyone — my mind was going to the stories of highway shootings that seem to occur without much provocation. I was a bit worried — what if we ran in to someone who didn’t appreciate the impromptu shower, in spite of the warm day.
As we approached the Lions Gate bridge (two lanes each way, rush hour traffic), the boys kept popping up from the back seat, spraying cars with the water guns. I again warned them to stop.
As we started onto the bridge, a shiny red Camaro came alongside us.
A single, rather wet-looking and unsmiling young fellow was driving, T-roof open. Sure enough, it had been too much for the kids to resist.
The boys had doused the driver and car interior with skilled precision. I looked over at the Camero with a tentative smile and I was just in time to see the man reach slowly down to the right in his seat. I bellowed (literally, I think) at the kids to stop shooting the guns, now!The driver of the other car sat up, turned and took aim at us. He had the biggest super water shooter I had ever seen and completely soaked us in seconds.
I almost drove into the other lane laughing at the odds of him having such a perfect device to retaliate … OK, OK, I did my mommy thing and told to the boys that it might have been someone without such a good sense of humour and blah, blah, blah.
However, I couldn’t help but enjoy the unexpected surprise and relief I’d just experienced — and how very grateful I was it had been so.
Colleen Crossley RN BSN is a registered nurse who has worked in human services for 40 years focusing on wellness and mental health.