I went out running the neighborhoods on a Saturday afternoon. Soon after I started I heard the sound of helicopters overhead and discovered they were spraying.
It gives you a funny feeling to be running along and have a helicopter fly over you and spray you. But I kept on running. And after awhile I came upon the woman who was directing all this.
She had a balloon way up in the air on the end of a rope and was sitting in her car with a radio talking in the sky with the helicopters. I noticed she had all her car windows rolled up, hot as it was.
She saw me coming and got out of her car as if something important was up. She met me in the road and I thought maybe she wanted directions to somewhere else in the neighborhood. Since I run these streets all the time I could have helped her with that.
But instead of this she had advice. She said “It’s not a good time to be out running, because we’re spraying.” And I thought fast and said, “Well, it’s not a good time to be out spraying, because I’m running.” And I suppose we each had a point.
Well, they kept right on spraying. And I kept right on running. And I’m alive to write about it all these years later. So I guess no harm was done to me, and certainly not to them.
People who try to tell you what to do may have a balloon and seem official, but think twice before you mind them. When you need to run, just run.
You always make a good point, but I do think I would be more inquisitive. What are you spraying? How often and when do you spray? May I sit in your car?
I think we both have our points, Dee. I have inside me both a sensible self (which usually determines things), but also an impulsive (and you could say un-sensible) self which occasionally steps out. I sometimes wish this self would have stepped out more often.
Stubboness paid off!
Great story and point!