Friday, February 13, 2009

You Have Now Entered The Twilight Zone


This is not the sign I saw that night, but it might as well have been. I anxiously watched as the screen indicated that I took the exit, even though I was really still on the expressway. I had ignored the directions of the machine twice. I was afraid it was ignoring me in return. It all felt so confrontational!
"At the bottom of the ramp, turn left." I glanced down at the bottom of the ramp I had just passed.
"Recalculating."
I breathed a sigh of relief. My little friend was still with me. To make up for my rudeness, I promised to follow the next direction it gave.
"In .3 miles, take the next exit and stay to the right."
I looked up at the sign I was passing. The next exit was the 417. I didn't want the tollway! I thought quickly. Before you actually had to pay any tolls on the 417, there was an exit to Reinhart Road. That was probably the road I needed to follow to get to 46A. The machine had finally anticipated what I was doing! I gleefully took the tollway and headed for the Reinhart Road exit.
"Turn right." The machine's voice was firm. Apparently it had decided not to let me get off track again. I frowned. Shouldn't I actually get to the exit ramp before I attempted to turn right?
"Turn right."
This time the announcement came just as the exit came into view. I took the exit and rode the huge cloverleaf turn down to Reinhart Road.
"Turn right."
Excuse me? Wasn't I supposed to turn left on Reinhart? I thought 46A was still further south. But the machine sounded so sure, so I followed its directions. (In all fairness, who would buy a GPS unit that said, "I'm pretty sure we're supposed to take the next right.")
"In .3 miles, turn right."
"No! No! No!" I stared ahead of me in disbelief. The machine was still taking me back to 46! What kind of a cruel joke was this? It was as if the machine was determined to direct me to a dark, construction-filled area. Would it then laugh mockingly as I pleaded with it to show me the way out? Did it have little mechanical buddies waiting to hold up any unsuspecting soul who was foolish enough to follow its directions?
I angrily ignored the repeated order to turn right and steered my car into the left lane. 46A was somewhere still south of me. I would find it on my own. As I waited for the left turn arrow, I glanced at the clock. The meeting was to start at 7:00. It was currently 7:03.

1 comment:

  1. Hey girl, I got a little something for you in my blog if you want to pick it up :)

    ReplyDelete

Well don't just stand there! Say something! : )

Related Posts with Thumbnails