She wrecked the car

A little over two weeks ago, Suze called me and said, "Mom? I had an accident."

I couldn't believe I was hearing this ... again. My mind rushed back to the hysterical call we'd had from her in January of the previous year when she'd been in a real accident (she wasn't driving) and was hurt and we had to rush to the hospital where we were met (eventually) by paramedics wheeling our daughter into the emergency room stapped to a backboard, head restrained and crying that she couldn't move and everything hurt. She was pretty banged up and needed a few weeks to recover from bruises and stiffness (the facial abrasions took a little longer), but in all she turned out to be OK. So for this recent phone call, her lack of panic led me to think this was maybe a parking lot fender bender at most. Still, I knew, she wouldn't be calling me for something so minor - at the very least, the car must not be operational, or she'd have kept on her way.

Well. Not operational. I guess not. It seems she was driving out to Cascade via Grand River Road, that lovely, winding country-road route to the south end of town that beats driving the expressway or the East Beltline anytime. It was early evening, after the dinner hours but well before dusk, and she was on her way to Barnes & Noble to use a gift card she'd received for graduation. She also had an assignment from Meg to pick up a father's day card. Probably driving a little faster than she should have been, because she does that, she heard - or felt - something on the right side of the car pop, or bump, and she found herself careening off the shoulder and mowing down someone's mail box before the car returned to the road, crossed the opposite lane and plunged into a wooded area on the other side. The airbags had deployed and she could no longer see where she was going, as if that would have helped, since she'd lost control of the car anyhow. She says she let go of the steering wheel and thought she was done for as the car kept slamming through the woods. It came to rest, I'm told, between two large trees, just short of ramming another.

Neighbors on both sides of the road were out in their yards and they rushed to help. Someone called the sherriff, and she borrowed a cell phone to call us (hers had no service). She wasn't hurt, she assured us - she was uncharacteristically calm - but the car would need to be towed. Clay drove out to the scene, arranged for the tow truck and brought her home. I stayed back, obviously not realizing the seriousness of the what-could-have-been details of the incident. When they finally returned and I heard the whole story - complete with a description from Clay about the condition of the car and how far into the woods it had barreled and how close she'd come to colliding with large trees - I was shaken and amazed. Since she's had her license, Suze has had "incidents" with every one of our three cars, some because of carelessness, but most not. How many "lucky scrapes" does she get? I keep wondering and it's not a comforting thing to ponder.

I did not see the car until yesterday, when a tow truck from the repair shop we frequent (and I do mean frequent) backed into our driveway and eased it off the truck bed to a spot behind the evergreen in the front yard. (At least it's somewhat hidden from the road.) We'd used up their storage hospitality (Clay was embarrassed about leaving it there as long as we did.), although they didn't charge us their usual storage fee - we've been good customers and they're decent people. Looking at the car I feel like a gawker at an accident, both amazed and repelled. A reminder of what could have been and what is, narrowly and but for the grace of god, I don't think we'd want it even if it was worth repairing. Suze is fine. She wrecked the car, is all. We can deal with that.

Comments

[lori]

You might want to remind her that they drive on the other side of the road in Australia. :)

[kathy]

OMG -- I hope they don't let her drive there!!!!