...one of the few times I remember my mom doing something that made me look up to her, was when I was about 12 or 13...we were at her friend's house (actually, it was a trailer park....white trash, maybe, but upper white trash, mind you). Several kids and I were playing in the street (just in case you've never been through a trailer park neighborhood, it's more like a huge connected driveway), when this car came around a corner, tires squealing. We all ran back into the yard, some of us screaming and hollering. My mom comes flying out the front door just as this guy passes us and yells out "SLOW DOWN!!" It must have pissed him off, because he stops his car and backs up until he's able to pull into the driveway. Of course this was something that made everyone in sight syop in their tracks...
...from what I remember this gomer was a bit soused. I also remember the shock of hearing such words coming from this man, directed at my mother, of course: "bitch" and "fuck you." I believe there might have been a"kiss my ass" somewhere in there, also.
...mom was angry. But when she heard this man say these things, the change in her was, to say the least, interesting. I have no idea where she found it, but mom had a two by four in her hands and was hitting the man's car door. Each time she said something, she'd hit the door, hard. WHACK! "you practically came around that corner WHACK! on WHACK! two WHACK! wheels!!" This guy's eyes got real big and he yelled something else...WHACK! "you call me WHACK! a bitch! WHACK! I'll show you WHACK! what a bitch is!" (These last two or three words were said at the same time she hit the car door) "There are kids playing out here and you need to WHACK! slow WHACK! down!"
...I think the look of a crazed woman wielding a two by four surrounded by all the neighbor kids was a bit much, because as fast as he pulled into that driveway, he pulled back out and sped off, my mom following after him a few feet out onto the road. Then she turned around, calm as can be, and started back into the house (um...mobile home).
...in spite of everything now, I thought that was cool...
posted by Wanting at 8:28 PM