Fender Benders...Christmas Isnt Complete Without One

'Tis the season when the snow flys and we have lost our ability to immediatly alter our driving habits to accommodate for slippery road conditions.  We forget that perhaps we are not the best drivers and find ourselves slipping at least once in the onset of cold winter weather.   This is usually an unspoken event!

My son has recently experience such an occurance and survives his very first 'fender bender'.  But Mother does it best!

It was Christmas Eve, two years ago and I still had the Bridal Store.  My assistant and I decided to close early that day and I actually had a luncheon at hubby's office to go to.  It was a perfect wintery day with lots and lots of snow falling.  Assistant and I locked up the store, said our holiday greetings to each other, got in our cars and proceeded to leave.  I engaged the 'three week old company truck' into reverse and slowly released the break peddal.  Rolling slowly to the edge of the west exit and stopping, and then shifting into drive.  Assistant is now out of her car flagging her arms at me.  I stop, get out and...o h  m y  G O S H!  I turned around and a hysterical old woman is screaming at me, "Look what you did".  How could I have done that.  It was no brainer that, yes, I was the guilty one, no doubt about that. 

A Tayota Carolla was smushed from front quarter panel to back with the side mirror in at least ten tiny pieces on the side of the road.  As I approached to inspect my truck too, I noticed an insy, binsy black mark on the tail gate. That was it?  That was it!  I made my apologies and excused myself to call in the accident.

Assistant decided to stay with me.  I think mostly because she was interested to see the outcome.  We did the appropriate activies, went into the store, called the police, called Hubby, and called the insurance company.  This took about ten minutes.  As the two of us where now leaving the building and locking up,  Assistant says, "Of all the people to hit, you had to pick a looney tone". 

The victim was now at the curb with the officier and he was combative at this point.  "Not a consiencious driver, I see".   This put me immediately into denfense mode and shot back my comment, "Im guilty, lets just settle this fast.  I did not see her in either side mirrors or rear view mirror".  You see, the 'work truck' was just that much higher on the road than the carolla.  He wanted to 'nail me to the cross'...and again I said I was guilty and Im sorry...and I was not being reckless! 

The two of them disappeared into the cruiser and assistant and I sat in her car, waiting.  It was at least fourty minutes, when finally it was my turn.  I was dressed for a blizzard with my mukluks; at least twice the size of normal boots...and into the cruiser I squeeze, barely getting my two feet in the back seat when the door slambed on my heels.  My knees were in my chin.  Not much room to even breath!

There was a tiny window in the glass partition.  I was now a criminal ready to be slapped with a huge sentence even at the onset of investigation.  In less than five minutes, the cop explained the 'crazy lady' story.  She was running the green light to make a turn ...just as I was rolling down the driveway.  You see, the driveway to our little commerical building with a west and north exit because we are on a corner street with  street lights.  The drive way is eligally too high for this type of parking lot.  The cop simply said, this was a no-fault accident.  He could see that the truck was much higher than the car and he believed my story. 

The cop was now ready to release me, opened the rear door and like a slinky in a tight can, my feet shot out and hit the road.  I said my goodbyes again to assistant who was patiently waiting to hear the story end, and off we went.  I was  little late for the luncheon and hubby could only comment that his work crew would probably do more damage to the car than I just did. 

In conclusion, I must give you the update of the work truck.  It was months later that this vehicle went in for "detailing".  This is a term used for putting company logos and decals on the truck.  As luck would have it, the available Vehicle Number was #13!