Here’s the story that got delayed by my Pop Tart incident, finally. Imagine our family standing around in a parking lot, something we do on occasion because after we eat out we generally take a little stroll, an evening constitutional if you will. We had arrived in two cars (for whatever reason) and had just finished eating. As we debated over the destination of our walk, and who was going home in which vehicle we are not-quite interrupted by the youngest child’s voice….”mom.” But we keep going, our son has started to lose interest and has begun to wander off, Middle Child (Hurricane Hanna) is still fully involved in the discussion….”mom.” Are we all going for a walk? Are just the girls going to ride home with me? …”mom.” Is J.D. even going to walk with us or has he decided to just drive straight home? …..”mom.”
“Shit Emma! What?!”
“I think your car is on fire.”
?!?
We all turn to look, and see that there does appear to be small wisps of smoke rising from the back seat area. The passenger side door had been open this entire time, so it wasn’t like the car was filling up with toxic fumes, but still, a fire, jeez.
We continue to stand around in the parking lot. Staring as small flames begin to appear from the blackening hole. We are all in attendance now, staring. Watching the little flames get slightly larger. We are looking at each other, then back at the growing fire.
In an absolute flash of movement Dan pushes the front seat out of the way, at the same time as he is using his thumb to flip the top off of his to-go cup of iced tea, or soda, or whatever beverage choice he had made earlier and carried out with him. The lid sails away and he pours the entire contents of his paper cup onto the conflagration. Poof. It’s out. Just like that.
We all now turn to stare at him. Wow. It happened so fast, and he did it with such ease. LOL, and the rest of us are just giddy with the instant motion of his actions. Clearly it was a good thing he accidentally ended up wearing a badge with his name on his shirt. Quick thinking and measured responses come quite naturally to him. Me? Not hardly.
We later found out there was a reason for this mysterious flame out. The night before I had retrieved about seven or nine of the girls’ closest friends from a late night concert, and transported them all safely home to their respective families. (Is it a surprise to any of you that I was always the “take home” parent in the travel arrangements? And never the ”early pick up” parent?) We had crammed way too many middle/high schoolers into the back seat of my Wee Walnut. Volkswagens of this style and decade have the battery under the back seat, conveniently close to the engines, which are in the trunk. The manufacturers stuff the back seats with coconut hair. Seriously. They used it as padding. This ”accident” has happened more times than my VW mechanic could even count. When I told him about this, and I was laughing about the entire escapade, because hell, it was funny, he went all white and quiet. He ran out to the back of his storage yard and brought me a bright, day-glo, orange cap, that he placed on top of the connecting poles of the battery, then he found me a replacement seat. It doesn’t match anything else in the car, but I certainly didn’t care, as long as it didn’t have huge, half-a-butt-sized burn hole in it.
Just another, in a long line of cautionary tales, that I’ll write up eventually when I get around to penning my memoirs. Because really, no one else’s life can possibly be like this and ya just can’t make this shit up.
For our card today, again I am glad we are doing it with pictures now. You really need to see this one. We are back to Colette’s Wisdom of the Hidden Realm.
”The Wise Woman of Wonderland ~ integrity, compromise.
The Wise Woman of Wonderland brings integrity to thought, word, and deed. She lets you know that as long as you are in the flow of honesty and being true to your word, she keeps you under her protection and care.
When she appears as your Ally, she signals a time when honesty pays off, yielding greater dividends than you expected. You will be thankful that you remained faithful and loyal to your path. She reminds you that compromise isn’t always an option. Stay true to yourself first and foremost. Although, it may appear that you could lose something as a result, you can never lose what is truly yours.”
