I will never be so atheist that I won’t accept a day off from work. Vishnu’s birthday? Sign me up. St. Crispin’s day? I’m there.
Getting Good Friday off is weird. It must be a New England thing, because I don’t remember getting this holiday in New York or D.C. And of course not in Utah. I didn’t even know what Ash Wednesday was until college. But as long as the holiday involves me sleeping until noon, I’m a believer.
I thought today would be a good time to go to Costco and pick up a book I wanted from the library (The Lost City by Henry Shukman). I was borrowing Maude’s car and due to the idiosyncrisy of her fuel gauge (okay, idiocy of the driver) I nearly ran out of gas. The gas dashboard light went on while I was on the freeway and I pulled off at an unfamiliar exit that claimed it had a gas station. Five minutes later, still no gas station in sight. I start to sweat a little bit. I’m passing industrial park after industrial park, farms, quiet neighborhoods, anything but retail spaces. I seriously drove for 15 minutes without seeing a gas station. I’m imagining myself walking on the side of the street with a gas can in hand. Also, the wind has been gusting all week, so it’s freezing out too. I finally head to the airport because I figure there has to be a gas station there. I think the rental car lots have squeezed all the gas stations out of their area because everyone knows that’s where they make their real money. “Oh, you didn’t return the car with a full tank? That’ll be just an eighty-dollar additional charge.”
Anyway, I finally found a gas station (past all the car lots) and 12.2 gallons and $40 later I was back on the road.
When I finally got to the library, the damn place was closed. Stupid Good Friday.
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that damn gas sign that sent me on my wild goose chase. It was like the first act of a horror movie only without the teenagers.
