The following is a true story.  And the kind of incident that occurs frequently enough so as to prompt my sister, Becky, to say, “Why do those kinds of things always happen to you?”  I’m not sure, but as a writer, I’ve been blessed with a fate that has been sprinkled with unusual and tempered with bizarre.   I’m also lucky to be alive (as I’ve been told).

My sister, Becky, and me

So I’m on my way to visit my mother and Pete in northern Michigan, my boys buckled in the minivan and deeply engrossed in a highly educational DVD.  I was bored.  We were in no-man’s land – my cell couldn’t get any reception, the boys weren’t fighting and even the satellite radio keep going in and out.
 
I became obsessed with mastering the cruise control.  Keep in mind that in the ten years we have owned a Honda, I had never used this feature, located right in front of me on the steering wheel.  But as you may have guessed, I am also blessed with the ability to multi-task.  So, not only was I driving a 3000 lb vehicle at 70 mph with my young children and a dog in the back, I was also trying to figure out the mystery of the confusing cruise control.

It was NOT my fault, I repeat, NOT my fault

Here is my disclaimer:  Even if I had seen the bale of straw sitting in the middle of the road at the crest of a small hill, it would have been too late to do anything.  I hit the bale bomb with a resounding “thud”, and though it’s half the size of a bale of hay, it still packed quite a punch.  The car shuddered, the boys threw off their head sets and began screaming, the dog started barking and thick smoke obscured all the windows except the windshield.
 
So you completely understand the decision I made, I will outline the facts. 

1.  I was in shock! This is important to keep in mind.
2. We were in the middle of nowhere.
3. My phone didn’t work.

How confusing is this???

I couldn’t figure out the smoke thing.  My car was still running and I didn’t detect any funny sounds, but the heavy dark smoke had enveloped us.  I could hear other cars honking (as if I were unaware!), but I was afraid if I pulled over, I would be stuck.  I thought I should try to make the Big Rapids exit, two miles up the road.

Suddenly, as I neared the exit, the smoke instantly disappeared.  I looked out my rear view mirror and saw a small fireball rolling back down the highway.  It came to rest at the side of the road where it promptly burst into a large fireball.
 
This is where I had my ah hah moment.  I had been dragging the bale of straw under my car and the friction had caused it to ignite (the smoke!) and when it burned down enough, I had shaken it loose.  I was instantly relieved that we weren’t dead, but I was still visibly upset and I needed to see what kind of damage I had inflicted on my beloved minivan.  I pulled off at the intended exit and headed for the only gas station, a mile down the road.

Rule of thumb – Know your Audience

I got out to inspect my beat-up car and immediately started recounting my situation to the large tattooed fellow on the Harley Davidson, getting gas next to me.  Remember, I was still in shock.  As I was explaining my story, I noticed a smell, a funny smell, one that I recognized from back in the day – the guy reeked of marijuana!
 
It was just my luck that the biker dude was stoned to the beejezus!  The whole area was filled with the stench of pot but I had already engaged him and I didn’t want to appear rude or insult the dope-fiend, so I finished my story.

“Well, that explains it,” he drawled.

“What?” I asked.

“Why you smell like Cheech and Chong.”  He nodded towards the van where my two boys’ faces were pressed against the window.

“Me?  What do you mean?”  I turned around and smoke was still pouring out from every crevice of my van.    Smoldering pieces of straw stuck out from the door jams, the windows and even the gas cap.  It then came to my attention that the smell of burning straw smells suspiciously like you-know-what.  He wasn’t the pot-head - I was!
 
“I’m a responsible mother!  I only did that once,” I gulped, “back in college.”

“I bet you didn’t inhale, either,” he chuckled.

Just then, a small group of fire trucks and police vehicles, their sirens blaring, passed the station, racing out towards the highway.

“Looks like you have some ‘splaining to do, Lucy.”  The biker/comedian pulled his helmet on.  “Good luck,” he said sincerely as he roared off.

The Walk of Shame

I slowly walked in to the gas station and announced to the two gals listening to the police radio that I thought I might be the one who started the brush fire out by the highway.  They looked at each other as if they had never started a fire and handed me the phone.

Later, as the police were taking my report, the officer mentioned, more than once, just how lucky we were to be alive.

“You know,” he said as he took my registration, “those gas tanks are made outta plastic.  If you’da pulled over with the bale still stuck, the car probably woulda exploded.  You’re lucky you hit it straight on,” he added, “most folks would have jerked the steering wheel one way or another, coulda hit a car or veered off the road.”

So, it was a good thing that I didn’t do as common sense would have dictated.  By not seeing the straw bale in time and not pulling over immediately, I may have inadvertently done something right. . .  by following some crazy, shock induced logic; I may have saved my family from, well, something not good.

Pete and Claudia - aspiring funeral directors

“I could have been planning three funerals right now,” my mother commented when we arrived safely in Frankfort.  “Four, if you count the dog . .  . and this is a busy weekend.”

I do hate to put people out.