It had been a long time. How long you ask? Well, I'll tell you. On a scale of one to ten it had been a very long time. The truck, rumbling towards us, entering the intersection with no headlights became visible just in the nick of time. I was making a left turn. When the last oncoming vehicle with headlamps burning cleared the way I floored it and started to crank the wheel. Here's where the futile, obsolete reflex kicked in as I jammed on the brakes. My ring-finger glinted in the flash-second it took the unconscious limb to reach for and grab for the ubiquitous headlight switch.You know, that common knob on the dash to the left of the steering
wheel that you pull and push to activate your running lights and
headlights? You know, the way you do to flash your lights on and off at another driver to let them know they're riding around in the dark without their lights on? Yeah, well it's probably been over thirty years since I last drove a car with a push-pull headlight switch. I might as well have kicked a hole through the floorboards trying to find the button to dim the high-beams for all the good it did me.(I have done that too) Now how does that even happen? Why is that an automatic reflex after all this time? And after how many hundreds of thousands of miles and how many thousands of on-off switchings in newer autos is this even possible? The day I answer that question is the day I paint my masterpiece. Till then, I will keep working at it. These attempts are available for sale
here.
