tim’s thought property

I visited my good friend Caleb a couple of weeks ago. He lives out in Winkler, just over an hour away from the city; well, it was longer than I remembered. I went out with Greg Jensen (from Snohomish, Washington. He was out here visiting), and planned on spending the afternoon with Caleb.

We met him at the Tim Hortons, and Caleb was there with his friend TJ, who had sprained his ankle skateboarding, the night before. So we sat and dined, chatted and all that, then went over to Caleb’s. After watching some of Caleb’s skate videos, and playing a game of Scrabble, TJ had to leave for the city. Caleb, being the helpful soul that he is, directed TJ out of town with the least amount of traffic lights. Since TJ sprained his left foot, driving stick was a bit of a challenge.

As TJ pulled out of the driveway, Caleb was searching for his wallet, coming to the realization that it was still in TJ’s car. Caleb jumped into his old Chevy Malibu, and started the engine. As it slowly turned over, I hopped in, too, and we sped off through the town to cut off TJ to get back Caleb’s wallet.

It was a fast ride through the heart of Winkler, with Caleb driving much faster than the posted limits, and I, with my old Canon camera, enjoying the thrill of the chase. Now, Winkler is a grid, and the main roads in town run south off the highway. TJ was taking Southview Dr. to the 32 highway to get to the 14, then back to Winnipeg. Caleb roared up Third, then Pembina, then up Main. We didn’t see TJ’s car, upon arriving at the 14, so we were driving to go south down the 32, to return home. At this point, at the light, TJ rolls up, and turns left, in front of us. Caleb and I are frantically waving and then we make a U-turn and follow TJ down the 14. We’re going as fast as we can, and Caleb tells me “Take out your wallet and point at it!” So I’m doing so, as we approach TJ, and I roll down the window and shout “CALEB’S WALLET! DO YOU HAVE CALEB’S WALLET?!”.

Now, of course, he doesn’t hear me, as we are both at speeds of 110km/h. He rolls down the window to shout back “WHAT?!” I point more furiously and repeat “DO YOU HAVE CALEB’S WALLET?!” At this point, TJ turns around in his seat, and starts to look in his car. He finds it, still maintaining his speed. We’ve pulled in front of him at this point, to let other cars pass. Caleb’s original intention was to pull over at a gas station, but we decided something all the better.

Caleb resumes his lane, and is right alongside TJ. He moves in closer to TJ’s car, and we prepare to make the hand off. TJ is driving with one hand out the window, with a death grip on Caleb’s wallet, and I have my arm out in eager anticipation of the high speed trade. The cars sync up and our hands meet upon the wallet, and our grips are exchanged. TJ, Caleb and I shout with joy and excitement as the transfer is complete, and we say our secondary goodbyes, still driving fast, down highway 14.

And that is how I felt a little like an action hero, if only for seven minutes.