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A really, really long time ago... I was in my very early 20's and was working at a local mall. At the time (mid 1990's) my daily driver was a 1940 Dodge "Luxury Liner". It was a driver... paint looked good from 10' away, ran decent and everything (usually) worked. But the problem with things that stand out is that people like to mess with them. I had gas caps stolen, notes left on it, would occassionally see people sitting on it and one day came out to find my hood ornament ripped off!!!
The day after the "hood ormanent incident", while leaving work I see some teenage kids being generally obnoxious. They were throwing around bottles and making small messes with whatever it was they were eating/drinking. But they weren't bothering me so I didn't bother them...... yet...
The outside of the mall was surrounded by a large loop, 2 lanes each way separated by about 10' of grass inbetween. I drove away and am in the right lane of the loop, traffic is very light but with only 90hp moving a 3,000lbs car, I always stay to the right. Moments later the fore-mentioned children pull along side of me with windows down and yell "nice f***king car"! Despite the fact that this was not the most mentally stable point in my life, I would have been happy to let the comment slide but just a fraction of a second later one of them threw something soda can sized at my car. I saw him throw it at me, I heard it hit the side of my car; I felt whatever thin line of discipline that kept reason and logic in charge of my brain fail.............
Without thinking, without planning I immediately threw all 1.5 tons of half century old Dodge directly at this childs 1980's Honda sedan. I could hear them scream in shock as they quickly realized that sometimes there actions have very real consequences. I saw the Honda screech onto the grass median, accelarate past me and return onto the roadway. I watched them approach an intersection, now in front of me and in my lane but they had to stop due to a red light and opposing traffic; they wanted to run, they tried to run but they were stuck and they knew it.
All four of my skinny biased ply white walls screached as my car came to a hault right next to them and so close that to this day I can't believe we didn't make contact. There were three of them in the car and I had there undivided attention, they were all young and visibly frightened. I knew I only had seconds until the light changed and I knew I couldn't catch them so there I was..... 6' tall, beard and dark hair down to the middle of my chest, sitting in a towering black montster of a car.... I put out my hand pointing to the driver and screamed at the top of my lungs "YOUUUUU!!!!". The kid was absolutely terrified and before he could finish sinking into his seat the light turned green and they took off.
I'm still amazed that no one got hurt... I can't even begin to imagine how bad I would feel to this day if I hit them or if I got my hands on them. I think it's luck that in the end we all learned valuable lessons... and I think I got a good story out of it too ;D
The day after the "hood ormanent incident", while leaving work I see some teenage kids being generally obnoxious. They were throwing around bottles and making small messes with whatever it was they were eating/drinking. But they weren't bothering me so I didn't bother them...... yet...
The outside of the mall was surrounded by a large loop, 2 lanes each way separated by about 10' of grass inbetween. I drove away and am in the right lane of the loop, traffic is very light but with only 90hp moving a 3,000lbs car, I always stay to the right. Moments later the fore-mentioned children pull along side of me with windows down and yell "nice f***king car"! Despite the fact that this was not the most mentally stable point in my life, I would have been happy to let the comment slide but just a fraction of a second later one of them threw something soda can sized at my car. I saw him throw it at me, I heard it hit the side of my car; I felt whatever thin line of discipline that kept reason and logic in charge of my brain fail.............
Without thinking, without planning I immediately threw all 1.5 tons of half century old Dodge directly at this childs 1980's Honda sedan. I could hear them scream in shock as they quickly realized that sometimes there actions have very real consequences. I saw the Honda screech onto the grass median, accelarate past me and return onto the roadway. I watched them approach an intersection, now in front of me and in my lane but they had to stop due to a red light and opposing traffic; they wanted to run, they tried to run but they were stuck and they knew it.
All four of my skinny biased ply white walls screached as my car came to a hault right next to them and so close that to this day I can't believe we didn't make contact. There were three of them in the car and I had there undivided attention, they were all young and visibly frightened. I knew I only had seconds until the light changed and I knew I couldn't catch them so there I was..... 6' tall, beard and dark hair down to the middle of my chest, sitting in a towering black montster of a car.... I put out my hand pointing to the driver and screamed at the top of my lungs "YOUUUUU!!!!". The kid was absolutely terrified and before he could finish sinking into his seat the light turned green and they took off.
I'm still amazed that no one got hurt... I can't even begin to imagine how bad I would feel to this day if I hit them or if I got my hands on them. I think it's luck that in the end we all learned valuable lessons... and I think I got a good story out of it too ;D
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