From: Kevin Kelly <>

To understand this short story you need to know a bit about New Jersey in the Winter time. It has been a miserable, damp, cold gray winter. Not much snow but not much sun either.

My car has had that road salt grime to it since November and even if I wash it, 5 minutes on the road get me back to ground zero. Every time I get in the car, I brush my black overcoat on the door and get this white smudge all over it.

So it is easy to see why, when I arrived in Florida and the temp was near 70 degrees, I would request a convertable over a Ford Taurus. As they pulled the car around, my boss asked if it would cost more than our reservation. It was only $4.00 more for the day, so he agreed I could rent it. Over course the first thing we did was put the top down. Before we pulled out of the airport Car Rental area, I nodded my head at the gentleman saying something about the only way I could put the roof back up was if the car was in park and the emergency brake was on. I said OK and off we went.

As I head south on Rt 275 out of Tampa, it was still very warm. We looked to our west and could see very dark skies. My boss explained that he didn't want to get rained on, and I responded with, "At the first drop, we'll just pull over and put the top up".

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the southern Tampa area of Florida. But I am not. Apparently they are known for fast moving storms and incredibly long bridges called Causways. These bridges sometimes stretch on for 5 or 10 miles. (with I may add, no real room on the shoulders for cars)

Well, I hope you can all see what is coming. We got on the Causway between Tampa and St. Petersburg, The sign said "ST. PETERSBURG 11 Miles" At first the rain wasn't so heavy, I looked immediately to pull over and put the top up. NO WHERE TO STOP!!! My boss, who isn't the happiest fellow in general, just kind of looked at me with that disappointed look you got from your fifth grade teacher because you got OK grades but you could do so much better with just a little thought and effort.(OK, maybe that was just me)

Anyway, I could not stop the car. The rain got heavier and the wind started blowing around 40 or 50 miles per hour. "Sure the rain was getting us soaked, but at least our luggage was in the trunk", I laughed nervously.

That is when I noticed Bill's garment bag collecting puddles in the back seat. Traffic was really heavy, so seeing the people in the other cars laughing was helpful to my situation.

"WITH US, Bill, they are laughing *with us*, not at us!!"

As I reviewed my options, I could pull over as far as possible and put the top up. But literally there wasn't more than a few feet of space. We would be sticking out half in a lane, and with the rain coming heavier and heavier, visability was down to basically just the car in front of you. Option 2, the bridge wasn't so high, I could jump over the side and probably even live!! Option 3 GET REALLY WET. I chose the latter.

Now the windshield had water on both sides and the wipers weren't doing much good, I put the defroster on and I could see Bill look over like I was an idiot. (hard to argue at this point)

No kidding, about 10 minutes after we entered this Causeway, I could see that we were close to the other side. When we were clear, I pulled to the side and put the roof up just as the rain stopped.(although, the roof needed to be up, slight drizzle) We mostly drove in silence to our hotel.

When we arrived at the hotel Bill opened his door, as he pushed it open the water that collected in the door handle sloshed all over him, like a glass of water that was too full and suddenly moved. One last zing. Again, no yells, just a deep sigh. The next day we didn't really discuss it, and I wasn't bringing it up. All in all a fun trip.

As info, when I got down to Uncle Ray's house, (about 1 hour drive) he too got his hand wet, reaching to close the door. I tried and tried to get all that water out.

It's my life, none of you can have it.