A Winter’s Mistake

It had been a chilly winters evening sometime in January 2017 and all I wanted to do was get home so I could jump into the warm bed that awaited me. I had just gotten out of a chiropractic appointment for my back and everything was going well. My day had not been special by any means, but definitely not as tedious as others in the past. Unfortunately for me, the man who usually had things just fall into place, my luck was about to change. While leaving the lot, a car struck into the steed I referred to as my truck and my night took a downhill turn.

As I paid the fee and said goodbye to Jen at the front desk, I walked out to my 2006 Ford Ranger with eagerness to go on home. It was mid-winter and the temperature was dropping fairly fast. As I inserted my car key into the ignition, the engine revved up and to my surprise, the air was still warm from when I had arrived and when it hit my red face caused by the bite of the winter air, I was happy. There was a small car with an older model that blocked me from pulling through the parking space so I put my car into reverse and backed out into the side street. From there, I changed gears into drive and pulled up to the stop sign. To my dismay, the snow banks on the sidewalks were at least six feet tall and to add to the inconvenience, I was on an uphill so I couldn’t see anything to my left. I tried pulling up closer to the road until my front end was hovering over the line. Any further and I would have been in the middle of the lane, yet I still couldn’t see. While trying to think of what to do, out of the corner of my eye I saw my opportunity. Just hanging there above the street was the red light that prevented cars from coming down the two-lane road I needed to pass to get to the right side. At least, that was what my brain had come up with in the split second I saw the red light. I was clear on my right and I had figured the red light meant I was clear on my left so I began to accelerate into the road and it was at that moment, I realized just how badly I had screwed up.

I was now accelerating into the road and like they had just appeared, two sets of headlights were coming at me, a car in each lane. In that moment, everything slowed down as if time was just gone. I sat there looking at the oncoming cars, one of them being a small thing, and the next one being a brand new bulky Toyota pickup truck. I slammed on my gas pedal, but the traction just wasn’t there. They were only feet away when finally what felt like my mouse-sized truck compared to the oncoming one sped forward narrowly missing the small car. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the same outcome with the truck. All within the same second, the Toyota slammed into the bed of my Ford swinging my truck into the correct lane while sending a shock of pain down my shoulder. I was dazed, I didn’t know if I should move and call someone, or jump out and see if everyone was okay. I sat there blankly while just watching the driver’s lips cuss me out. Once I came out of my daze, I drove into a parking lot that was right next to me. All I felt the left side of my truck thump around like I had one deflated wheel. Before I even worried about the other driver, I climbed out of the driver’s seat and looked back at the damage. My whole bed had collapsed in and my wheel was deflated wrapped around a bent rim. I quickly got down and peeked under the truck to make sure the now caved in gas tank wasn’t leaking. When no leak was found I had a very brief moment of relief, but that changed rapidly when I heard the slam of the other guys truck door like thunder in my ear. It was at that moment I knew I was screwed.

I looked up to see the man the hight of at least 6’4″ with an expensive looking business suit on, getting out of his truck. The fear of what this man was going to do raced through me and that’s when logic hit me again. I realized he had been head-on in the collision and he might not be okay. I quickly rushed over asking if he was okay and apologizing. He was fine but ticked off. A navy blue Subaru had pulled into the parking lot. Before I had a chance to even think about it, a window slid down and the voice of the stereotypical sassy black woman came shrieking out. She went off about how I had done it now and how I didn’t have the time to pull when I did. After a couple of minutes of hearing the woman go on, I turned around to see the man breathing and trying to calm down He looked at me and I think that was when he realized I was just a kid. It was at that point he told me he had called the police. When they arrived they would write down our information and we would go home. Not having any experience with it I said okay and went to sit in my truck to wait for the police to arrive. About a half hour later, a police car pulled in. I saw the man walk towards the truck and start talking to the owner. He then went over to the sassy black woman’s car and took care of that. Finally, he had approached my truck and I rolled down my window. He wasn’t intimidating or angry, but instead, he was reassuring and nice. He got my side of the story and my info then asked if I had someone on the way and if he needed to call a tow truck. After I assured him my more worried than furious mom was coming he wished me a goodnight and went on his way leaving me alone in my banged up no good truck.

As I sat alone with my thoughts, all I could do was wonder “what now” until I saw my mother and father pulling up in their car. At this point, I wasn’t worried about them being angry, I just wanted to apologize for the bill they were going to get. From there, my father called a tow truck which gave an estimated arrival time of about 45 minutes. Three hours later at 7:00, the tow truck finally came and hauled off the hunk of metal which was once my truck. As we began our drive home, I knew I had been the one to screw up, but all I could say was “Mistakes were made.”

Photo by Arslan on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND