Traffic Signal

Story Sent in by Hiroki:

On my second time out with Katie, we were in my car together during a terrible rainstorm. I was taking her to dinner just across town, but the rain and traffic turned a typical five-minute drive into an event lasting close to an hour.

I took the most direct way I knew, then Katie said, "Make a left here. It's a shortcut."

It wasn't a shortcut that I knew of, and I had a strong feeling that if we made a left, it would take us even longer. But I took her word for it and made a left. After a block, we hit more traffic and so we waited.

After we moved up about a block after 10 minutes, she said, "Take a left up here."

"But then we'll be heading in the wrong direction."

"No we won't."

We seriously would have. No doubt about it. I pulled the card, "We just made the left that you wanted to make. Let me pick which way to go, now."

That quieted her for a few seconds, and then she said, "Wait here," and jumped out of the car, with her umbrella, into the rain. I thought she had run ahead to see about the traffic, but she didn't come back.

About 15 or so minutes later, she called my phone to tell me, "I'm at the restaurant. See you when you get here."

"What? Why didn't you come back to the car?"

"Um, because it was sitting in traffic? See you when you get here. I'm ordering an appetizer."

She hung up. I went home. Never heard from her again.