⏱ 3 min lugemine

A narrow, winding road, annoyingly long, like Luige–Järvakandi–Are. The end of a workday and a workweek, heavy traffic in both directions. The road is a bit slippery too, but I’m in no rush. Good music, a great mood (I haven’t been to work for several days). I set the cruise control to 80 and enjoy the ride.

I’d driven less than a minute when I started to feel like a locomotive, a proper train forming behind me. The car behind honked and flashed its lights. I clicked my rear fog lights on and off – hey, I’m partying too. It glued itself right to my bumper and switched on full beams; I answered with my brake lights.

After the next bend there was a straighter stretch, no oncoming traffic. I signaled right, go on, floor it. He hesitated and missed the moment; from somewhere farther back, “rockets” appeared with full beams blazing. As they passed me, there was enthusiastic waving, one even had the window rolled down. Must’ve been listening to good music!

The last one barely made it back into his lane; he and the oncoming car exchanged flashing lights, probably sharing intel on whose cabin had the better beat thumping. Just to be safe, they added a little honking.

My “tail” seemed to be sitting right on my tow hitch, his headlights weren’t visible in any mirror. I turned on the interior lights and waved at him. I’ve got a great beat going, let’s enjoy the ride!

Suddenly the entire road lit up white, like a cleaner had walked in and flipped on the ceiling lights. Some SUV guy switched on every auxiliary light he had and blasted past us with a rumbling bass. Even oncoming cars made room for him, squeezing over while flashing lights and chirping horns.
Then I remembered, I’ve got a wicked headlamp. I set it to red flashing mode and aimed the beam backward. The car behind must’ve locked up the brakes and it went dark somehow. For a while, I cruised along nicely.

Eventually the car behind recovered and planted itself back on the hook. On the better straight sections I signaled for him to pass, but no luck. I turned the hazard lights back on, switched off the rest, and dropped my speed to 50. Then he passed and the whole remaining echelon with him.

A pleasant darkness formed behind me.

Up ahead… that same guy stayed right in front of me, hesitating. Everyone else was gone. Well, fine then, let’s keep rocking. I turned the lights back on, hazards off, left indicator on to pass, but he wouldn’t let me – he accelerated too.

But I’ve got one more cool lamp. An old club from US Army gear. I put the blue lens on it and aimed the light at the floor so nothing would show outside. Red headlamp flashing again, placed on the dashboard. With the blue lamp, I imitated an emergency vehicle light on the dash.

Ha! That cooled him down, he pulled over to the roadside. I flashed my lights, gave a quick honk, and drove past.

Sit there and think about your life.

With an empty road ahead, good music playing, and a slight grin on my face, I drove on.

The tail stayed stuck to the hook.