Mama said knock you out
Less than an hour ago, I pulled into the garage and herded Tacy out of the car while I unbuckled CJ. She had walked down the driveway and was beginning to walk along the sidewalk to our mailbox when I heard the screech of tires.
A blue Mercedes had taken the corner extremely fast, veering toward the opposite side of the street – the side farther from us, thankfully. I ducked out of the garage in time to see a young guy driving – who turned his head and looked back at me – and I zeroed in on the license plate.
I thought I had it right, but I wasn’t sure. And I thought I might be able to find the car – and its driver – and request an explanation before calling the police.
So I poured sippies full of milk and piled the girls into the wagon. Tacy protested, but when I told her what we were doing, she became sufficiently intrigued and stopped whining.
I walked all the way down our street with no luck. I had two choices as to my next move, and fortunately I made the right one. We didn’t have to walk much further before I saw the car parked outside a home down the street.
As we neared the house, I could see two figures loading up another vehicle in the driveway. I pulled the wagon up onto the driveway and called, “Hello? Are you the person who was driving the blue Mercedes?”
The guy on the passenger side poked his head out from behind the door. “That’s me.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “You’re the one I saw take the corner so fast?”
He didn’t even poke his head out again. “My bad.”
“No, it’s not just “YOUR BAD” if you do that when my kids are out playing,” I told him.
The person on the driver’s side stepped out. He was somewhat older and obviously concerned. “Which corner was it?” he asked.
I told him, and added that I did take down the license plate number. (I’d been off by the last digit, but with the description of the car and the type of plates, the police wouldn’t have had any trouble narrowing it down.)
He replied, “I’m really sorry. I’ll take care of it.”
“Are you his dad?” I asked.
“No, I’m his uncle. But I see cars speeding down this street all the time, and I’ve got young kids too, so I understand. I promise I’ll take care of it.”
I thanked him, and the girls and I went on our way. As we rolled away, Tacy asked, “So are we going to call the police?”
I chuckled and said, loud enough that the young guy could hear me, “Not this time. Not unless we see him do that again.”
I do remember the plate number, and it’s written on a sticky note on my refrigerator. I hope his uncle will take care of it as promised, but if I see him again – well, LL Cool J said it best.
November 6th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
You go girl! Remember Robin Williams in “The World According to Garp”? He ran through the neighborhood brandishing a tire iron when a speeder drove down his street, and when he caught up with him, I believe he used the tire iron to damage the driver’s car while screaming, “CHILDREN ARE PLAYING HERE! CHILDREN ARE PLAYING HERE!!! You did the right thing and I’m proud.
November 6th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
Why oh why can you not live in my neighborhood? We have on particular neighbor that drives so fast I think he’s going to kill someone. He has been ticketed a bunch of times, but there is only so much they can do especially since most people are not willing to make the effort to stop him.
November 6th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
You have some seriously admirable kahones. (however you spell it)
November 6th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
WORD. As per your last post: You can take the girl out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the girl.
November 6th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
MGM~ Power to the people. You have been out of the Northeast for a while, though. I know you wouldn’t have brought the babies on an expedition like that while you were here.
Wordgirl~ I love that you brought up Garp. He’s my favorite fictional hero and dad, and one of my favorite fictional political thinkers.
November 6th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
What Madge said, exactly!
November 6th, 2006 at 7:18 pm
K – damn straight.
November 6th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
I agree, you do have some big cojones, lady. If I had walked up a neighbor’s driveway like that, I would most likely be ignored completely or told to mind my own business. Thank goodness you were able to talk to a reasonable person. And I’m SO GLAD the girls weren’t playing on that corner.
November 6th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Well done, Julie. I’m impressed by your balls.
November 6th, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Whoohoo! Good for you. I don’t know if I would have been gutsy enough to do that. I bow to your backbone and brass balls.
November 6th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
That is extremely scary. We live on a cul de sac — actually it’s more like a giant circle of a road, but often times the neighbors down the corner from us will let their children play in the street unattended. It’s a fairly quiet street 99% of the time, but I’m always afraid someone, somtime will barrell through and the worst will happen.
