Don't See That Every Day

I have long maintained that it is not the object which makes a situation interesting, it is where that object has been placed that causes people to stop and stare. For example, if you are in the zoo and see an elephant that isn't really worth more than a couple of minutes but if that elephant is walking through your backyard you are going to stop whatever it is you are doing and take a few hundred pictures. (Of course, I get excited when there are deer in my backyard, so perhaps I am setting the bar a tad high with elephants.) Also, whenever there are several objects in the same place people can't help but look at it. One person running down the street is a jogger - a crowd of people running means you should see what everyone is so damn excited about (and find out if you should start running as well). The point is there is no way for people to fight the urge to stop and stare when they see something out of the ordinary, so at some point we need to stop making people who are curious feel like they are breaking some kind of code. Obviously I don't condone starting at someone who may be self-conscious but most of the time the people being so conspicuous are looking for attention, so as long as you aren't making anyone uncomfortable than I say satisfy your curiosity. The only time it would be an issue is if that curiosity gets so deep you felt the urge to alter your plans. But as I was reminded this afternoon, that can be a hard thing to remember.

I was on my way down to the Cape to close the beach house for the winter. (Ironically, today was the warmest day in about a week. Felt awfully strange winterizing a house when it was 75 degrees outside.) As I turned off the exit I found myself behind a semi-trailer which was holding 15 brand-new golf carts. Even though I have no need for a golf cart I can't help but look when one passes me on the street, so as you would imagine, 15 of them in one place peaked my interest for a couple of reasons: Why would anyone be buying golf carts now, when the season is about to be over, and where were they going? I like to think I know most of the courses near the beach house, so I quickly started going through all the possibilities in my head. At first I thought they would be heading to my country club on Cape Cod which is neither a country club nor on Cape Cod but quickly decided that couldn't be the case as they would have taken a different route and the place doesn't need that many golf carts. Also, the other place I normally like to play doesn't have any carts for rent. Suddenly I had to wonder if there was another course in the area I was unfamiliar with, which as a golfer is kind of exciting to think about. When the truck turned down a street in a direction I wasn't expecting I was really wanted to know where this truck could be going.

I think one of the reasons I was dying to get an answer is that this is actually the second time something like this has happened to me in less than a month. One morning a couple of weeks ago I was on my way to the gym when a large truck pulled onto the street a few car lengths behind me. Normally this wouldn't be worth a second glance, but as the truck was turning I managed to catch a quick glimpse of what appeared to be a cartoon giraffe's head sticking out of the top of its trailer. I figured there was no way that is what it really was, but had to take a second look. The truck was still far enough behind me that I couldn't get a clear shot of it but it still looked like a giraffe from where I was sitting and now I could make out what appeared to be a huge turtle shell in front of that. At this point I went from curious to downright confused. What the hell were these things and where could they possibly be going? Sadly I had to make a turn and was convinced I would never get my answer but fortunately the truck turned onto the same street shortly after I did. I figured this was fate and I had to pull over and see what these things were. I pulled into my gym's parking lot and waited for the truck to arrive, which I figured would only take a minute. After a couple of minutes not only did the truck arrive it pulled into the parking lot behind me, as the turtle and giraffe were two pieces for the kid's water park which is attached to the gym. Not exactly the two animals I would have picked for my splash center but it's nice to know my eyesight isn't going. But more than that it was nice to not have that question in my head all day because that kind of crap can drive you crazy, as I was reminded of this afternoon.

Getting an answer in that situation only made the probability of never having a totally adequate answer for my brain to accept more frustrating so for a half-second I thought about following the truck to its final destination but didn't really have time for it, plus I figured it would only freak out the driver. Sadly I wasn't close enough to pull along side and ask where he was headed, so instead I was forced to think about potential landing spots all afternoon before finally being able to check out Google Maps once I got home. I now have a pretty good idea who was getting a new fleet of golf carts but I can't be totally sure. What's better is that even if I guessed wrong I at least discovered a new course to try next season. (Because of course I would discover it the day the beach house closed. I wish these guys had been on the highway my last trip to the Cape.) Still, this is why delivery services like UPS and FedEx have the right idea - big trucks with no windows delivering bland brown boxes so no one has any idea of what goodies could be inside the truck. It really is the best system they could use because if people saw brightly-wrapped presents being dropped all over town more often than not curiosity would get the better of them. As it is there are plenty of people willing to take packages off doorsteps just on the chance there could be something valuable inside, so being able to see what was being delivered would only make those thefts worse. Curiosity may be a powerful force, but it is not nearly as strong a temptation as the opportunity of a free PS4 so sometimes not knowing is probably for the best.