Startling revelations
One way to show my children that they’re always in my thoughts is to quietly watch them mesmerized by a suspenseful movie. Then right at the scariest part, I sneak up behind them and give a little poke in the ribs with my index finger as I say “How’s the movie going?”
As they accelerate upward towards Mach 3, I always get a response that sounds like the simultaneous exclamation of “Dad!” and “Argh!”.
For the rest of the movie, it’s cute to watch them track my every movement out of the corner of their little eyes.
On the other hand, I have learned to never, ever, startle my wife, Jean. Especially if she has as cup of coffee in her hands. That is, unless, you want to see a caffeinated reenactment of Old Faithful up close and personal.
Speaking of which, Jean rode along with her sister Amy as she went out to run a few errands recently. Amy’s favorite sport is NASCAR, so if she breaks the land speed record while running errands, no big deal. She also has the hair-trigger reactions of a squirrel. On the other hand, Jean is a very, vocally active, safety conscious passenger, if you get my drift.
Somewhere along their route, Jean spots a pedestrian on the verge of entering an up ahead intersection. Perhaps this fellow hasn’t spotted the blur that is Amy’s vehicle or maybe he’s a thrill seeker trying to catch the sonic boom of her acceleration. Either way, Jean feels compel to inform her sister of the situation through the relaxed scream of “Incoming pedestrian!”
Micro seconds later, a startled Amy has slammed on brakes and the vehicle has begun de-accelerating at several Gs resulting in a corresponding chain reaction of panicked drivers behind them. No collisions occurred, but many travel mugs of coffee were probably spilt in this socially shared startling experience.
