Bird makes drive more enjoyable

By Leada Gore (Contact) | Clanton Advertiser

Published Wednesday, April 15, 2009

It was late Sunday afternoon, and we were driving through the rain to make our way back home to North Alabama.

It has been a good—albeit long—day. We’d visited with family, eaten more than we thought possible and enjoyed several Easter egg hunts.

Sutton was snoozing in her car seat, and I was half asleep in the passenger seat. Greg was driving, commenting occasionally that the rain seemed to be picking up.

The rain started coming down pretty hard, prompting most drivers to slow down. It was shortly after this happened that I glanced over at the small silver car that had pulled up next to us.

That’s when I noticed something in the driver’s side front window that caught my attention.

“Did you see that?” I asked quickly as I looked over at the car again.

And there it was. 

The driver of the car was giving us the universal sign of disapproval.

A one-fingered welcome.

A middle-digit salute.

The driver was flipping us the bird.

“What in the world is that about?” I asked between laughter. “No one has given me the finger in 20-something years!”

We both started laughing. Making this even more hilarious was the person who managed to drive while keeping their middle finger pressed to the driver’s window was no teenager. This was a grown man, who apparently felt the need to express himself in this way.

Greg doesn’t have any bumper stickers or logos on his truck, so I don’t think that prompted the display. Maybe the man didn’t like Honda trucks. Or white trucks. Or trucks in general. Or maybe he thought we weren’t driving fast enough, though he might have wanted to notice that we were one of several cars in a long line.

Maybe he wasn’t giving us the finger at all. Maybe he was saying “look up” or “I’m number one” or something of the sort. Maybe he had an itch on his nose, got confused and scratched the window instead.

Or maybe he was just a jerk.

No matter what the cause, I wish I could tell him that he made our trip back home much more enjoyable. We laughed and talked about Bird Man most of the way home.

So, if you see an older white man with dark hair driving a four-door silver Acura coup, give him a wave for me.

I’ll let you choose which finger you use.

– Leada Gore is the editor and publisher of The Hartselle Enquirer. Her column appears each Thursday.

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