Standing at the baggage claim carousel at the start of the New Year, waiting for my luggage, long after everyone else found their own and trudged off into the heat and traffic of Los Angeles, I wondered if they could possibly have sent my bags to Seattle twice in a row. On my last trip here, I spent two days at a friend's, not able to retrieve my car, as my keys were in Seattle, along with my phone charger, shaving kit, and a few other items that make life difficult by their absence.
There was a moment when I panicked. Maybe this year was not to be a step forward at all. Maybe the promise of 2008, the release of our country from the sinister clutches of the most corrupt administration in history, the awakening of an entire nation from a corporate owned media induced somnambulistic trance, the end of a difficult and bumpy period for me personally, was so much sea foam and mist. Beautiful to behold, but impossible to grasp.
Then I saw it. My trunk. Way off to the side, in the wrong place, waiting almost an hour for me to abandon my infuriatingly polite, superhuman display of patience and wander around to see if I might have better luck finding my luggage myself.
Relax. My belongings are safely arrived with me. Life is good. The year does indeed hold promise. Things will work out smoothly and effortlessly. Money will flow toward me. My career will take off. This year will bring an end to the stress and struggles of the past. After all, nothing wound up in the wrong city this time. People did their jobs correctly. No one made any mistakes. My faith in the human race was momentarily restored.
Then, as I am listening to a message on my phone from a friend telling me that my parked car had been hit in the middle of the night by a driver who was most likely drunk and most probably uninsured, and who left the scene without leaving a note, the bus pulling from the curb grabbed hold of my luggage and began to drag it away.
No kidding. The moron driving the bus with the jagged rear bumper pulled away in such a way that the back of the vehicle came up over the curb, snared my suitcase and dragged it about ten feet before tearing free. My shouts to the driver to stop went unheard. Or unheeded. He took off into the traffic, leaving my damaged suitcase as a mild diversion from the more damaged Saturn awaiting my return.
The next bus pulled in a few minutes later. When we arrived at the station, I saw the one with the jagged bumper. I approached its moron driver and politely told him what had occurred. He began yelling at me to call the company and complain that I was standing too close to the curb! No apology. No acknowledgment that he had done anything wrong. That he was lucky he didn't drag a dog or a kid or that his jagged bumper hadn't caught onto my leg. This jerk was actually trying to blame me! He was so hostile and rude. If he had simply said he was sorry, I would have been fine. Torn and broken luggage isn't that big a deal when compared to a smashed up car.
Since he chose to be unreasonable and nasty, I called the number on the side of the bus. The one under the question "How's my driving?" After filing a complaint, I went to the office of the bus depot and filled out a form for the damage to my luggage.
Then it was on to see the damage to my car. It was hard to imagine how the accident took place. The other fellow must have been going very fast and then swerved suddenly and violently to the right just as he was passing my car. It looked like a giant shark had taken a bite out of the side. The impact was over the rear wheel. Rear door destroyed. Car knocked on an angle from the force. Passenger side rear wheel pressed so hard against the curb that the wheel was bent.
My beautiful Saturn. Waiting there as patiently as I do. Innocently standing by the curb. Optimistically searching the baggage carousel. Then BAM! Mindlessness. Madness. The harm that people do through incompetence or inconsideration or just plain carelessness. Pull away without stopping. Drive away to leave the scene of a crime. Maybe he didn't feel responsible, either. Maybe he didn't see anything wrong with what he did. Maybe he thought it was my fault, too?
I've heard that just before a period of growth or progress, the universe can throw chaos in a person's path. Torn luggage. Broken Saturn. Meaningless mishaps, or signs of the good things to come?
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