Singing in the Rain

I slept about about 64 minutes last night so I'm feeling really..."random" right now. In that spirit, here's a random story that falls into the category of "You have the strangest experiences, Ordale."

One  day in college I found myself driving my girlfriend to work in her car ("her car"--Important detail. Make a note. It will be on the test.). We were on this little two-lane, winding back road beset by trees on both sides. Out of nowhere, an argument erupted. I can't remember what it was about, but I know it was small. For the sake of being thorough let's just say it was about whether Prego really beats Ragu in a blind taste test.

I was so into my Johnny Cochran'ing that I failed to notice that the car up ahead and come to a complete stop. She didn't, and she let out a shriek. Maybe it was the arguing that occurred just moments before, but my synapses were firing on all cylinders. I got this Peter Parker spider sense. In one blink I determined that slamming on the brakes wouldn't do much good because the road was still wet from the earlier shower and we'd skid. I couldn't veer into the other lane because another car was coming and nothing makes you lose an argument like a head-on collision. There were trees to our right but a small enough stretch of dirt that I could possibly go around the car. I chose that option.

No sooner than I swerved to the right did I notice a pointless sign (Slippery When Wet) that was now directly in our path.  Somehow I managed to swerve around the car, slam on the brakes to Tokyo Drift between the car and the sign and get back on the road while coming within inches of the oncoming car. Whatever we were arguing about just ceased to matter after that. At the very next light, a car ran the light and almost hit us. We pulled into the parking lot of her job and I got out and handed her the keys. "I've had enough near death experiences in this car for one day. You keep it. I'll catch the bus back."

After 30 minutes of waiting, I gave up on the bus and decided to walk the five miles back to campus. I figured it'd help my nerves. Funny thing about Durham, NC. Most roads don't have sidewalks, so I found myself walking in muddy grass half the time. My shoes were soaked, my feet were wet and to make things worse it started pouring down raining. I now felt like an idiot. Then the bus that I'd been waiting for flew by me and ran over a big ass puddle completely showering me with pothole water.

It's at that point that I did what the song says, "Have a little talk with Je-sus. Tell Him about your trou-ble." I looked up at the sky and said, "God, can I PLEASE catch a break!" Then I tripped on a rock. I looked down and realized it wasn't a rock. It was some kind of folder or portfolio. I picked it up, unzipped it and inside was someone's day planner. As I was putting it back on the ground where I found it, a 20 dollar bill fell out. That caught my attention. I flipped through the pages and 13 more $20 bills fell out.

For the next two miles I was Gene Kelly singing in the rain.