Stranger Than Fiction

BREAKING NEWS: "A stretch of I-10 East of Pomona has been shut down due to a report that a school bus full of teenagers is being hijacked."

This is what I heard as I walked by my television on a sunny Saturday afternoon about 10 or 15 years ago. I remember thinking, "What's this world coming to? Hijacking a bus full of innocent kids. I hope they get this guy. Wait a minute. My husband is on a bus with a bunch of kids. I think they are on the I-10. OHMYGOD! OK, calm down. Breathe. What are the chances that your husband is on a bus that is being hijacked?"

Fast forward about 8 hours.

Mr. Distortion: "I am SO glad to be home."

Terri B.: "So, how did the outing go?"

Mr. Distortion:

Terri B.: "So, how did the outing go?"

Mr. Distortion: "The audience seemed to like the music ... and the kids had a great time at the festival. [pause] Santos got a little crazy today though."

Terri B.: "Did he do that balancing along the edge of the balcony while playing guitar thing again?? Someday he's gonna fall and break his neck. Don't let him use one of your guitars if he's still doing that."

Mr. Distortion: "No. Actually, this was on the bus."

Terri B.: [sinking feeling in pit of stomach] "On the bus?"

Mr. Distortion: "Yeah. He was entertaining the kids."

Terri B.: [intense stare]

Mr. Distortion: "He was messing around with a toy gun up at the front of the bus."

Terri B.: [still staring]

Mr. Distortion: "The kids played along. They raised their hands in the air."

Terri B.: "You didn't happen to be traveling on the I-10 did you?"

Mr. Distortion: "Yeah. Funny thing too --"

Terri B.: "You had the freeway to yourselves for awhile didn't you."

Mr. Distortion: "Yeah. I guess someone on the freeway thought --"

Terri B.: " -- Santos was hijacking the bus?"

Mr. Distortion: "And called 9-1-1 on their cell phone. You've never seen such a deserted freeway."

Terri B.: "Actually, I have. You were on TV this afternoon."

Thanks to Momish for posting How the Mind Races and reminding me of this one time that my neurotic mind wanderings actually came true -- sort of.