continuing silence

9/10/14

  He wanted to chat so much that he nearly killed us both.
  I'd dropped off the car and the shuttle driver was giving me a lift home. He was a really nice guy and we were the only people in the van, so i guess he wanted to talk. I didn't speak, so he assumed i was hearing impaired.
  Often when people assume i'm hearing impaired, they will write down whatever they want to say to me. I consider these to be win-win situations, as it makes for 2 silent people instead of just one. The more quiet the better, as far as i'm concerned. Although i may be inclined to change my opinion...
  The driver began furiously writing down conversational queries on a note pad, while he was driving. I kept my responses to plainly visible nods and head shakes as i nervously watched the road ahead of us. Every time he looked downwards to write something out, the van would veer off to the right or left. I tried looking out the side window, but he was determined, and as i felt the van lurch off course, he would wave his note pad in front of me. I "dropped" the pad more than once, taking my time to find it, just so he would look out the windshield occasionally. But his insistence on helping me look for it after the third drop, squelched that strategy.  This person was a great conversationalist and he wasn't going to let a little vehicular homicide deter him. I was less terrified on Space Mountain.
  We eventually made it to my house in one piece because he wound up taking a cell phone call as he gazed out the front windshield. I'm against people chatting on the phone while driving, but in this case i was willing to make an exception.