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Every kid has his/her own private monsters
lurking in the corner. Is it the scary, shaggy monster hiding in
the closet or the big, ugly one under the bed? Every kid has
them, a fear for the monsters lurking in every dark corner in
the house. A fear of these scary monsters especially at night
leads to lights left on in the room or in the hallway. I assume,
as a kid I had my own scary monsters and should have got over
them sometime.
But I have a modern day, grown up fear of
monsters, the big, long and scary type (is there any other
kind?) I face them almost everyday and they never fail to scare
me. I give myself a mental shake and advise myself to act my
age. And unlike the childhood monsters that rear their ugly
heads only at night times, my grown-up monsters show up anytime
of the day and I always say they know when I’ll hit the roads to
make their appearance.
I am talking about those big 10+ wheeler
trucks/lorries that you see on the Houston freeways. Big, large
and scary they are. Carrying big loads and keeping up with the
70 miles per hour speed limit, they are daunting. I am so afraid
they will veer off their track and come head-on with my small
compact car. A logical fear, is it not?
There are different types of drivers on the
road, and I belong to the category, “I drive coz I have to”. I
don’t mind driving but it is not top on my list of favorite
activities. And in a city like Houston with almost nil public
transportation, driving is a skill you need to have. I like to
call myself a pretty conservative driver; I keep within the
speed limit and follow all the rules. I am calm and composed on
the roadway or I act so, I signal before changing lanes, blah,
blah blah.
But the sight of these big monsters on the
road turns me into a mound of jelly. I shake and quiver with
anxiety and worry about the numerous things that can go wrong
when the monsters are on the lane next to me. I try to change
lanes and move as far away from them as possible. And as I
chant, “I can do it” repeatedly, I vow I’ll write to the mayor,
the transportation department and anyone else concerned asking
them to ban these big trucks from the road when I am driving.
The fear of monsters live on and I try
unsuccessfully everyday to overcome them….and, meanwhile, do you
want to join me in forming a “ban monsters on road at peak
hours” club?
- V
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