Belinda whose heart had such pluck,
Helped an old gal whose car was quite stuck.
She turned the wheel for her,
“Here’s back, and here’s forward.”
And then watched as she T-boned a truck.
This one comes from a real experience that didn’t end quite like Belinda’s story, but I watched the scene play out and was sure it would come to something just as dreadful eventually.
Several years ago, Kris and I were with another young couple on our way to visit some friends about an hour north of town. We stopped at a little grocery store (I believe it was the Food Valu…love that name) and picked up some goodies to earn our visit. On our way out of the store we noticed a little old lady (and I do mean that in every sense of the phrase) trying to back out of her parking space. There was very little hindering her, other than two other vehicles parked neatly and evenly along side her car. Yet, she struggled. Our dear friend Karmin couldn’t just watch and ignore this and swooped in to the rescue. The rest of us watched and waited, mostly patiently, while Karmin gave instructions.
“Okay, just turn your steering wheel to the right….no, no…you want your car to go that way so you can get out.
Okay, try this…no…”
Finally, Karmin reached into the open window of the car and literally took over the wheel, instructing the woman to “give it a little gas now” when she was done.
Still fearful the woman slowly backed, paused, listened for Karmin’s encouragement and steering wheel adjustment through the window, and then backed some more.
It was a little painful to watch. I was really frightened for this woman. “Shouldn’t we be encouraging her to go back inside and call her great-great-grandson for a ride home instead of trying to teach her how to drive herself?”
Once she got the car out of the space she definitely felt more confident, but I was watching her head to the parking lot exit to enter the highway thinking, “I wonder how we’ll feel about the way we spent the last 20 minutes if she pulls out in front of a truck?”
OH MY!
Yeah, that woman shouldn’t have been helped- for the good of all others on the road! Yikes!
Great memory to tell. I’ll just pretend it’s fiction. 🙂 Easier to get on the road, you know, when you believe all the other cars have competent drivers. [ Fingers in ears, “la,la,la,la” ]
That’s one of the funniest (and scariest) stories ever!
Oh my! Those kind of drivers are just everywhere here in Florida! A limerick that hits me where I live.