In Los Angeles, we are so traumatized by traffic that we've developed Freeway Superstition.
My friend Ron and I were cruising an open stretch of the Hollywood Freeway during the late afternoon - a rare privilege. With wind whipping our hair, I exclaimed, "This is amazing, no traffic!" His brow furrowed and he shushed me immediately. He warned that I could be jinxing the whole thing by the mere mention it. As if.
If my power of suggestion could summon a never-before seen force throughout Los Angeles, causing thousands of people to swing onto the 101 on-ramp for no apparent reason, I'd use those powers otherwise. I'd be a book deal-having, Academy Award-winning Kennedy with the highest metabolism in the West. Just saying.
