Ditch? What ditch?

My friend Kathy sent me an invitation to a party a while back. The party was scheduled for today. I'm not quite in a "party" mood, but I decided to go. The reason for the party was good -- she overcame lung cancer 10 years ago, and it was sort of an anniversary event. Also, I really like her, and I'm going to miss her when I move.

When I showed up, the party turned out to have been cancelled. Her mother-in-law was there turning people away. Why? It turns out Kathy's husband and father-in-law were in a serious car accident half an hour before I got there. No one else there could sign, so I was glad to arrive in time to explain the situation to James, who is deaf (though I think he'd already figured it out -- he's a good lip reader.)

So... everyone left. I was a bit dazed by the news, and I wasn't familiar with the area, so I missed my turn. I passed a car accident on the way down, and then, on the way back, realized it was the car accident -- there was Kathy right there. Eek!

It was a pretty impressive accident. I have no clue how it happened at this point, but the car had run very firmly into some trees on the left hand side of the road right near a crossing. The car was wedged in place, and the front was crumpled in. A state patrol officer was leaning on his car watching the tow truck try to hook up the damaged vehicle. I promptly parked on the side of the road and ran to see if I could do anything to help.

Kathy explained that she was about to head over to Duke (this would be Duke hospital, where they had taken her husband and father-in-law), and she knew her mother-in-law wanted to go, too. I volunteered to go to her house and turn away party-goers so that her mother would be free to go to the hospital. She agreed this would be good and thanked me, so I dashed back to the car and drove off.

Or... that was the theory. In practice, I dashed back to the car, started the ignition, kicked it into gear, and couldn't go anywhere. I'd noticed that the door seemed a bit heavy when I got out, and I knew it was a bit angled, but surely I could rock it out like rocking a car out of a snowdrift, right?

So I failed to go forward... and went a bit backward... and failed to go forward... and went a bit backward... and failed to go forward... and went a bit backward... and gave up. In my excitement to get off the road, I'd parked the Mustang in the ditch, and it was just too far ditched to recover.

Hrm.

Kathy and someone (I never found out who was driving her) drove up alongside me and I explained that I couldn't get my car out. She loaned me her cell phone; I called home quickly to explain the situation and then, assuming that the tow truck on site would be busy with the vehicle on site, called the towing company. The dispatcher sounded extremely dubious. He asked me to check and see if the tow truck on site could help me. We wrangled for a moment before I said "fine" in order to give Kathy back her cell phone so that she could drive off. She went to the hospital. I wandered over to watch the tow truck operate.

Should you ever be in the sort of serious accident where your vehicle is wedged in between trees, I would recommend going to the hospital even if you are uninjured. Watching the vehicle get hauled out hurt. The metal screamed, bits of plastic snapped off, and, in general, the vehicle became more damaged than it had been from hitting the trees. Not significantly more damaged (it was obviously totalled) but it still startled me. I'd never given it any thought before. One of the men had obviously been carrying a vegetable tray in his lap at the time when the car hit the trees, because there were vegetables sprinkled in a neat circle over the grass. I was at a safe distance, but they were colorful enough to catch the eye, and made an odd contrast with all the metal and plastic.

The patrolman took an interest in me and came over to shoo me away from gawking. When I explained the situation, he wandered over to the front of the tow truck to see if the truck had a winch, which it didn't appear to have. Since Talbert's didn't want to help me, he called Lee's. A moment later, he told me that Lee's would arrive in about ten minutes. That suited me fine; I didn't have anywhere to go, and I'd already warned conanmagruder that I wouldn't be home in a timely fashion. I went off to loiter by my car.

As it turned out, though, a front-end winch wasn't necessary to rescue my vehicle. The patrolman and the towing truck man chatted briefly and decided that, once the ruined car was up on the dolly, the tow truck could just hook up a chain from the back and pull me out. The patrolman cancelled the call to Lee's and pulled his car up by me. He then proceeded to direct traffic around me, which was a bit odd, since he was really directing traffic around his vehicle (since I'd parked off the road, and he, observing my example, intelligently elected not to park in the ditch.) The Mustang was going to be rescued, though, so I didn't mind.

It was a country road, and there wasn't that much traffic for the patrolman to direct around his car, so we waited together. There were a few worrying moments when I thought the tow truck was itself stuck -- the driver lowered and raised the dollied vehicle several times -- but then he got back on the road, circled in the intersection, and came over to where I'd parked.

After hooking up a surprisingly thin-seeming chain to the axle, he asked me to put the car in neutral and let go of the steering wheel. I hadn't anticipated being in the car when it was towed, and I was fairly nervous about how this would all work out, but it all worked out surprisingly well -- the tow truck moved forward at a snail's glide, brush snapped under the wheels, the chain creaked, and the Mustang came out of the ditch. I didn't break into a cheer, but I'm sure the desire was plain in my face.

I asked about payment, but he declined (I won't complain about that!) The tow truck drove off, I drove off, the patrolman drove off, and my little adventure was over. I even made it home in time to save conanmagruder from having to take the bus.

I hope Kathy makes it to church tomorrow. I'm worried about her family.

Packing

As usual, I bought too many large boxes and too few small boxes.

Maybe Staples will exchange.