Timing

I had spent the day at Clam Beach and was returning to Arcata when a patch of heavy rain hit. Rain is good, but not the best thing when driving, when your wipers are barely keeping up, when the water on the windshield is backlit by the western sky, and when there is additional glare from various lights.

I knew which street I wanted to turn on, yet despite having been in Arcata for a couple of weeks I didn’t have landmarks memorized. Furthermore, the street signs are small and the names are smaller: F, G, H… And in the rain-blurred conditions H and K look the same. So do L and I. But I knew there was a traffic light at the street I wanted, and there was one that seemed to be in the right place, so I turned — the wrong way onto a one-way street. With a bus headed toward me.

I managed to swerve to the curb and the protection of a parked truck. I gave my best “I messed up, I’m stupid and sorry” look at the bus driver as he scowled back. There was no further traffic so I pulled into a parking lot and got properly oriented. 

Then the rain stopped. That got me thinking of movies like Sliding Doors and Run Lola Run about how a few seconds’ change in timing can alter what happens later, and how chance might play a large role in the direction of our life. 

There had been no reason to leave Clam Beach at the moment I did. It was just, “Okay, I guess I’ll go.” So I ended up in heavy rain that contributed to me making a wrong turn. But I’ll never know what much worse or much better things I missed by leaving at that instant.