The air conditioning in this vehicle kicked the bucket long ago, so I prefer to drive with all of the windows down rather than sit inside roasting in the sunlight. I was driving along, listening to music, and really enjoying the beautiful, sunny day.
Suddenly I saw two large "SPLAT" marks appear on the windshield. As I sat and contemplated the fact that I had just killed my first animals with a vehicle, one of the (as I later found out) wasps that had escaped their untimely demise managed to fly into my open window and up my sleeve, coming to rest on an unsuspecting patch of my back. The wasp, I suppose, paused a minute to savor the feeling of avenging his recently splattered siblings, and then with little ceremony, plunged his stinger into my body. I yelped. Loudly.
I've been stung by wasps before. Mostly while I was on staff at Camp Indian Trails last year. But somehow the sting of a wasp avenging the senseless murder of his fellow wasps tends to hurt a lot more than a normal sting. It felt like a red hot needle of justice being inserted into my skin, and pumping in something like battery acid.
Anyway, after yelping, I could still feel the apparently satisfied wasp buzzing and squirming around gleefully in my shirt. This is not a pleasant sensation to experience while motoring along at fifty miles per hour. After narrowly avoiding the oncoming traffic, I managed to pull onto a nearby curb, leap from my vehicle, and frantically remove my shirt, shaking it at arms length to try to liberate the insect within. Some poor suburbanite was watering plants in his front yard across the street. He calmly watched this happen, hose in hand, causing major flooding to his tulips.
I finally got the offending bug out of my clothing, and tried to maintain at least a slight air of dignity as I donned my shirt. Despite my efforts to not look ridiculous, the man continued staring at me. I nodded solemnly and uttered a few words about stinging insects and windows. He nodded nervously and backed away as I got back into the car and resumed driving. I still wonder what he thought was going on. All the way to the library I jumped and gasped at slightest sensation of anything touching my body, fearing that more wasps were hiding in the car.
I eventually got to the library, which brings me to the main point of this post. It's weird finally having a drivers license. Being able to go pretty much anywhere alone is a surprisingly scary feeling. The first time I drove alone I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd stolen the car and was going to be pulled over and arrested at any moment.
That being said, it's really nice to have that bit of independance. Since I have yet to crash, I'm allowed to use the van. It gets about fourteen miles per gallon in the city so I'm glad I'm not paying for the gas (yet.)
After the wasp incident I had a relaxing afternoon basking in a sunny window in the library, reading the latest issue of Wired magazine.
Needless to say I drove home with the windows firmly closed.
Wow, not fun.
ReplyDeleteThat man probably thought you were drunk or something. XD