Honk, honk! Honk, honk, honk, honk! 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12....19 times! Someone honked at me 19 times today!

I was on my way to a different city, about 4 hours of drive away from home. Since I would have an entire evening to myself, I was carrying a 'pretty' bag with me. With opportunities so far and so few, I did not have everything I would need with me. It was past noon so I took an exit to the nearest mall where I could both shop and eat a light lunch.

I had left the home wearing women's bootcut jeans with low heel boots and a pastel cotton turtleneck sweater. Since this is also my occasional casual dressing style in winter, it is not out of place for people around me to see me dressed as such. After driving a little further from home, I pulled into a rest area to don some shoulder length hair and replace my short jacket with a women's commuter coat that I keep in my car. I wear a women's beanie hat to match the sweater and keep a matching floral mask on the passenger's seat. A foldable hand bag comes out of my 'pretty' bag and gets stocked with some basics like money, lip gloss, phone and such.

At the mall that I mentioned earlier where I stopped to shop and eat, I first went to a Target. It was crowded but I am comfortable in the way I was presenting and I thought I did not stand apart a lot from a lot of other women who were there except that I was a bit conscious about being a little flatter in the chest. The bra padding provides a decent A/B cup size but I don't know of a better and natural looking option than using forms which are not discreet to say the very least.

I was shopping for some shoes and shapewear, shoes I found, but shapewear I did not, because I honestly tell could not which type or size I should buy just by looking at them. They do not look the same hanging on the shelves as they do on the websites! After buying two pairs of shoes and some other things, I headed to the checkout. The checkout line was long because of 6 feet apart policies. After about 20 minutes, I was greeted by a young woman at the checkout who asked the usual questions and treated me just like she treated other shoppers. So far, so good.

In the same mall was Lane Bryant, which had a very trimmed inventory of clothes but the two elderly SA again treated me like their regular female customer. I liked one wool skirt that I saw but once I removed the hanger, I realized that it was about 8 sizes larger than mine. The way it was folded and hung seemed to be just my size. The SA at LOFT said, "Sorry ma'am, but the only skirts we have are the ones on sale." You all know how it always takes more time at the store than you plan on, I realized I had already been at the mall for over an hour. I decided to skip lunch and get back on the road.

The way back to the highway requires taking a left at a traffic light with two lanes turning left. Just before the intersection, the two lanes turn into four with the two original lanes continuing straight and the two left turn only lanes get added. So if you were on the left lane originally, you would either go to the immediate left lane or to the furthest lane on the left. In any case, you would turn on the left blinker to signal moving to the left lane. The car in front of me went all the way to the leftmost lane. I indicated moving left to the adjacent lane but the driver in the car behind me thought that I too was going to the leftmost lane. A loud honk at me! The driver's little ego had gotten hurt! After making a left at the intersection, there was another left turn that takes you to the on ramp to the highway. Through these two lefts and through the ramp, this guy keeps honking hard at me. I look in the rearview mirror: there were four young guys, cracking up with laughter and honking at a 'middle aged woman' driving a run off the mill crossover. Mind you, they were in a beaten down and at least two decades old Ford sedan. Although when I was getting honked, I did check the trunk of my car just to make sure that I hadn't forgot to close it and all my shoes and stuff was falling down on the road . But once I saw these guys in the rear view mirror, I could tell that they were honking only to harass who they thought was a female driver and the only reason they were doing so was because they could. Once off the ramp, when the guy decides to dangerously accelerate to intimidate and yell at me while passing in the adjacent lane, I look behind me and seeing no other vehicles approaching, I slam the brakes to slow down so they don't get the chance to yell. They passed me in a moment and it was all over but my heart was racing and I was shaking a little. I drove 10 mph slower than the speed limit on the right lane to the next service plaza and got myself a light meal to continue the journey.

I thought for a moment to take a picture of the car's license plate and call 911 but I couldn't be sure. My concern was safety, mine, theirs and of other drivers on the road. I did not take the picture but the license plate and the faces of those guys, especially of the two on the drivers and passenger seat, is embossed in my memory forever.