Anti-Freeze

The coffee shop where I spend most of my coffee shop-time at installed countertops along the windows that face Main St recently. At first I felt ambivalent about this development. Now I like it. The countertop allows one to spread out a bit more. I say this as set-up for what follows.

I was studying for my oral exam "do-over" tomorrow when a taxi cab pulled up alongside the coffee shop. The little Hobbit gentleman named George who comes in ever so often got out of the cab and began plodding his way inside. Meanwhile the taxi cab starts steaming and a river of bright green, highly toxic anti-freeze is streaming from underneath the car. Obviously the radiator is busted. I watch in horror as the rills of green death stream towards the gutter, towards the storm drain, and towards the water supply. I become increasingly agitated as I imagine any one of the countless dogs that bounce along with their owners dipping an unsuspecting paw in the glop. I pictured people tracking it home and toxifying their homes. Yet I am utterly paralyzed.

The irony is that I have been wearing an old boy scout t-shirt. Now despite all the bad things about Scouting (let me count the ways), it is meant to prepare you for moments like this (see the Oath and Motto to understand this little guilt-making machine). Again, I just sat there, agitated, disturbed but passive.

The driver pushed his car over and the useless junk store owner across the street dug out a watering can. They were trying to add water to the radiator (but of course it was just passing right through and onto the street). The anti-freeze was beginning to evaporate. I shrugged off my desire to leave immediately and began studying again.

The prelude to this story occurred when I first arrived. A woman (who is always toting around a musical instrument of some description) yelled at the guy cleaning the windows for spraying window cleaner "around people who are eating."