Life as a Spectator Sport

than to say "nothing ever happens to me on the road." That's an open invitation for disaster. And while the incident that did take place wasn't a disaster by any measure, it was enough to teach me a lesson about making statements like that.

Halifax County again. I'm learning to be wary of Halifax County, especially after what one of its deputies told me.

I was filling up in the Sheetz gas station in South Boston. I'm already less than enthused about this particular Sheetz. It doesn't observe the general 10 cent price differential per grade of most other gas stations. The regular gas is the same price as at the stations next door and across the street, unlike the 3 or 4 cent discount you find at most Sheetz stores. But the mid-grade and high test prices are less than at the other stations. This Sheetz is subsidizing people who drive the hefty pickup trucks and SUV's by selling regular gas at the same price as the surrounding stations, and holding down the price of the mid-range and high-test, and that really annoys me.

This Sheetz also always has a lot of loiterers, and even on occasion a panhandler. There is a heavy county mounty presence there, which tells you a lot (more than I realized until last night).

So last night, on the way back from Virginia Beach, I needed gas, and I'm in the habit of stopping at Sheetz. I filled up and was about to walk inside to pay, when a car in one of the parking spaces backed up toward the front of my car. And kept backing up. And continued to back up even as I and several others were yelling and waving our arms at the driver. Back she came, smack into the front bumper of my car. I ran over and signalled to her to roll her window down, yelling "You just hit my car!" She looked me straight in the face and drove away.

I got her license number, and one of the others there identified the car as a Subaru station wagon, and with that information, I called 911. "I'll have to pass you on to the Highway Patrol," said the dispatcher. This time they did at least answer their phone (Friday night, no one answered when the Halifax County dispatcher tried to pass me off to them). I repeated the whole thing from the beginning. They said they would send someone. I went in and paid for my gas, and stood outside, expecting a unit to drive up any moment.

One of the witnesses volunteered to stay with me, because he had seen the other driver inside the building. "She was wearing pyjamas and slippers," he said, shaking his head. "She's either medicated or under the influence." He told me it might be a good while before the highway patrol unit showed up. "A buddy of mine who works for State told me they usually have only two units out on weekends for the whole county," he said. He also told me there had been complaints about South Boston handing things off to the state troopers even when the incident happened within the city limits, as this one did.

But he stayed there with me for about 20 minutes anyway. Eventually, a county unit drove up. With the hope that State might have realized they didn't have a unit in the area, and passed the call back to the county, I asked the deputy whether he was responding to an accident call. "No," he said, sounding surprised. "I just stopped for a cup of coffee."

Once again, I recounted what had happened, and the other person's suspicion that this women was on some kind of medication. The deputy laughed and shook his head. "Most likely drunk," he said, and when I looked surprised, he added, "Ma'am, this is Halifax County. It's not like anywhere else. This is a whole 'nother country. And no state trooper is going to show up any time soon--they're working an accident. Someone hit a cow in the road. It's gonna be an hour at least before you'll see a Highway Patrol unit."

So I thanked the man who had volunteered to stay with me, and sent him on his way, and asked the clerk inside to tell the Highway Patrol I'd had to leave (that is, if they ever showed up at all). But the deputy did give me the name and address of the people the car is registered to, and they're going to be getting a strongly worded certified letter from me in the next day or two.

And from now on, you won't hear any remarks out of me about how little trouble I've had on the road.

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