Take My Keys

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It was the Saturday of Independence Day weekend, and busy enough so a few cars had been circling the lot, the drivers looking for places to park theirs.

One car was driven by a very young woman. (Maybe she was out of her teens.) An older woman (her mother?) sat in the passenger seat. After several circles of the lot, the young woman stopped her car in front of me. She said they’d noticed some cars parked behind other cars, the second car blocking the first.

(Expectant pause)

I said those cars had come together. I said the people in those cars knew each other and would be leaving together.

The young woman wondered if it would be ok if she parked her car so it would block another car.

(Expectant pause)

I told her no. I told her she shouldn’t block a stranger’s car. I told her the strangers in the car she blocked would be mad at her if they wanted to leave first but were stuck because her car was in the way.

I thought I could leave my keys with you…the young woman said.

(Expectant pause)

No, I told her.

Apparently she thought I could hang onto her keys, remember what car the keys belonged to, remember where her car was parked, and know who was driving the car she had blocked in. She obviously didn’t realize I have to check to make sure I’m wearing pants every morning before I emerge from the van.

She also assumed I could be trusted with her car, trusted not to steal it and trusted not to back it into anything.

While she’s right that I can be trusted not to steal her car (not only do I think it’s wrong to steal, but what would I do with a stolen car?), she doesn’t know I’m not a thief. And as far as not backing into anything, I’m careful, but I can’t offer any guarantees when it comes to my driving.

What gets me is how some suspicious people think I can’t be trusted with a $5 bill and other strangers want to hand me their keys and allow me to take possession of their car.

About Blaize Sun

My name is Blaize Sun. Maybe that's the name my family gave me; maybe it's not. In any case, that's the name I'm using here and now. I've been a rubber tramp for nearly a decade.I like to see places I've never seen before, and I like to visit the places I love again and again. For most of my years on the road, my primary residence was my van. For almost half of the time I was a van dweller, I was going it alone. Now I have a little travel trailer parked in a small RV park in a small desert town. I also have a minivan to travel in. When it gets too hot for me in my desert, I get in my minivan and move up in elevation to find cooler temperatures or I house sit in town in a place with air conditioning I was a work camper in a remote National Forest recreation area on a mountain for four seasons. I was a camp host and parking lot attendant for two seasons and wrote a book about my experiences called Confessions of a Work Camper: Tales from the Woods. During the last two seasons as a work camper on that mountain, I was a clerk in a campground store. I'm also a house and pet sitter, and I pick up odd jobs when I can. I'm primarily a writer, but I also create beautiful little collages; hand make hemp jewelry and warm, colorful winter hats; and use my creative and artistic skills to decorate my life and brighten the lives of others. My goal (for my writing and my life) is to be real. I don't like fake, and I don't want to share fake. I want to share my authentic thoughts and feelings. I want to give others space and permission to share their authentic selves. Sometimes I think the best way to support others is to leave them alone and allow them to be. I am more than just a rubber tramp artist. I'm fat. I'm funny. I'm flawed. I try to be kind. I'm often grouchy. I am awed by the stars in the dark desert night. I hope my writing moves people. If my writing makes someone laugh or cry or feel angry or happy or troubled or comforted, I have done my job. If my writing makes someone think and question and try a little harder, I've done my job. If my writing opens a door for someone, changes a life, I have done my job well. I hope you enjoy my blog posts, my word and pictures, the work I've done to express myself in a way others will understand. I hope you appreciate the time and energy I put into each post. I hope you will click the like button each time you like what you have read. I hope you will share posts with the people in your life. I hope you'll leave a comment and share your authentic self with me and this blog's other readers. Thank you for reading.  A writer without readers is very sad indeed.

7 Responses »

  1. Wow…sounds like a very busy parking lot! Totally preposterous as to how some people reason. If you had taken the keys to her car and another person hit her car in any way, this blog may have gone a different way. Glad to hear you have common sense!

    • You make a really good point I hadn’t even thought about Cindy. If I had parked her car, I would have been responsible for anything that happened due to the way it was parked. I’m sure the company I work for does not have me insured for parking people’s cars.

      Thanks for reading and commenting, Cindy.

  2. Cindy (above) said “Totally preposterous as to how some people reason”.

    Truer words were never posted.

    Actually, I don’t think they’re capable of reasoning. They want – want – want — and their “thinking” (if you can call it that) doesn’t go beyond what they want.

    Basically, they can’t connect the dots (i.e., what will happen if I do this?). They can’t even connect TWO dots.

    I have a mid-20s fellow across the street who is badly afflicted with that problem. Here’s how his brain works:

    * If I drive as fast as this car can go with five buddies in here, nothing bad will happen. (Results: Failed to make the turn into a residential area and sheered off a power pole- no insurance. A few weeks before, one of his buddies did the same thing and totalled a mobile home.)

    * If I sell cocaine and ectascy, nothing bad will happen. (He shifted blame to one of his buddies, who got arrested.)

    * If I let my livestock-chasing/killing dog run loose, nothing bad will happen. (She jumped two fences to kill several of my free-range poultry, so I took her to the dog pound; two weeks later, she ran past me into my house and chased my cats, so I took her back to the dog pound. He called police and said I stole the dog.)

    * If I act belligerant to the police, nothing bad will happen. (Cop called for backup and when I got home from work, there were eight LEO cars there with lights flashing, and he was cuffed and stuffed into a police car, but not arrested.)

    Just think: in 20 years or so, these people will be running the country.

  3. Se la vie!!! I will never understand. I’m enjoying your time as a camp host and living vicariously through your posts until I can get out and get my own adventures. Thanks for your continued posts.

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