A Semaphoric Incident

After TLS several of us hit the road to mount pleasant. it is a really nice walk home and the temparature was gorgeous. There are a few tricky intersections where Florida Avenue cuts through the soutern edge of adam's morgan. We were waiting on the sidewalk to cross Florida Avenue. As the pedestrian walk signal (the white dude) appeared, Rob, Evin, and Malka took a wondorously fast first step into the crosswalk. I followed them with my sister and ari johnson. a car ripped around the corner and hit the breaks. it was quite tense...rob, evin, and the driver exchanged unpleasant (perhaps even lewd) gestures. teh driver then looked at me and ari. we were still wearing large white kippot. he threw up his hands as if to say "what the %$@ are you doing." I took a deep breathe. smiled. and pointed to the walk/don't walk sign and said "oh, i think we had the right away...." he looked saw the white dude and said something truly shocking. i was expecting gunning of the engine, or another led gesture.
"oops, [smile] you're right. you do appear to have the right of way. i guess i must have made a mistake."
in ten or so years of aggressive city jaywalking i have never had someone admit error and apologize. this experience will help me remember to always breathe and smile before discussing our relative behavior in unclear situations, or any situations for that matter. what a wonderful teacher i had in the fancy black car on Florida avenue.