We were driving home in the Mercedes at night on the Blue Route in the pouring rain. Lou was driving in the middle lane, doing a little faster than the speed limit. A car came up behind us and was flashing its headlights. Lou said, “I don’t know where he thinks I can go,” because there was a fair amount of traffic in the right lane. He didn’t turn on his directional to move over, he just kept at the same speed with the flow of traffic in the lane. Then the car behind us got up close, tailgating our bumper, and again flashing the headlights, and I could see it was a big vehicle, like a van. I could also see what the driver was doing had really pissed off Lou, who slowed our car down. Anjelica was sleeping in a car seat in the back, and I asked Lou to just let the guy go. He just ignored me, and the guy stayed on our tail as we went slower, and then faster. Then Lou suddenly hit the brakes. I was pissed but asked him again to please let it go. I watched through my side view mirror as the van dropped way back, then moved into the right lane and accelerated. I kept my head straight forward and looked out of the corner of my eye to avoid eye contact so I could ignore whatever gesture was likely to follow. What I saw made me quickly turn my head to look straight at the driver’s side window and into the barrel of a shotgun pointed at me. I shouted at Lou, “He’s got a gun!” and once again, Lou hit the brakes. We got behind the car and wrote down the license plate number. I remembered that I had a cell phone, called 911, and gave them the information as we followed the vehicle, which eventually exited the highway. We saw first one, then two then three or more police cars eventually converge on the vehicle. The police approached the vehicle with their guns drawn. As the driver got out of the car with his hands behind his head, I prayed that I was right about what I saw. They handcuffed the guy and sat him in the back of one of the cruisers, and I watched as they pulled 2 rifles out of the van.

These stupid road rage incidents make me crazy. There are just a bunch of idiots out there looking for someone to play their little games. Who cares? Lou cares. And every guy driving around with too much testosterone in his blood stream. I can always feel it coming. Something stupid happens on the road, and it’s like the ding of the bell marking the start of a boxing round. And every time, I end up begging Lou to let it go. Especially when Anjelica is in the car. But I can’t think of a single time when he let it go.