TheBanyanTree: King Tut Behind the Wheel

[redclay]

14:43
March 3rd, 2009
Circle K Convenience Store at I-75
Ocala, Florida



   I finished filling the rental car with gas, waited for the receipt to print 
at the pump and then, as a courtesy, moved the car to a parking space directly 
in front of the convenience store.  It was a busy day at the Circle K.

   I went inside for a quick bathroom break, then picked up a fresh cup of 
coffee and a couple of snacks for the road.  I paid the tab for the coffee and 
snacks, got my receipt,  and as I exited the store, I saw something that, to 
be frank, literally terrified me.

   In the car next to mine sat an elderly man behind the wheel of a mid-90s 
Mercury Montego.   This man had apparently pulled up to the store front and 
parked his car in the open space next to mine while I was inside the store.  

   Do you know that look, that "mummy" look I'll call it for a lack of a 
better term, that an elderly person's face takes on when of a very advanced 
age and near death?

   Picture the extreme sag of skin, sallow tint, & leathery texture of a 
mummy's countenance and you have a good idea of what this man looked like as I 
stared, with open mouth no doubt, for a brief moment into the Montego.

  It was like looking into the exhumed grave of a mummified man buried in his 
beloved Mercury.  Well, except mummies are rarely buried with an oxygen hose 
running into their nostrils and an green cylinder oxygen tank propped up in 
the back seat behind him.

   To his right sat his queen, who looked like she was nearly as badly off as 
her beloved king, appeared to be poured into her seat.  She looked at limp as 
a wet dish rag and her seat was adjusted to a near horizontal position.  

   She truly looked ready to accompany her king through the land of the 
underworld.   The only thing missing were the sacred cats and a box of scarab 
beetles.

   When I managed to get my wits back enough to get into my own car, my first 
thought was to get the heck out of there before I encountered this guy on the 
road.  I shuddered to think what would happen if he slipped into eternity 
while negotiating the highways of Central Florida.

   As I drove off I glanced back at the Montego.  I just had to take a quick 
look at his license plate.  I hoped and prayed that the plates would indicate 
that he was local.

  "Ohio, Cuyahoga County" it said.  

   I felt myself shudder again as I drove off into the temporarily relative 
safety of the world beyond the Circle K. 


  bd
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