Second Cycle of Communication - CW

Communication
Gesticulation
Irritation
Aggravation
Exasperation
Provocation
Escalation
Altercation
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....
James was driving towards his daughter's school.
He was going to pick her up as he usually did on Tuesday's after school.
He would then drive her straight to swim practice
at the university's olympic pool.
He always gave himself enough time to get there,
particularly since the speedlimit in the school zone was very slow.

James made a right hand turn
while continuing to drive 30 km/hr. as was the limit.
In his rearview mirror he could see a black SUV bearing down on him.
The car gave no sign of slowing down.
A moment later the SUV was right on his tailgate.
In response to the other driver's dangerous driving
James' reaction was to slow down to 25km/hr.

At this point the other driver started to honk his horn nonstop.
James looked back at the other driver in his rearview mirror
to see that the man was giving him the finger.

-"Jesus! What is that guy's problem?" James wondered in irritation.
"He's going to cause an accident."
 
James continued to drive below the speedlimit 
in the hopes that the driver of the SUV would pass him.
But instead of passing him, the other driver just leaned on the horn.
The driver's incessant honking made his aggravation very clear.
James sighed in exasperation and decided to pull over 
to let the SUV driver pass him.

As James pulled over to the right,
the angry driver pulled up alongside of James' Honda.
James looked over to see the man's face.
The man's eyes were bulging out of his head.
His face was beet red.
His teeth were bared like the fangs of a wild animal.
Blue veins were popping out of the man's neck
as he reamed off a series of expletives.
James was shocked by the man's savage aggression.
Then his adrenaline kicked in.

-"Why don't you just pass me, you stupid idiot?", James yelled in the man's direction.
He was sure the man would get the general idea.

The man got it, alright.
The other driver's face was so red 
that he looked like his head would explode.
He slammed on the brakes.
Then he leaned against his door to open it.
The driver of the SUV stepped out of his car.
He then turned towards his back door, opened it,
and reached down to pick something up.

James froze for one second 
until he saw the man approaching his car with a baseball bat.
As he reached for his cell phone 
he wondered how the day could go so terribly wrong.