"Bill" Moment

I had a uniquely "Bill" moment the other day. Me and a conductor were deadheading to Chicago. I was sitting in the back listening to my Ipod and not really paying much attention. I was catching bits and pieces of the conversation going on in front of the van. Apparently they were talking about the movie 2012. The gist of the conversation was that there was 3 couples left to repopulate the Earth. The driver was explaining how the gene pool would be pretty shallow for the first few generations. I chose this moment to inject my 2 cents. I said "Well it would be just like a trip to Tennessee then"

Then came the awkward silence. The driver then informs me "I'm from Tennessee and I've never seen anything like that." Fantastic, of all the states I could have picked to make that analogy, Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama etc, I pick the one my driver happens to be from. Yea me.

So he gets a little defensive and explains how he doesn't know anyone that's married a cousin or anything and how they've passed a law against it. At that point I was thinking, ok point taken, but that's when things got strange.

Right after he explained how he didn't know anyone that married their cousin etc, he explained how he had a smoking hot cousin when he was younger that he tried to date. Apparently (at least according to him) their nearest relative was like 6 generations ago, but she did have the same last name. And it wasn't like Smith or anything, he didn't tell us what it was but said it wasn't very common. He said the only thing that kept them from dating was that she was actually looking forward to getting married someday so she could change her name, and if she was with him that wouldn't happen.

So in the process of trying to argue my point, he actually made it stronger. It was one of those surreal conversations that I find myself involved in from time to time and that I chuckle about when ever I think back on them.