Bob

Batz

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July 28, 2008

Four-Way Stop at High Noon

You know the scene well.

You’re driving your wife to one of those enormous department stores that sell all of the kids’ toys ever manufactured in China and you approach a four-way stop.

It’s a lovely late summer morning. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping.

You smile as you pass one of those triangle-shaped yellow signs with a picture of a deer on it because you’ve never seen a deer standing beside one of those signs as it waits to cross the road.

Five minutes later you chuckle out loud when you notice the pickup truck that’s passing you has a sign in the front window that proclaims “DRIVER CARRIES NO MONEY. HE’S MARRIED.”

Then it’s time for you to brake at a four-way stop, and as you stop, you notice another motorist has already halted at the stop-sign on your right.

Because the other driver stopped at his sign a split second before you stopped at yours, you smile at him like maybe he’s a longtime friend or something, then you raise your right hand from the steering wheel to wave him on.

You feel really good about your friendly gesture because you are honoring one of the rules of the road that says the first driver to come to a halt at a stop sign is entitled to the right-of-way. You also feel good about your little wave because you dislike people who engage in road rage.

Oh, sure, you sometimes mutter – or scream out loud – when a tailgater glues himself to your rear bumper.

You also tend to get a tad ticked off when those drivers who aren’t the least bit handicapped park in handicapped zones so they have a shorter walk to the grocery, the doctor’s office and other places.

Then it happens.

Your right hand is still on its way back down to the steering wheel when the other motorist – the one to whom you politely ceded the right-of-way – raises his left hand and waves you on.

You are slightly surprised, but then you raise your hand again and repeat your initial wave on the chance that maybe the other motorist didn’t see it.

But that theory goes down the proverbial tubes when the other driver acknowledges your second wave with a second wave of his own.

At that point, the whole episode suddenly intensifies.

You wave a third time. That wave isn’t nearly as friendly as your first two.

Then he waves a third time. And it is obvious his third wave isn’t as friendly as the first two.

The battle lines have been drawn. All of a sudden, two drivers who didn’t know each other from Adam before their chance meeting at a four-way stop are suddenly locked in an early-morning duel in the sun that overshadows anything Gary Cooper did in the film classic High Noon.

As for you, the motorist you ceded the right-of-way out of politeness is now your mortal enemy. And, judging by the way the other guy’s once-friendly smile is gone from his face, he doesn’t care much for you, either.

But now you’re determined so you wave again. It’s not that friendly wave you offered seconds earlier, but at least it’s a wave.

Then, much to your chagrin, he calls your bet with a wave of his own, and then raises your bet by offering a second wave.

Then, as suddenly as it began, the confrontation is over. After you wave the other driver on for the umpteenth time, he finally stomps on the gas and zooms away without giving you so much as a “thank you” nod.

But you know he’s pleased with the outcome of your little standoff because as he disappears around a corner, he flashes you the “You’re No. 1 sign.”

You can reach Bob at BBatz@woh.rr.com

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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