Bully’s Corner

When I was growing up in Omaha our dad, the driver,

often came to a troublesome 5-way intersection across

Holloway Boulevard, with all our family members along

in the car – seven of us.

My poetic, impatient father suffered at this difficult

intersection with no traffic lights.

He called it Bully’s Corner because, he said,

“The biggest bully always gets to go first.”

You know, there’s a four-way stop almost like that fabled one in Omaha

right here in Lawrence, Kansas – at Kasold Drive and Trail Road.

Dad wouldn’t have liked this traffic-lightless Kansas crossroad either.

Kasold Drive has two double lanes, Trail Road crosses it with two lanes.

Several cars often pull up there at the same instant.

The drivers look at one another through sun-glared or hazy windshields.

Who gets to go first? A pattern emerges.

Men in trucks wave other drivers through, wrists resting on their steering wheels.

Young men usually go first. Women drivers often wait until the intersection is

cleared to proceed. When it seems to be my turn, my car creeps forward until I’m sure no one is challenging my right to turn west from Kasold, to Trail, to home.

Maybe creeping forward means I’m asking permission to turn,

not behaving like a bully.

Is that better or worse?