Obviously Not! Obviously Not!

One of my brothers and one of my sisters came out to visit me and Beloved this past weekend. Due to Mother Nature, their flight was delayed considerably. This being the case, they told me not to come pick them up at the airport, they would take a taxi to our place.

At 1:30 a.m., they called me. "Uh, we were wondering if you could come pick us up at the airport. The taxi line is about a mile long."

No problem. I hopped in my new car (ugh, I just remembered I never blogged about that) and headed out. A family of deer wouldn't get out of my way. In Georgetown, a group of drunk college students wouldn't get out of my way. I hit all red lights. Then, as I hit the interstate to Reagan Airport, a downpour of epic proportions hit me. Finally, I arrived and picked up Frick (my brother) and Frack (my sister).

As we headed back into town, my air conditioning crapped out and the windows fogged up. Frack grabbed some socks out of Frick's luggage and I was using that to see out the window as Frick tried to get the defrost on. A sudden warning cry went up from Frick and Frack as they saw someone pull out from the curb without looking. I slammed on the brakes and time stood still as it does in such circumstances. Dummy, who had pulled out without looking, rolled down his window and started castigating us, asking, "didn't you see me?"

My brother Frick had evidently had enough, what with his much-delayed flight, the still-pouring rain, the window issue, and now Dummy. He launched a verbal assault on the dummy that had little effect, because Dummy responded, "traffic was stopped, that's why I pulled out."

This is when I decided to stick my oar in, saying (or crowing), "obviously not! obviously not!"

Insurance informaiton was exchanged and Dummy decided maybe it wasn't worth all the trouble. My brother Frack immediately calmed down and said, "okay then, let's call it a day." Off we went on our way.

A few blocks later, as we were reviewing the events, my sister Frick suddenly mimicked, "obviously not! obviously not!" It made us all laugh and laugh and laugh.

Somehow, "obviously not! obviously not!" just captured the whole thing magnificently. And needless to say, the phrase popped up throughout the very fun (and otherwise unremarkable--well, unless you count us getting lost in Rock Creek Park) weekend.