this is how agoraphobia gets started.

I just left the apartment alone for the first time in two days. I was nearly broadsided by a light blue pickup truck as I turned left onto Route 1. He was running a red light and I didn't bother double checking the intersection because I was being blinded by the sun. He didn't even swerve. He just kept right on going in the left lane, completely oblivious to the situation. I turned into Dunkin Donuts instead of pulling up alongside him at the next light, because I knew my New York plates would have left me obliged to give him the hand.

If you've ever been a NY driver or encountered an angry one, I'm sure you know of the hand. It lies somewhere between a flip of the bird and a smack upside the head. It's the most powerful weapon in an urban driver's arsenal (I've been known to avoid eye contact, just to prevent transference of the hand), and as such it appears rarely. In certain circumstances, however, its use is unavoidable. Beware the New Yorker bearing the hand.