Brave?

My poor baby was sick all day yesterday. We woke at six and he fell asleep again in the living room chair at nine. Once he woke up he laid on me all day. There was no running around like a little mad man yesterday. He fell asleep at two again. He really wasn’t feeling well.

I spent the time in between watching Angry Birds Star Wars videos reading Beautiful Creatures. It’s written in first person, I’m trying to dissect it as I read it because it is written by two women with big English degrees. I didn’t get much past noticing the First Person and how certain things are described. To be honest, I easily lose myself in stories so I didn’t notice a whole lot. I kept forgetting to pay attention.

The writing is not coming so easy this morning. Thank goodness I got up early so I have some extra time to figure out what to put here. Time to go off and get a prompt.

Describe one time when you were brave.

I used to work at a truck stop when I was in my twenties as a cashier out at the fuel docks. We had a small building with glass windows all around and a high counter behind which we worked. There was a safe that dispensed tubes of money. The fuel islands were open all night long and people came in to get diesel all through the night and day. Back then there wasn’t random drug testing so many of the drivers came in high on amphetamines especially during the night.

One time this great big guy came in all rude to everyone, terrorizing the guys I was working with, yelling at them. They all tried to back off and appease him. He mouthed off to me and I lost it.

“Yo, bitch. You keep your mouth shut or I'll jump over that counter and shut it for you.”

“Come on, asshole. Jump over that counter and I’ll knock your ass so far out into space they won’t know where to find you. You think I’m scared of you, you son of a bitch.” I pushed up to the counter and slammed my hands on the counter screaming who knows what else. The men working with me actually grabbed me and pulled me back. I astounded a room full of people including the crazy man. He shut up, paid his bill and left all the while looking at me from the corner of his eyes.

Afterwards I realized I zoned out through pretty much all of it. I can’t really tell you much from memory of the incident only what others told me because my mind went blank. I felt the adrenaline squirt into my bloodstream and set me off. Technically I wasn’t really brave since it was a physical reaction to an emotional situation. I do that in certain situations. I get so worked up over people being very aggressive that I literally lose my mind.

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