My mother is one of the funniest people I know. She tells jokes backwards; we laugh harder at her quirkiness than at her jokes! One day, at the age of 72, she was driving my daughters and I to go shopping. The store was along a wide road that had four driving lanes and two turn lanes. She pulled into one of the left turn lanes and we sat there waiting at the red light.
She began to tell me, “Your dad told me I can’t turn left at a red light, but if there’s no one coming, you can.” I laughed and said, “No, Mom, you can’t turn left at a red light.” She turned to look me straight in the eye and said,”Watch me!” and proceeded to turn left. There wasn’t any traffic, but my daughters and I were laughing and screaming (a little). Mom was very indignant about it because she felt that “stop lights are for stupid people”- smart people know to stop and look for traffic.
After arriving home and telling Dad the story with a great deal of mirth, Mom got a little miffed at me. I explained to her that while she had a point, there are still little cameras at those lights and she might get ticketed. With a wicked twinkle in her eye, she finally conceded that we might be right. To this day, we use the phrase, “Watch me!” when someone tells us we can’t do something and we all burst into fits of giggles.
I am praying that winning $200 will keep her from killing me.
Mother- Martie
Daughter (antagonist and writer) Valerie Beverly
