And no one's gonna save you

A Halloween driving experience...

It is Halloween night, a little bit after 8:00. Darkness has fallen--which has not yet stopped trick-or-treating in my neighborhood. I have just made a quick stop at home; hurried due to the lack of candy in my place and the proximity of a group of 5-7 kids rushing to an across-the-street neighbor with a couple of escorting parents trailing behind.

I am driving down the 6-lane road near my house, headed back to a nearby mall to redeem a $10-off coupon on a shirt I found about an hour earlier (i.e. I'd gone home to get the coupon so I could head back to the store and have it applied to the purchase). My car is in the right-most of the three lanes of traffic, approaching a red light where three cars are already waiting in the lane I'm currently in. As I'm a good distance from the back of the closest car, as well as the intersection itself, I decide to move to the middle lane. I apply my turn signal and move over.

As I get a bit closer to the light, and have just come up next to the first of the cars, I spot two gentlemen (using that term lightly) jaywalking across the street. Now the fun: as I pass, one (and possible both) begin to yell at me to watch out for them. They are not in the lane of traffic I'm in--they are actually just entering the lane to the left of where I am. The front man is actually dark-skinned and wearing all black clothing; while the second is in dark (blue?) jeans and a white t-shirt--the latter is much easier to see than his buddy who is doing a good job blending into the night. They are also about 100 feet away from a crosswalk (at the light I've come to a stop at).

I have passed by them fine, and with a good clearance distance. They did need to pause their illicit street crossing, but they have made it to the sidewalk. And both have already flipped "the bird" at me, which I catch in my rearview mirror while sitting at the light. Also, before I leave the light, I hear the guy in the white t-shirt continuing to berate me from the sidewalk where they are walking forward toward (tah-dah!) the crosswalk.

The light changes to green and I get to drive off and leave them behind, before I'm compelled to teach them about how not to be a jaywalking idiot....

Was this a trick? Or a treat?


Cause it's a thriller
Thriller night
An no one's gonna save you
From the beast about to strike