meeting of the minds

yesterday, i was late for work. it was for a good reason though. i had to be at work for three, and well, my stomach started growling around broadway and claiborne ... so i stopped at bk to rustle me up some bacon on a burger. well, for those of you who don't live here ... this is the slowest drive thru you will ever contend with. i actually read a chapter in my book, brainstormed solutions to the splashback problem when you open a coke, and witnessed a spectacle.

that's right, kids, i said a spectacle.

i was in the turny part of the drive-thru where you're just in sight of the window, but not quite there yet ... i was in between time-filling tasks when i caught sight of the person behind me in my rearview mirror. he was an older gentleman in a white minivan, going about his daily dailies and waiting for his meal with his elbow leisurely perched on his open window.

all of a sudden, he pushes his glasses up with an unsteady hand and flinches. i see his mouth open slightly (perhaps in a gasp) and without moving his body, his arm lunges behind him ... searching for something. the arm whips back with a shaky motion, grasping a rolled up newspaper. that's when i noticed the repeated flicker in the windshield of a wasp beating itself silly on the inside of this poor man's car with the open windows and the shrubberies surrounding the burger king and the definite breeding ground for waspy-goodness.

he bashes repeatedly at the wasp. over and over again, until i'm sure this evil being was merely pulp. he pulls his arm back and inspects the bashing side of the newspaper.

he stops and calms down ... he seems to go back to waiting. suddenly, he's unsure if it's dead and goes back to bashing the life out of it.

he did that three or four more times before i shifted out of park.

before i turned out of the drive thru lane, i glimpsed a faint smile on his lips.

truly an accomplished man.