7.09.2007

Drive By

As I stroll down the street with my strutting Chihuahua, I detect a voice to my left. A wisp of a voice. I turn and see a black SUV pulled alongside a parked car. Window down. Male inside. His face turned my way, lips moving, a hint of sound floating through the rolled down passenger-side window.

“Excuse me?” I ask.

More near-silent lip movement.

“Sorry?” I say formatted as a question.

“Do you live here?” he says, finally in an audible tone.

“Yes,” I reply imagining he’s about to ask for directions.

“Do you want to get coffee some time?” he asks.

Okay, is this really how it’s done? Drive by pick up? Perhaps I should be flattered, but the lack of precision to the event leaves me less than.

“Uh, that’s kind of random,” I say, not certain how else to respond to a stranger, motor running, tossing out an invite from ten feet away based on, uh, how I walk my dog.

It’s been a dry spell. Very dry. Drought dry. But no, sir, I can’t leap to for a drive by. I can’t believe you are very discerning. I can’t accept an invite that way. I can’t. I’m sorry. Maybe if you had parked, walked down the sidewalk and appeared to have happened upon me, struck up conversation. Maybe if you’d at least given me something to go on besides, “He drives a black SUV and speaks the same language as I.”

The driver pulls away, and I continue towards the park with Speck who always gets a lot of action in the sniffin’ meet ‘n greet scene. Despite his diminutive size, he’s very bold in his encounters. I’m the one who grows cautious when the bigger beasts come bounding up imagining my precious one carted away in the jaws of a stranger.

But it wasn’t caution that kept me from exchanging numbers with Mr. SUV. It just felt off. LA has a reputation for being a tough place to meet new people. We move through space in our encapsulated vehicles, our portable homes, my trunk stuffed with every need a whim could desire. That is, except for one. The chance encounter. I love them. Crave them. Smile over them. Some people prefer the fix up, a history laid out in advance, a guarantee of civility assured by a mutual friend, but not I. I like mystery and happenstance.

But again, the drive by factor. Looking back, I’d now like to question this guy on his method. I’d like to sit him down like an investigative reporter removing my personal role in the story and ask, “What prompted you? Is this your normal m.o.? Has it worked before?” I’d like to know if he headed out with the cruising in mind or if he’d leapt forth on a whim. I mean, when I said how random it was, he didn’t come back with a witty reply. He didn’t work to lure me in.

Being the initiator is tough, and in response to Mr. SUV’s gesture I have decided to put myself in the driver’s seat by pledging to reach out and launch my next encounter. The one thing is, I plan to get out of the car.


6 comments:

Girlplustwo said...

it's always easier to come up with the witty comebacks in hindsight, isn't it? but how weird, yes...i mean, i know you are one hell of a knockout, love, but you know, curbside pickup? doesn't say much for him. but one must ask, was he cute?

i would have done the same thing, but probably while tripping over the strutting chiuhaha and landing ass down in the curb. so all in all, you did well.

QT said...

You must be one hot mama down there in La La land!

Seriously, I agree with you, I probably would have continued on my way. Maybe if he would have said something like "I don't usually do this, but.." I am a sucker for goofy, I love it when the guy is all nervous and fumbling around.

Even then, making an effort would have been nice. It was almost like he came to pick you up for your first date and honked instead of coming up to ring the doorbell.

deezee said...

jen, his cute factor was acceptable, I suppose, but it was hard to tell in the shadowy confines of his vehicle.

qt, your line might have been enough to lure me in, but yeah, it was like a horn honk instead of a sashay to the door.

and if this post elevates my image, I certainly wouldn't want to shoot that down. :)

- deezee

dweezila said...

this reminds me of the movie Crash, and how because L.A. is such a tough place to connect with other people and it's so isolating, that the only way people sometimes come into closer proximity is to crash into the other.

i like your reserve here though. It's not drive-though-love afterall. If you want the real deal you gotta get outta the car and walk the walk.

Willie Baronet said...

Wonderful tale, as always. And maybe you just look good walking your dog?? (wonderful tail?) :-)

Anonymous said...

Love this story. I was once in a department store looking around, all alone, and a very handsome young man approached me and said "You are beautiful, I just wanted to tell you that", then politely turned and walked away. At the time I didn't give it much thought, but later wanted to sit him down and investigate, as you said. Whatever his motive, it made me feel good.