REMEMBER THOSE GAS LINES ?

Remember those gas lines? Remember that madhouse of horns and pollution. You almost needed a full tank to be sure you could reach the pump before you ran out of gas. You had to be very observant to even have a chance to outsmart the other drivers.
Remember those gas lines? Remember that madhouse of horns and pollution. You much easier to bully. If it came down to a show down at the pump a bigger car would prevail.
It was always a good idea to get to the gas station early. About five hours before sunrise was a good idea. I had my “nerve” pills within easy reach. I knew I would need them before this survival mission would be over.
Nothing would move me from the precious spot of pavement I owned in that wagon train that crawled to the pump. I could with stand anything- even choke on exhaust fumes, kids fighting in the back seat, a roast burning in the oven. Ah! A glimmer of hope the car ahead of me moved up about one half inch. The lady in the car ahead of me, just had her baby and the man behind me has given up the bottle. It can’t be long now.
At all cost I had to stay determined. I couldn’t look side to side or make eye contact with anyone otherwise discouragement would set in. On one side the pedestrians are calling me unkind names because they haven’t been able to cross the street in about a week. The people on the left are also upset because they haven’t been able to get in their driveways since the gas shortage began.
The group in the middle are the most vicious. They have been stranded for days in the same lane pointing at each other, engine to engine, determined to go in opposite directions. They keep pointing at me. I keep up the pretense. I just gulp another “nerve “ pill and lock the door.
The torture chamber moves at a crawl. By this time its almost closing time and you see the prize- the gas pump is within sight. I used to be so excited to reach the pump that I usually exited the car via the window and I didn’t care if it was open or not.
The whole thing meant I survived that gas line and would live another day to do battle with it again. Will those days again return?