words with strangers

I was riding my bike home from school on Wednesday. Riding up Leesburg Pike, I came to a crosswalk at George Mason Drive where a car had stopped at a yield sign. We made eye contact, I had slowed to make sure she was going to let me go. Assuming we understood each other, I proceeded and found out we in fact did not understand each other when she hit the gas as I was just passing in front of her car. She hit my bike. my body landed against her hood and I rolled off onto the road.

I had just been involved in a car accident two days prior, at the other driver's fault. I hadn't known how to react to the accident; shock overrode any other lingering feelings about the situation.

This time was different. I bypassed shock and moved immediately to frustration brimming anger. Not thinking, I got up from the ground, shoved my bike to the side of the road and slammed the shoulder bag I'd been carrying to the ground. I turned around and looked at the nerdy forty something as she got out of her car:

"What the FUCK, are you SERIOUS?"

"I'm sorry! I thought we made eye contact and that you were going to stop!"

"Yeah, it's a fucking crosswalk and you've got a yield! can't you see?"

"Yeah but I thought you were letting me go!"

Anger was taking over. "It's still a crosswalk and you're supposed to let pedestrians go I can't fucking BELIEVE YOU"

"Now you hold on there, I didn't know what you were doing, goddamnit, and it was not on purpose"

She was plump, wore a lace collared white blouse buttoned up to her neck and a flower print skirt that came nearly to her ankles. She wore glasses and had her hair worn as unstylishly as possible. She spoke very correctly with well-annunciated diction. For some reason, hearing her say 'goddamnit' alerted me to just how upset I was making her. I calmed down.

"Now look, I'm not going to sue you or anything so just calm down. I just got hit two days ago and I just don't get why the fuck it happened again."

"I see, well I understand. I'm sorry this happened"

"Alright well let me get your insurance information" matter of factly.

She left her car slightly veered to the side of the single right-turn lane with just enough space to let cars go by while we exchanged information. Despite their ability to pass, several cars made it a point to honk and fuss about the impediment.

One black-BMW-driving Arabic man in particular:

"Yo, move your car it's in the way"

He began to drive away

A little agitated at his pointless whining, I say, "Yeah, whatever

He stops his car and his gaze meets mine intensely. "What did you say?"

"Dude, just keep going, you're clear to go"

"Her car is in the way, she should move it!"

"Dude, it DOESN'T MATTER just go we'll move it soon, just go away"

He was choking on indignance. I wasn't docile. He was pissed:

"Man, fuck you"

"MAN fuck YOU, i just got HIT by a fucking CAR, keep going it's none of your fucking BUSINESS"

"shut the FUCK UP"

"FUCKING GO"

It was at this clear impasse that he fucking went.