Writing Prompt: June 4 - "Write a fast-paced scene that takes place during a rush hour."

Leaving work at 4:30 is the best, because if I wait until 5:00...

I leave the parking lot with exactly 10 other people, in 10 other cars, with one exit lane. 5:31pm and I'm already in traffic. The unit across from us is a discount bargain auction warehouse, so naturally, everyone who was able to get off their jobs early, came by there, so now we're trying to turn right and they're trying to turn left, and let me tell you - not everyone understands signaling and right-of-way.

As I wait my turn to exit the lot, my mind is already tracking my next stops. Grocery, Gas, Daycare... then Home, Laundry, DIshes, DInner, Bath, Bed. God, If only the rush hour was an hour. I'll be rushing for the next 5 hours.

I'm now 2nd in line to leave the parking lot, and I've got my mental list going - milk, eggs, ice cream (hope getting gas is quick and traffic eases up while I'm in the store... it is 5pm in JUNE after all), chicken, tomatoes, wait - mayo? are we out of mayo? I think I just bought some, but honestly I can't remember. Whatever, we might just end up with an extra mayo in a cabinet. 1 car left. Only 5% left on my phone. Great. Let's get that plugged in - where's my cabl..

*HONK*

OH, shit. My b. I pull right, quickly, so as not to inconvenience others, and to catch the break between other cars turning left into my lane from the warehouse side.

It's a half-block before there's another stop sign, and I have to turn right again. So there's another line. I'm hurry hurrying up to wait. 5th in line now.

Wonder which gas station has the lowest price? It can vary $0.20/gallon around this town. The QT has it at $2.89/gal up the road, but the BP at the house usually has a better price. Except Tuesdays - for whatever reason. You know, I can just look it up. Let me do that. 3rd in line. Google says the cheapest gas at a reputable station is across town. Scratch that. I have too much to do. I'll take a chance on the BP.

2nd in line. I wonder how daycare was? The lady at dropoff always wants to chat so much. I need to go! Love hearing about the day, but I've got things to do at the house and time just doesn't stand still. I think about how to preempt a conversation when the time comes.

My turn. I'm attentive this time, so no honks. Away we go! pull out quickly, again, to squeeze between cars already in the lane I'm turning right into. Press the gas! Hear the vroom! OH I didn't mean to hit that pothole - hopefully that didn't do anything too much. Cars pass in the opposite direction, a steady "WHOOSH... 1, 2... WHOOSH... 1, 2... WHOOSH..." People are turning right out of my lane ahead of me, but there's apartments on the left and several people are holding up traffic to turn there. The intrepid few who know their cars' dimensions get around on the shoulder, but of course I'm stuck behind a jacked up jeep who forgot that the whole point of jacking up a jeep is so that you don't have to worry about riding the shoulder a bit to GET AROUND HIM, so we can all move on about our day!

Vinegar. That was the other thing on my list. We need vinegar. What are the chances that I can hold onto that memory until I get to the store? We'll see.

OK - pulling up to the first actual stoplight. It's a fair light, never have to wait too long to go - and I do have my dedicated left turn lane, so that's good. Bad news is I'm turning left onto a main drag through the shopping district. There's a movie theatre, Ross, TJ Maxx, Chipolte, Panera, UPS, and a park on one side of the strand.... on the other, there's Target, McDonalds, Chick-Fil-A, Best Buy (Yes! our town still has one), hotels, etc... and then down two blocks of shopping is the interstate and a whole 'nother strand of stores on the other side. So with all the people trying to shop and all the people getting early dinners, and all the people trying to get on the interstate, we're all in a rush to sit at the 3 lights on this drag that are between me and my right turn into the grocery store.

3 or 4 cars are getting through the light at a time, but it's not like they have anywhere to go. It's ok - I'll get through eventually. I only left the parking lot like 5 minutes ago and I'm a grand total of what - 3 blocks away? Just as long as these greedy drivers don't pull out just because their light is green and block the intersection. LIKE THIS GUY. Lord have mercy. Would it have been so hard to wait til there was space for you on the other side? Now your big ol' backend is just sitting in the cross traffic and messing us all up.

Next light cycle, I get lucky and hit two consecutive greens! But there's a back up at the last light and now I need to change to the right to make my turn.

Wind down the window & catch the eye of the guy beside me - Universal point and shrug - the "Can I move in here?". I get a slight dip and an inviting open palm gesture that says "Sure", so I move my nose into the tiny gap and wait for it to widen.

It does, and I gas it to get the lane changed and get out of that polite guy's way as soon as possible. Right turn into the grocery. Ok.

Parking spot? Only the sunny spots. Perfect. Oh well. Windows can be cracked - it's an ok part of the city for that. Purse, keys, phone? yes. Cards? yes. Ok - Cart? Yes. OK. let's get in and get out and on our way.

It's amazing how slow time goes in rush hour. All that and I'm barely a mile away from my start, but it's seriously nearly 15 minutes later. I could walk faster than that. Really! My Garmin says I can walk a 14 minute mile - comfortably.

"Rush" hour. Bah. It's the slowest time of the day, and yet....

[[I set it up to go through her entire trip home, but just thinking through writing that experience basically doubles my own commute that I made today, and sounds exhausting. LOL. I'll just cut it here.]]