Steven Wright 18

I have an answering machine in my car.  It says, “I’m home now. But leave a message and I’ll call when I’m out.” Last year we drove across the country.  We switched on the driving…  Every half mile…  We had one cassette tape to listen to on the entire trip…  I don’t remember what it was. I saw a sign:  “Rest Area 25 Miles“.  That’s pretty big.  Some people must be really tired. I like to pick up hitchhikers.  When they get in the car I like to say, “Sooo, how far did you THINK you were going anyway?“, or “Put on your seat belt.  I want to try something.  I saw it once in a cartoon, but I think I can do it.” I decided to leave and go to California, so I packed up my Salvador Dali print of two blindfolded dental hygienists trying to make a circle on an Etch-a-Sketch, and I headed for the highway and began hitching.  Within three minutes I got picked up by one of those huge trailer trucks carrying 20 brand new cars.  I climbed up the side of the cab and opened the door. The guy said, “I don’t have much room up here, why don’t you get into one of the cars out back.“  So I did.  And he was really into picking people up because he picked up 19 more.  We all had our own cars.  Then he went 90 miles per hour and we all got speeding tickets. A cop stopped me for speeding.  He said, “Why were you going so fast?“  I said, “See this thing my foot is on?  It’s called an accelerator.  When you push down on it, it sends more gas to the engine.  The whole car just takes right off. And see this thing?  This steers it.” I was going 70 miles an hour and got stopped by a cop who said, “Do you know the speed limit is 55 miles per hour?“  “Yes, officer, but I wasn’t going to be out that long…” One time a cop pulled me over for running a stop sign.  He said, “Didn’t you see the stop sign?“  I said, “Yeah, but I don’t believe everything I read.” I got my driver’s license photo taken out of focus on purpose. Now when I get pulled over the cop looks at it (moving it nearer and farther, trying to see it clearly)…  And says, “Here, you can go.“