Yes–I know–I don’t really believe in omens, but foreshadowing happens so much in novels it just might as well happen in real life. I mean, do novels reflect reality or vice versa? Well anyway, I went to Wal-Mart, and I went to pull into a parking spot and I drastically misjudged and came within inches of this car. This wouldn’t have been so catastrophic except for this elderly couple had just gotten out of it. I was kind of freaked out, because I thought that I hit them from the way they were gesticulating. The husband was standing by the back fender of his car. So I got out of my car and walked around to where he was standing.
“I didn’t hit you, did I?”
“You came within like THIS MUCH” he held out a tiny space between his fingers for emphasis “of my car!!” And I did the thing I hate. I played like I didn’t care. Nonchalantly, I replied, “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Look at that!” he said, “You need to straighten that out!” I looked. My car was catty-cornered in the space. It was a HORRIBLE parking job. I think my worst yet. I grimaced, mostly to myself, and walked over to the driver’s side to fix it. I was deathly afraid of actually hitting his car this time, so I went back as slow as I could, paying careful attention to his facial features so I didn’t hit his car. I straightened it out, gathered some change from my front seat, locked the doors, and started walking towards the store. OH MY GOD was that embarrassing. All through my ritual of buying the rechargeable batteries (which are now charging in the office here) I was consumed with guilt and self-loathing. I made up my mind to just drive home, as that whole situation was indeed a bad omen. But, I said to myself, “What are you doing? You need to be a true nihilist and recognize that omens are simply fiction.” And then I got my conscience tied up in the “does fiction imitate reality or vice versa” debate, so I went back to the college simply as an experiment in whether omens really are true. So if something else shitty happens to me, then I’ll have proof of omens. Or just proof of coincidences. We’ll see. I wish I could hang out with the Lethargy Club gang. I know they’re all going to see Harry Potter, I should go. Jill is here. Gotta go, we’re going to look for Molly.