Big Wheels

In preparation for our annual family vacation, I took our car over to the local Discount Tire to have the tires balanced and rotated. I also needed to purchase a tire for our spare – those of you that have been reading this blog for a while may remember the flat tire incident we had back in November. We had that tire replaced shortly thereafter, but a couple of months later we discovered the spare tire was coming apart and we never got around to replacing it. Anyway, our family vacation was going to take us driving cross country over 2500 miles round trip, and with the way things tend to go on our big outings, I wasn’t about to take the chance of us not having a spare tire.

The kids and I waited in the waiting area of the tire dealer for about 45 minutes as they worked on my car. Kiddo was so good – he sat in the seat next to me and “read” all the car magazines they had in the little rack beside him. Shortly after we settled in the chairs a young woman entered the store and handed over her car keys to the employee helping her. She was dressed in a black tank top and a long, flowy blue skirt; it looked like something out of the late 80’s – sort of hippy style with a 3-4 inch ruffle of fabric at the bottom. She walked over to the waiting area and plopped down in a chair perpendicular to the row we were sitting in. She curled up her legs beneath her and in the process, hiked her skirt up around her thighs. Her position in the chair and the skirt hiking made it so that anyone in that room could see, uh, well, most everything (if you know what I mean). I was a bit taken aback – I know that personally I am pretty aware of when my goods are showing, and sitting in the Discount Tire Co. is not exactly the place I would chose to not mind if things “hung out”. She sat there for a while like that, and eventually got up to take a look at the magazine rack. Kiddo said hello to her, and while she perused the periodicals they made cute small talk. She bent over to pick up a mag and it became quite obvious that her skirt was not exactly sized properly. I got a lovely shot of the back side of her – underwear, crack and all. *sigh*

Thankfully she returned to her seat and this time took on a more lady-like position. A gentleman entered the facility and immediately made his presence known to all. He stood somewhere in the 6’5” – 6’ 6” range and most likely weighed somewhere between 350 and 400 pounds. His legs and arms were thick and straight like tree trunks. His head and torso not only were heavy with excess weight, but big boned as well. He had one of those deep, baritone voices that sent echoes of sound throughout any building – but it especially rang loud in a place with concrete floors and surrounding glass walls. He wore a black t-shirt and shorts, and I couldn’t help but stare at the condition of his skin. He was covered from head to toe in discoloration and open sores – most likely caused by diabetes and/or a serious case of gout. And though the sight of him would cause most to recoil in disgust or fear, he seemed unaware or perhaps uncaring of his appearance and was friendly and talkative with everyone there. He commented on the boys (how handsome they were) and made polite small talk with Kiddo (there isn’t anyone the boy won’t talk to!) and after taking a magazine, crammed his larger than life body into the standard sized waiting area chair. He talked politics with another man in the waiting area – easily discussing his views with a total stranger. And all the while his gigantic voice rattled the walls and windows of the facility.

People came and went and soon enough it was time for us to go. Kiddo had a melt down in the car because I didn’t show him our new tire. Who knew he would be so excited about such trivial things?? I explained to him that it was on the back of the car and I made sure to show it to him when we got home.

He is such a boy. ;)

Until,
D :)