A Story

Good evening everybody, how's it going? Whew, I don't know about the rest of you, but things are pretty busy, full, action-packed, speedy, etc., etc., in a "hang-on-let-me-grab-my-thesaurus" kind of way. In light of all this, I decided to do what some might call an "irritatingly irrelevant and superfluous kind of post". Not that I mean it to be boring or lacking in enjoyablility, but that it's a story about something that happened to me [and one of my sisters] a few weeks ago. So it's nothing earth-shattering, or incredibly fresh, or new, or cutting-edge. Though, it was quite interesting, even suspenseful, dare I say, downright dangerous. I think we did however, manage to live through it. I'm pretty sure. So without further ado, here's my story:

"It was another rainy day at the Heffingtons' house. After spending the morning doing various chores, jobs, tasks, etc., Daniel felt that it was time for some lunch. His parents were out, his other siblings had eaten, and there didn't seem to be any of that left. He didn't mind this though. You see, he remembered that a certain Burger King that had been closed down for the better part of a year or even longer, had recently re-opened. As you may know, when this particular character is deciding what to eat, he is always on the look-out for some sort of meat. So, putting two and two together, [along with some money from his wallet], he set out to eat his lunch at said restaurant. As he was leaving though, his dear sister Leah begged and begged him to let her accompany him. [And though we would never mention it to her dear reader, I do believe she may have had a hope that her philanthropic brother would take pity on a young girl and by her a drink]. Whether or not these suspicions were validated matters little because that's just what he did. After he had finished his wonderful lunch of a Whopper Junior combo with small fries and a drink, and she had finished her drink and some of his small fries, they set off in the Subaru to go home to the rest of their brothers and sisters. As they got in the car and started toward the first stop light, Leah found an abandoned lock-blade pocket knife on the floor of her brother's car. Knowing him to be the suspicious character he was, she whipped out the knife and grinned at him in an unsettling and gloating way. [Okay, okay, maybe it was more like she slowly opened the knife out of pure curiosity. Writer's license and all that stuff.] One way or the other, the knife was opened as they began their drive. Seeing the open knife, and being the conscientious, safe, and aware driver that he was, Daniel calmly and serenely said, "Close that knife! If we were in an accident or something you'd fly forward and that knife would get me right here!" He accompanied this last statement with a violent gesture to somewhere in the region of his neck. Leah quickly saw the truth to that statement and just as quickly realized she didn't know about how to close this particular lock-blade knife. Seeing they were at a stoplight and feeling as he did about open knives being brandished around while he was driving, Daniel took the knife from her and closed it himself. It was a good thing too, because little did either of them know just how prophetic Daniel's dire prediction would turn out to be. As they neared the edge of town, they came to the spot that Daniel likes. He likes this spot because it says 55 instead of 35. As the car accelerated to cruising speed Daniel and Leah kept up a friendly chatter. [Though some say she kept glancing furtively at the knife] [But Daniel and Leah were there and neither of them will agree with that last statement so that means it's false.] Anyways, they continued home with light hearts, neither of them suspecting what was to come. Here's how it happened: At a certain spot in the road, Daniel and Leah were driving in the slow lane as their right turn was 1/2 mile ahead. Along this piece of road there is a severe ditch some 4 or 5 feet deep on the road side. This is partly because the road is built up higher than the surrounding lands though, so the ditch is much shallower on the yard side of the ditch. [Meaning people's yards.] So, as it happened, right at this particular point in the road a purple 18-wheeler decided it would scare the living daylights out of some young travelers and merge into their lane when they were right behind it's cab door. It may have been much less devious, in fact Daniel and Leah suppose they must have been in the truck's blind spot, but either way, it did start to come rather decidedly into their lane. Both Daniel and Leah noticed this movement as it was forcing them off the road. Daniel had to move the right wheel of the car onto the shoulder of the ditch because the truck kept on coming. Daniel was of course blowing his horn the whole time, but to no avail. Suddenly it happened. The truck had caused them to move so much to the right that there was no more shoulder to move on to. They were going into the 5 foot deep ditch!! Suddenly and miraculously though, there was at that certain spot, a narrow driveway crossing the bridging the ditch for about 8 or 10 feet. Somehow, [Daniel says it was no stunt driving skills on his part], the car was able to move onto the driveway in it's leap from the road. This saved them from crashing into a 5 foot ditch on the passenger side [Leah's side]. What did happen however, was that the car hit the driveway and flew into the air. During the mini-flight, the car crossed the ditch line and landed in the yard. They were still traveling quite fast for yard driving though, [they were after all flying off of a highway. Though Daniel had been braking the whole time with skid tracks to prove it] and so they ended up plowing into the ditch on the shallower yard side with Daniel's side of the car. The other point [or more like two points] of this driveway crossing however, was the fact that a mailbox and newspaper box were blocking the car's path. As they flew across the driveway they flew through those two items, breaking them into pieces. After they had landed in the ditch, it was quiet for a tiny while. [They had been yelling during the incident. At least Daniel had. But he maintains that all he said was "Whoa!" and we believe him.] After getting over the initial shock, Daniel and Leah said to each other at the same time, "Are you alright!?". They assured each other they were [thankfully] and climbed out of Leah's door as the car was at a slant with Daniel's door pinned against the ditch bank. Some kind passer-by called a deputy and he arrived quickly at the scene. As did the ambulance, fire truck, etc. After being assured that Leah and Daniel were okay, and checking the car for damage and leaks, the ambulance and fire truck left. The deputy called a tow truck and took report from Daniel and Leah. [The author would like to note here that Leah conducted herself very maturely and bravely during the whole episode. There was no crying, whimpering or anything of that nature. The only time we had a hint of her nervousness was when the deputy was pulling up and she stammered, "Am- am I going to have to testify?"] To the amazement of our heroes, the car was completely unscathed. All that needed to be done was for the tow-truck to hook a cable up and pull the car out of the ditch! The kind officer found no reason to charge Daniel with anything "unsavory", and only left them with the order to see that the mailboxes were repaired. A very thankful Daniel and Leah then got back in the car and drove to the tow-truck shop to pay for the tow. Their parents met them there and after having assured their mother that they were both okay, our two companions drove uneventfully back to their house. But I've heard that to this day [a few weeks later] Daniel still has an unusual suspicion of 18-wheelers."

So that's my story. It really was amazing how God provided that driveway at the exact spot that we left the road. We were very blessed and thankful that it wasn't any worse of a turn-out than it was. So there you have it, another example of the adventures I have with my sisters. [Maybe I shouldn't do something as dangerous and wild as going to Burger King next time :)

P.S. For anyone who was wondering, I did fix both boxes the next day. And they look pretty good. [If I do say so myself ;)