What My Mother Forgot

Offroad

I am not a great driver. And by that I mean, I'm a hesitant driver.

This school year, I was dual-enrolled, so I didn't have a first period. Instead, I took classes at the local community college.

On days I didn't have class, I had to drop my brother off at school and then go back for 2nd period.

So I'd get breakfast, then come home and sleep for a bit before going back to school.

This time though, it was snowing, and the roads were slick.

My instinct was to drive slow, but my brother had driven this morning, and it was fine. But I was going too fast, and probably two miles from my house, I spun off the road, jumped a ditch, and landed in a cornfield.

I was unhurt by the grace of God alone. I realistically should have been injured.

I wandered out to the side of the road to flag down a passerby because I didn't have a cell phone.

A brand spanking new red pickup pulled up alongside me. The gentleman inside rolled down the window and asked if I needed a ride home.

We made chit-chat and I forced myself not to cry.

As soon as he dropped me off at home, and I called my mother.

"Is the car ruined?" She asked. I told her I didn't know, and she said I needed to figure out how to fix it and hung up.

Then, I did start to cry.

I called my dad. He said it wasn't his car, and he couldn't help with that, but he would call the school to tell them I would be late.

I started to search the phone book for a tow truck company, stressed because I did not know how I was going to pay for it.  Then, I remembered, my friend who graduated the year before and still lived in the area, her Dad was a wrecker. I called, and he came roaring in. He drove to the middle of the cornfield, pulled my car out, and I drove back to school.

I was so proud of myself for handling this situation all on my own. And the car seemed to be running fine.

When I got to school, they asked about the road conditions and ended up calling the school day early. My brother almost slid off the road when he was driving home too.

When my Mother came home, she asked if the car was still out in the field, and I told her no, and about how I had fixed the problem.

She and Rick were furious. 

"Why didn't I call a professional?" 

Even though the car didn't seem damaged, it could have been, and I shouldn't have driven it.