Tod Kelly

It's very important for me that you understand that I am not a violent person.

I'm very even-keeled.

I never lose my temper.

In fact, at one point when I was 25 years old, my girlfriend of a year broke up with me because she said I was too even-tempered and even-keeled.

She said that I so was afraid to ever get angry that her words were, I was like a woman, and to quote her, she could find a better, more masculine man on the open market.

And this breakup had ripples that I didn't see coming because in addition to being my girlfriend of a year,

we had sort of drifted off with her friends and I'd become estranged from my own.

And I'd started about six months prior working for her sister, who, now that we weren't together, let me know that she didn't like me and was waiting for a reason to fire me.

Which I was making too easy because I was really terrible at my job.

And I kept showing up late, and I knew if I showed up late one more time,

This is about a month after we've broken up that I'm going to get fired.

And so I set my alarm and I am on my way to work from my crappy life to my crappy job driving my crappy Mazda, which is like 20 years old.

And it's the kind of car where it makes these noise that frighten you.

And so you turn the stereo up so you're not afraid to drive it.

And I just, I just, I don't know.

I can't move past anything in my life.

And I'm thinking about how I have nothing to look forward to when I see something come directly at me on the freeway from the window, and it is a black car hurtling toward me.

And I swerve over and actually go off of the highway onto the parking strip.

And the car is in fact, I immediately notice, it's not out of control.

it's just cutting me off.