Excerpt from Mommy Poisoned Our House Guest (CB Leaver): The Power of Observation

 

The Power of Observation

Once my sister, Echo, had learned to drive, she was much more observant than my mommy was. She belongs to that group of people that Mommy calls detail-observant, so she pays very close attention to all kinds of things that Mommy does not notice at all.

One night after work, my mommy and Echo were driving home together. Well, Mommy, the grande dame of detail-obliviousness, was doing the driving, and clearly, it was Echo, the de­tail-observant, who was doing the watching. That is pretty typi­cal of how they usually drive together.

At the light where Mommy had to make a turn to get onto the highway coming to our town—she and Echo worked in the next town over—there was a long line of cars. That was no sur­prise. There often was a long line at this particular light, espe­cially right after work, so Mommy was sort of expecting a line, anyway.

Mommy could see all the way to the intersection, and the light there was red. So, she got into line behind the cars. She waited and waited.

The light turned green, but the cars in front of her did not move.

After work, Mommy is sometimes patient. So, she waited through another change of lights, while talking to my sister.

Again, the line did not move. Mommy continued to talk to Echo and just waited.

“What are you doing?” Echo asked her.

“I am waiting for the line to move,” Mommy explained.

“But, Mom,” Echo said, looking out her window and figur­ing out what was going on, “all these cars are parked. You’re sitting at the end of a row of parking spaces along the street.”

Oops! Those little details fool Mommy every time!

Conclusion:

If you want to make it home, don’t line up behind a row of parked cars.

For more posts on CB and his book, click HERE.