We were trolling for a parking space down around the Tidal Basin when a car just ahead of us pulled out of one. I put my blinker on and rolled forward to begin a parallel park, but as I did the car stopped. "What's he doing?" I said to Heidi. "Is he leaving or trying to get into the space?"
"He's getting out of the car," she said. "Here he comes."
Generally? I am not a competitive parker. If someone sees the space at the same time as I do, or flips their blinker on, or even if they stare me down, I will wave and continue my search. It's just not worth the negative interaction to me.
So I was fully prepared to apologize to this guy and move on when I saw that he was waving a little white slip of paper.
I rolled down the window as he approached. "There's another hour on this," he told me as he handed the parking ticket over.
"Hey! Thank you!" I said and slid the pass on the dashboard. "I think that's all the time we'll need."
After the two mile loop we loaded Lucy into the car, and before easing back out into traffic I drew the ticket from its place and glanced at the time stamped on it: 4:58.
Then I checked my watch: 4:58.
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