Have you ever gotten the feeling that someone is out to get you?

Last night, while driving down Route 123 on my way home, I was stopped in traffic, and the line of cars behind me was starting to grow. There was a piece on NPR I was listening too, nothing too exciting. And then I heard a boom, boom, boom, boom. And with each boom, it got louder. And suddenly I realized that the boom noises were a chain of cars each rear-ending the next like a row of dominos. Last car to get hit? The one behind me. Eek. I almost wanted to get out and thank that driver for not being up on my bumper and thus smashing into me.

(Everyone pulled over and started exchanging information, thankfully.)

And then, this morning, on the GW Parkway (heading back into work) I saw one car ahead of me slam on its breaks and even do a little side-to-side skid action to barely stop. I had plenty of room between that car and me, so I slowed down gradually.

Only to see, about 15 seconds later (as I’m at a complete stop) an SUV getting awfully big in my rear-view mirror, awfully fast. There was some screeching of tires but it managed to stop, barely. (And of course, there was nowhere for me to go; more cars on the left, a bridge railing on the right.)

Is the world trying to tell me something? Perhaps to watch my back? Hmmmm.