Granted people shouldn’t be speeding, but I just wish my neighbor would teach her kids to play in the back yard.
I hope the uncle took care of things and I’m glad Tacy is okay.
November 6th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
You go girl!
We lived literally right at the corner by my high school and we all drove pretty crazy. I hate to admit it- but everyone knew I lived there and my mom would sit out on the corner with a sign that said “SLOW children at play” and yell at the kids as they drove by. Needless to say, people knew who I was in school- and it wasn’t for a good reason lol.
November 6th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
I chase down cars all the time on foot that speed through the neighborhood. Stupid teenagers.
Of course, I was one of the speeding teenagers a long, long time ago.
November 6th, 2006 at 10:44 pm
Wow, that was a walk with a lot of impact. Good job!
November 7th, 2006 at 3:39 am
Good for you! Seriously. I can just imagine some of the kids that speed down our street, feeling really bad upon reflection, if they hit my daughter.. reflection isn’t good enough. And, maturity comes only with time and age and perpective and reference points. Until those kids grow up, unless they have enough sense of their own, it’s up to Mom’s to speak up. And, it’s dangerous where I live, because kids have guns, now. But, I am happy to read that you took it upon yourself to confront these people. A lot of people fear being unpopular or having others respond with distain or annoyance – even so, the message is heard. Happy that the uncle took it seriously, too.
November 7th, 2006 at 3:40 am
“…it’s up to Mom’s to speak up…”
edit: It’s up to Moms, Dads, Aunties, Uncles, etc.. (and without the apostrophe.. sorry.. nearly four a.m.)
November 7th, 2006 at 6:01 am
They picked the wrong mama to mess with! Good for you for hunting him down. I hope he felt like sh*t.
We live one house down from a four-way stop and people are CONSTANTLY running the stop signs. I have on more than one occasion been a fist shaker at irresponsible drivers. Now I need to remember to bring a pen and a piece of paper on our walks to patrol adequately!
November 7th, 2006 at 7:03 am
lmao! You go! I’d NEVER be so brave to confront anyone like that. I’m far too passive…I’d be all “Hey, was that you? You need to slo…um…I mean…if you want to…uhm…do you want some iced tea?”
I DO follow drunk drivers and call the cops on ‘em, though!
November 7th, 2006 at 7:42 am
Hey, I think that LL Cool J song was Mike Tyson’s theme song when he would walk into the ring. Wow, with your bravery, I would believe you could go a few rounds with him, too! Good for you for speaking up.
November 7th, 2006 at 9:20 am
You rock.
November 7th, 2006 at 9:23 am
Go Julie Go Julie! That rocks. This is a topic at our HOA meetings each time. We have installed speed bumps at various places in the neighborhood. Drastic – yes. Effective – yes.
November 7th, 2006 at 10:16 am
Way to go MAMA!! I’m doing that “I’m not worthy” bow to you now Julie! Don’t mess with mother hen!!
November 7th, 2006 at 11:42 am
I am so impressed. SO IMPRESSED! Yeah!!!
November 7th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Wow. Just wow!
November 7th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
I’ve found myself calling businesses. I see the name on the van, and observe crappy driving – Like, say, running a stop sign and nearly hitting me – and I call.
Good for you…
November 7th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
I love you and your big giant brass balls! You handled that beautifully!
November 8th, 2006 at 6:35 am
I’m impressed!
I have to admit, I would have been more likely to call the police if I did anything. Frankly, too many teenagers and young adults are likely to attack people who dare question their piss-poor behavior, and you can’t tell which ones are likely to go off.
November 8th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
I had a sticky-note of the license plate of a reckless convertible that used the shoulder of the road as his personal autobahn. But then my kids spilled something on it, so it wasn’t legible enough to report to the police. Sigh.
November 9th, 2006 at 6:08 pm
Good for you. You are a great example for your kids.