The Cranky Man in Leesburg

Leaving the Island Girl at college was an extremely stressful event for me and to be honest I cried non-stop from Orlando to almost Ocala.

Thank goodness the Island King was with me because I would have turned that truck around, gone back and would still be there when she graduates in a few years.

So driving north was a tense and stressful event.

Just south of Leesburg, we got off I75 and onto Hwy 27, wanting to wander along for a while.

We pulled into a gas station to fill up and look at the map to decide which roads we wanted to explore on our way home.

The Island King's truck has no AC so after filling up we decided to stay under the shade of the pump overhang while we looked at our map.

We were at one of those places with 20 pumps and we were at the very last one. There were maybe three or four other cars there and still at least 15 open pumps so we sat back, opened the map and enjoyed the shade.

Until we hear a horn honking at us.

In front of us is an elderly man in a white truck and he was yelling out his window, wanting to know what we were doing.

I held up the map and that seemed to infuriate him.

He slammed the truck in gear and almost plowed right into a van driving through the parking lot.

He swung his truck around and backed into the pump on the other side of ours and jumped out yelling.

The Island King is getting mad because there are so many other pumps available and this guy is being a complete jerk. We aren't holding anyone up by sitting here and this guy is throwing a huge hissy fit.

The first thing I said to the Island King was "Just ignore him, I don't want any kind of confrontation right now. I'm freaked out about leaving the Island Girl and the last thing I want is some horrible fight to happen."

But then, the other side of my brain - the one that I really have to keep a tight leash on because it gets me in trouble - kicked in and I realized this would be the perfect chance to let go of my stress, so I smiled and told the Island King to let me have this one.

He knew exactly what I meant and leaned back to watch the show.

I was ready for a fight and the man (who we now see has to be at least 85) jumped out of his truck and walked up to the pump between us and screamed at me that this was a gas pump and we were not supposed to be parked there to read a map because people needed to get gas.

Something about how mad he was over something so stupid struck me as funny so instead of screaming back at him I smiled, waved my arm towards all of the empty pumps and said "That's what those are for"

That sent him right over the edge and he screamed "F*#@% You" as loud as he could and stomped to the back of his truck.

Hearing that word come out of his mouth sent the Island King and I into peals of laughter and I couldn't resist the urge so I yelled back "Does your mother know you talk that way?"

Which really made him mad.

Horrible I know but like I said, the leash was off and out it came.

This time he put the gas cap back on his truck, yelled "A**%*&@$ at us and drove to a pump about 6 down from us.

We laughed some more and went back to the map.

When we got ready to pull out several more cars had come in so about half of the pumps were in use and there were several people pulling up to the store.

As we got close to the cranky man I told the Island King to slow down and as we drove by him I waved and yelled "You have a nice day now, ya hear"

Bless his heart. That man was so mad he screamed "F@#$ You!" at the top of his lungs, causing everyone in the parking lot to turn and stare at him.

I'm telling you, the Island King and I were laughing so hard our sides hurt.

What in the world was that man's problem?

All we can figure is that we were at the last pump and that must be the pump he always uses so he was ticked off because we were hogging up "his" pump.

I know this sounds terrible but his obscenity screaming temper tantrum was exactly what I needed.

We laughed about the whole thing for the next hour and I was finally able to relax a little.

So, to the cranky man in Leesburg, Thank You. I'm sorry we made you so mad but your hissy fit really made me feel better.

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