It started out to be a depressing day for me; one of those days where if anything could go wrong, it would. The weather was cold outside; barely at the freezing mark. I awoke an hour later than intended when my alarm clock failed to function properly. At least I blamed it on the alarm clock as I could not remember turning it off. After a quick shower and getting dressed in my new winter white suit, I skipped breakfast and headed out to my garage only to find my car with a flat tire.
“Great, I’ll be late to work now for sure.” I said to no one in particular as I kicked at the tire. Resigning myself to fixing it, I opened the trunk of the car to look for a jack. I had no idea where to look. I was sure there had to be one but I just wasn’t sure where it would be. If I found it what on earth would I do with it? I’d never changed a tire in my life. I made a mental note to have someone teach me that fine art as soon as I had time.
“This is ridiculous,” I said slamming the trunk lid down. Taking my cell phone from my purse, very carefully so as not to mess up my newly done nails, I dialed my auto help number and got an infuriatingly cheerful young thing on the other end. With all my problems she had no right to be so cheerful, or at least that’s how I felt. After explaining my problem to her, she informed me they could have someone out in thirty minutes. With nothing to do but wait, I called into work to alert them to my predicament. No sympathy there.
After the tire was changed, I was somewhat comforted to be on my way. Since I was already late anyway, I took the time to stop by the drive-thru window for a cup of coffee and breakfast biscuit. Big mistake. Before I could get the cup of steaming black liquid into the cup holder, I accidentally hit it against the side of the steering wheel sloshing coffee onto my once white suit. Now, I would have to return home to change.
With fresh clothes on, black this time just to be on the safe side, I was relieved to finally be headed downtown to my parking lot. I was hoping for a spot close to the building as it had started to drizzle. But, like the rest of my morning, luck was not with me. I was simply lucky to find a spot at all and it was at the end of the lot, the farthest spot from the building possible. At least I kept an umbrella in the car just for these occasions. Grabbing the umbrella, what was left of my coffee, and my breakfast sandwich, I crawled from the car and started the walk towards my office building. Maybe now I could relax and the rest of the day would run a little more smoothly.
I had gotten only a short distance across the parking lot when I noticed a gentleman hurrying across the lot. He had apparently gotten caught in the drizzle without his umbrella but was holding his raincoat tightly around himself. I could see he was dressed in business attire from the bottom of the below-the-knee-length coat. Well, at least he wasn’t bad to look at. Maybe my luck was changing after all.
I had made up my mind to nod a cheery good morning when we were close enough but he was faster than I. When we were about a car length apart, he whipped open his raincoat to show me what he was obviously proud to own. He had pants legs up to his knees with elastic to hold them up and a white shirt cut off just above his waist, the rest of his body was totally bare. Unfortunately for him, it was the last straw for an already bad start to a bad day and I began to laugh – almost hysterically. I laughed so hard tears ran down my cheeks.
I finally pointed at the man’s private parts and said, “That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time!” Really, it was funny. Freezing temperatures do not enhance that particular part of the male anatomy!
The man hurried away from me yelling obscenities as he went. I’ve thought about my flasher many times since then and he always brings me laughter. I guess if you look hard enough you can find laughter in any situation.