Trial by Fire [OC]

If life were a video game, then I recently experienced one of the STRANGEST cut scenes of all time…

A few weeks back, I got into my car in the parking lot of a local supermarket. RIGHT as I was about to pull away, I felt the unmistakable thump of a shopping cart AGAINST my car. This turned out to be the doing of the person parked next to me, who had turned his back on his cart for JUST long enough that it drifted into my Corolla.

At first, I wasn’t sure how to react. Not that I was MAD––I just, like, didn’t know what a normal human response to this would be. While thinking things through, I accidentally hit this dude with the Gen Z stare––who started PROFUSELY apologizing in response. Realizing that I should probably diffuse the situation, I then stepped out of my car.

What happened next is difficult to explain. After confirming that there was no dent in my car, I somehow struck up a casual conversation with this guy. His name was Steven, and––well, long story short: Let’s just say I ended up inviting him to visit my church, to which he seemed pretty receptive.

The story goes that Steven was raised Catholic but hadn’t been to church in a long while. Additionally, I learned that Steven is currently letting a (formerly) homeless veteran STAY at his house––and that he also owns a pet bird. Because the veteran apparently finds the bird to be a nuisance, Steven now travels with this bird literally EVERYWHERE he goes.

It was at this point that Steven swung open the door of his Dodge Challenger, where I was met face-to-face with the COCKATOO in a cage on the floor of the passenger seat. It was quite surreal––much like this entire interaction.

I still have yet to run into Steven at church, but I’ll keep y’all posted if I ever see him again. 🧐