Shy

As I've mentioned before, I am very shy in the presence of strangers, especially women, but I do get it through genes. I've said how shy my grandmother was and would never eat with a stranger; most of the time she would eat in the kitchen while the rest of the family sat at the dining table. My mother had some of this same shyness but in a different form; she would never pump gasoline for herself and she never in her life put coins in a vending machine; she feared she would make a mistake and that someone would think she was foolish. Other than those two quirks, she was pretty well "normal". She liked to meet strangers and was as kind as anyone you will ever meet. However, one time she met a stranger that she wished she had never seen, at least under the circumstances. She and some more of the family were taking a day trip in her car to visit other family members. On the way home they decided to stop at a roadside restaurant and have a quick meal. When they finished eating, my mom went out and got into her car while the rest of her companions went to the restroom. She put the key in the ignition switch but it would not turn and after many attempts she began fussing aloud and then she began wondering where her riders were. She looked out the window and and the rest of the family was standing in front to another car, laughing and trying to get her attention. As she rolled the window down, she heard "Dot, you're in the wrong car!" and at the same time she glanced at the inside rear-view mirror and a little old woman was cowering in the corner of the back seat, half scared out of her wits; she thought she was being kidnapped. My mom quickly exited the car just as scared as was the old woman, and the rest of the crew were on the ground laughing. It finally dawned on my mom as to what she had done, and she eased back to the car where her would-be victim was beginning to catch on and was herself laughing. There was a heap of apologizing performed by my mom that afternoon. When she first came out of the restaurant, she went to a car that was the same color and body style as her Pontiac and hopped right in. She gave the rest of the crew a good piece of her mind all the way home.
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Have a wonderful Thanksgiving eve, eve, my friends.
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