I looked across the four busy lanes of the street in front of our house to see my bus apparently pulling away. I could have seen it as a precursor of the ride I was about to take. I dashed crazily across the road, dodging cars to make the bus, only to realize the driver was just pulling it forward a little. I wasn’t late at all. I boarded, sat down and waited for what was to be an interesting wild ride to work. Because I had to spend the day at another office location than usual, the route and riders were entirely different from normal. It was so interesting, I sent several text messages to my wife, describing it all.
“Mr. Toad is driving today. Likely won’t be late assuming I do arrive at all.”
“Let’s sip coffee some morning in one of these cute Del Ray sidewalk cafes.”
“Just drove by the ‘Wafle’ Shop. Am vaguely hungry for one though am not certain I know what a ‘wafle’ is.”
“Bare Feet Shoes store. Odd name. I like it.”
“Have never heard a driver honk the horn as much as Mr. Toad is today.”
“Rode past the pool hall in Shirlington where we had our daughter’s 16th birthday party.”
“A jolting, jarring ride through a crazy maze of streets. Gary of the MTA.”
“Had what seemed like two seconds to pull the cord. The stop appeared as if by magic.”
“My stomach is tough, but after this ride…where’s the coke syrup?”
By the way, composing a text message is writing. I try to make sure even these brief sentences are well-written. Sending quick messages, whether texting on a cheap phone like mine or using Twitter or Facebook on a smartphone, has become an integral part of how people communicate. My plea to texters and tweeters and anyone sending quick, short messages is: make them good. At least re-read it once, before hitting send, to check for and get rid of typos. Maybe even take the trouble to erase a word and replace it with something better.
