I have been housesitting and needed to run home last night to pick up some more clothes as it looks like i might get snowed in here. Plus, with the weather the way it is supposed to be, the home owner both probably can't fly in tomorrow and frankly doesn't want to leave Florida.
Driving back with a load of laundry (ahhhhh... free washer/dryer; yet another housesitting perk) i turned onto the main road between Catonsville and Arbutus behind a big red pick-up truck. The road is 25 mph, but no one and i mean no one drives 25 on it; even coasting you go quite a bit faster than that as it is a big downhill.
Imagine my surprise when the pick-up immediately lays on his brakes.
WHAT?
We are going under the speed limit.
UNDER 25 MPH, PEOPLE!
Drifting in first gear you go faster than 25.
He is on the brakes all the way down the hill, keeping our speed around a break neck 20-ish.
I realized as i tried not to accidentally rear end him that there was a ladder sticking out of the bed of the truck. Okay, maybe it isn't secured really well and he is just being careful.
Then as we take some curves at an astounding 15 mph -did i mention that this is the main road into Arbutus?; the line of cars behind me was impressive - i noticed the glint of metal in the bed by the ladder.
What is that?
It was a red drum set.
Not drums sitting in the back of the truck, whole sections of a drum kit unsecured in the pick-up with a ladder. Cymbals were on their stands, drums were exposed to the elements - it was CHAOS. A jillion years ago (the early/mid 90's), i roadied for my friend Ron, tearing down, packing and securing his kit.
What in the world was this guy thinking?
I would never, ever, ever put a drum into a vehicle without a case; heck i don't even like soft-side cases because they don't seem protective enough.
At least the mystery of his ridiculous speed was solved. I guess if i had a drum kit and a ladder in a pick-up i'd try to drive as slowly as possible.
Wait... where could this guy be going?
What kind of situation calls for you putting your assembled drum kit into a pick-up, uncovered, with a ladder on a Saturday night?
Was he rushing to a party emergency? His friend's party planner had messed up the crepe paper streamers and the band was stuck in traffic?
Or was it a nightclub emergency? The lighting rig at the club his friend owns was malfunctioning and the out-of-town band's drums had been damaged by the baggage handlers?
Had he spotted the DrumMan signal shining on a conveniently passing cloud?
The more i thought about it the better the story got in my head. I could easily follow him - we were already headed in the same direction - and see what was what.
But then he turned down a seriously creepy side road that leads nowhere and i decided that maybe, maybe i didn't want to know the story after all .
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