Cars part 3

My Love/Hate Relationship with Cars

Part 3

 

We decided to buy a second car. Unable to afford a newer model and unwilling to make any more car payments, we settled on a 1939 Chevy for $40. We called it the Sherman Tank. It had a rusty brown color to the body, running boards on each side and a fox tail flying from the antenna like a banner shouting “Look at me!” I liked the city and country horns. By flicking a switch on the dash back and forth gave the horn an “arrugh arrugh” sound.

The tires looked bald but because of the large wheels, I couldn’t find tires to fit. I scoured the junk yards but any tires I found of the right size looked no better than the ones already on the car. So I drove it on bald tires and as you might imagine, I had a blow out one day while traveling on the highway, at 55 miles an hour. When that old tire blew with a loud bang, the car shimmied all over the road. In an effort to control the car, I steered it on to the median. The top heavy Chevy tipped on two wheels, balanced for a second, and as if in slow motion proceeded on its roll over. I tasted grass and dirt in my mouth as the car hit on the driver’s side, and hung upside down when it careened to its top. The steering wheel held me firmly in place until the car turned on to the passenger side and threw me to that side of the car. It finally righted itself on its four very badly damaged tires. It had made a complete revolution.

I landed with my back against the driver’s door and I felt it open and two hands catch me.         

The man holding me said. “Lady, I didn’t expect to find you alive.”

I felt myself losing consciousness until I heard a cry from the back seat. My two children had been tossed around like rag dolls. Their cries brought me to full awareness and I hurriedly pulled them from the wreck and examined their heads, limbs and bodies. The ambulance took us all to the hospital where Michael received stitches in his forehead, Missy placed into a figure 8 sling for her broken collar bone and I came out badly bruised with two black eyes. To settle the bill, we gave the Chevy to the garage that towed it. Now I needed another car.

...to be continued