Random Street Scenes III

I spent the morning in the local ER with my son who was doubled over with abdominal pain and vomiting.

He's fine, thankfully, but it's not his story I'm writing. Not that it isn't interesting, but I suspect it's probably only interesting to me and those who know him.

What was more interesting was the conversation going on in the bay next to us.

The patient, a woman, had been in a car accident. Her injuries were not horribly serious, fortunately, but she was banged up pretty good and was quite upset over the whole incident.

She kept asking for her husband and when he arrived, she completely broke down. Sobbing over the damage to the car, the impending insurance hassles, the possible legal problems if the other driver decided to sue even though it wasn't her fault, she summed up her frustration by saying, "Boy, when I screw up, I really screw the pooch, don't I?"

I'm not familiar with this particular saying, but now that I've heard it, I've decided I want to use it as often as possible although preferably when someone else screws up and not me.

Meanwhile, her husband was doing a terrific job of being supportive and trying to calm her down. He kept reassuring her that everything would work out and the most important thing was that she was not seriously injured. He seemed to be very calm and I was grateful he wasn't one of those husbands who freak out about the car before asking about their spouse.

Even so, he did seem to have something on his mind because as gentle as he was he kept pushing her through her story. Finally, when his wife stopped crying and seemed a little more settled he got to ask the burning question that apparently had been on his mind ever since he got there.

I heard him ask in a tentative, almost childlike tone, "So....what's it like when those air bags go off?"

That is such a guy question.