Off The Road

 The roads in swamp Florida are thin strips of civilization that must constantly be defended from the constant press of nature pressing to take it back. They are generally winding, thin and absolutely without shoulder. They are often on a berm to keep them out of the wettest and lowest of the bog and the result is that you drive on the tops of long hills with little to no margin for error. The first night of our visit the cousins their friend and I jumped in the miniature van and drove the few miles to the junior college to go and play racquetball. On the way we were overtaken by an ambulance, lights and sirens and my cousin, quite correctly, pulled over to the side which meant into the sloping vegetation which made up the non-existent shoulder. When the ambulance had passed my cousin tried to pull back onto the road but with the wheel turned too hard just succeeded in sliding down the embankment and down into swamp territory. He tried a couple of times to drive up but with too aggressive an attack the van just slid around and deeper into the bayou. A little nervous and frustrated he turned the van over to me to try and get out of the mush. With a few kids pushing to get it started I took a nice gentle line back up the hill and onto the road and soon we were back on the way to play some racquetball. My cousin's friend mentioned that she was impressed at my driving ability and I had to admire her excellent judgment of character. That is when I think I decided she needed to be pursued so I turned up the full force of my over-eager seventeen year-old charm and was a little louder and more trying-too-hard-to-be-funny then even usual.