Two friends and I were headed for the beach in a pickup truck. I was wedged in the middle, C driving, S in passenger seat.
We reach residential neighborhood; child playing street far ahead, C slows to 15 mph (speed limit is 25 mph). Old man is with child, they're in the middle of road, not showing any sign of leaving. C slows to 5 mph, old man and child leave road, we pass into wooded area, C accelerates to 25. We go to beach. Beach good. Half-hour later, we are returning. C again driving slowly. Same old man and child in middle of road. Old man standing resolutely, kid behind him. C stops car. Old man comes to window. The following exchange occurs:
Old Man: ''You morons coming though here doing 35 could've killed my grandson.''
C: ''Uhhh...that would be bad.''
OM (in threatening voice): ''You kill my grandson, or even maim him, I'll put a 0.38 slug right through your f^cking head.''
C: ''Well, that's not really polite.'' (Puts truck in gear.)
OM: ''No. Yeah. Yeah. I'm 68 years old. I don't care if I go to prison for the rest of my life.''
C drives off.
Now, how were we supposed to react to this? Does he often play in the road and use that kind of language with the grandson over whom he's so protective? Should this person be trusted to own guns, if in fact he does? Did he rehearse his whole ridiculous spiel while we were at the beach?
We considered calling the police, but decided against it as we didn't know how serious this was. The ironic thing about that is that right before OM was playing out his ridiculous fantasies about defending his home, the three of us had created the coolest piece of public art ever to hit Kennebunk Beach.
So, yeah, if you're over thirty, own a home, are a respected member of your community, a gun owner or a possessor of a Maine accent, then, taking his example, you're on my sh!t list.
RC (too peeved for just one verb tense)
Originally posted by royalchickenbad stuff given your description of events, imo.
We considered calling the police, but decided against it as we didn't know how serious this was.
it sounded like a pretty serious threat - regardless of whether he was serious.
perhaps you should at least mention it to the police and see what they say?
in friendship,
prad
Originally posted by pradtfWe didn't know his name or exactly which house he was affiliated with. However, had S's cellphone had live batteries we would have called.
it sounded like a pretty serious threat given your description - regardless of whether he was serious, imo.
perhaps you should at least mention it to the police and see what they say?
in friendship,
prad
I didn't feel threatened so much as lose my faith in humanity.
Originally posted by royalchickenno, but your day was ruined and that is unfortunate.
I didn't feel threatened so much as lose my faith in humanity.
and if there is any actual capability behind the threats, it could be more than just someone's day.
in any case, if you have no way to track him what else could you have done, right?
kind of makes me think of the 'fake cellphone' bit in the other thread.
perhaps if you had used the empty cellphone to call the police, the guy might have got the message.
then again he might have got his gun and that might have not been empty. 🙁
so may be you did the best thing under the circumstances.
it's all really too bad regardless.
in friendship,
prad
Originally posted by royalchickenOne shouldn't lose faith in humanity because of the actions of one jerk.
We didn't know his name or exactly which house he was affiliated with. However, had S's cellphone had live batteries we would have called.
I didn't feel threatened so much as lose my faith in humanity.
You're still young, don't get disillusioned until you reach 40-ish. By then you will have had enough experience to realize that the world is full of a-holes.
I'm sure he had every right to feel threatened, because he did not have the benefit of a speedometer and I understand the way people feel about perceived threats to their children. However, perhaps he'd like to consider that acting like that is not the best way to express that worry, especially since he was objectively wrong and all of the risk was incurred by him.
Blargh. I'm not really being cynical and I'm sure it's only a temporary loss of faith. Sorry to bring this all up; I just felt like a rant.
Originally posted by royalchickenthere's nothing to be sorry about.
Blargh. I'm not really being cynical and I'm sure it's only a temporary loss of faith. Sorry to bring this all up; I just felt like a rant.
it is understandable to find that sort of thing disconcerting to say the least.
not nice stuff.
just keep that cell phone charged next time you head for the beach 😉
in friendship,
prad
Originally posted by royalchickenThat was a very disappointing story. When you came back and saw him in the street again I was instantly thinking nightmare-ish thoughts, like you were trapped in the friggin Twilight Zone or something. And then all he does is make some outlandish threats. Hmph...
Two friends and I were headed for the beach in a pickup truck. I was wedged in the middle, C driving, S in passenger seat.
We reach residential neighborhood; child playing street far ahead, C slows to 15 mph (speed limit is 25 mph). Old man is with child, they're in the middle of road, not showing any sign of leaving. C slows to 5 mph, old man an ...[text shortened]... , taking his example, you're on my sh!t list.
RC (too peeved for just one verb tense)
-Kev
Originally posted by seraphimvultureLOL.
That was a very disappointing story. When you came back and saw him in the street again I was instantly thinking nightmare-ish thoughts, like you were trapped in the friggin Twilight Zone or something. And then all he does is make some outlandish threats. Hmph...
-Kev
🙂 Royalchicken, Sir?
May I ask why you gave up your wonderful day?😕
Some grumpy old man drops a load of manure...you pick it up and carry it off with you?😠
Perhaps, you should drop the pile, wash your hands and get on with your great day?😉
BTW, What wonderful piece of public art did you and your friends create?😀
Originally posted by AynatWell, I suppose you should be addressed as 'Madam', since your name backwards, like the word 'madam', is befitting of the title 😉.
🙂 Royalchicken, Sir?
May I ask why you gave up your wonderful day?😕
Some grumpy old man drops a load of manure...you pick it up and carry it off with you?😠
Perhaps, you should drop the pile, wash your hands and get on with your gr ...[text shortened]... t wonderful piece of public art did you and your friends create?😀
Anyway, that's very nice of you to post.
We figured out cool ways of balancing pointy rocks on the concrete sea-wall and with some practice managed to balance some quite large ones in cool configurations. I exploited a very long thin crack in the edge of the sea-wall to perch a row of tall pointy rocks in ridiculously precarious ways. C became quite adept at playing off the fact that weight (and thus the all-important frictional force between the rock and the seawall) increases faster than cros-sectional are as rock get larger, and therefore to a point (NPI) the balancing is easier with large rocks; he made some cool periods. S did a cool cantilever thingy alternating small round rock with long thin ones. All told, we covered a thirty-foot stretch of wall with our sculpture.
Then we dodged bullets.
We may do this again before we all part ways soon, so I'll take pictures next time, as it really is pretty funky. C is a terribly clever fellow, and it was he who said ''I wish those pointy rocks would balance''.
This wasn't nearly as threatening an experience as yours, but last week I was driving in heavy traffic. I had my car radio tuned to a talk radio station. The host was dispensing a monologue chock-full of things I think are false. I have a habit, in such situations, of talking out loud as if I am in the same room with the person on the radio, telling the person why he is wrong.
There was a fancy new SUV right in front of me. As I was muttering, the driver's window came down and the driver's hand came out to just behind the SUV's side-view mirror, and a certain finger was extended. Then the driver's head came out and positioned itself to where I could see the face in the side-view mirror, and mouthed a two-word epithet, just in case the gesture had been missed. I am guessing she saw me in her mirror and thought I was complaining about her driving, and wanted to let me know what she thought of me. As always in such potentially confrontational situations, I just shrugged it off. 😏