My Car Crash Crisis
How could my dad and brother survive without gravy with our Sunday dinner? Unfortunately the store cupboard was sadly lacking in anything resembling< “Bisto”, none the less myself and my little sister were strapped into the back of Mum’s car trying to find one of those little shops which my mum describes as “life savers” for the working mother where she could purchase some gravy granules and ensure that peace reigned at the Sunday dinner table. I should add at this stage my mother was heavily pregnant with my little brother.
I personally had no objection to this little excursion as it gave me the opportunity to get some sweets. Then again I was thinking I would probably get plenty of sweets at my friend Suzanne’s party which I was due to go to that afternoon. I was really looking forward to Suzanne’s party. All those different coloured balloons just waiting to be burst but little did I know that it was my “happiness balloon” which was about to be burst. Mum was driving along the road and was pulling into her little Filling Station lifesaver.
As we pulled across I saw a brown jeep heading towards us but it didn’t seem to be slowing down. I was strapped in the back passenger seat and my little sister Kathy was in her baby seat I could hear my mum shout but I am not sure what she said. She tried to make it to the car park but even Michael Schumacher would have found it impossible. I remember vividly seeing the lady driver of the other vehicle. Her face was white and her mouth was open and her eyes filled with fear. That split second seemed to last forever and was only interrupted by the wailing screech of brakes.
Time was once again frozen as my mind filled with questions-what would happen to my mum? -What would happen to my sister? -What would happen to me? All our lives were hanging on this frozen moment in time especially mine as the jeep was heading straight for the rear passenger door. The noise of metal striking erupted as pieces of the car door, the car pillar and a shower of glass made contact with my body. The front passenger seat came crashing backwards jamming my leg. Fortunately I was wearing my seatbelt otherwise I feel sure I would have gone either over my baby sister or straight through the window.
I suddenly had a flash back of my brother and I driving along the road at the edge of a ravine where there was no fence at the edge of the road and I was frightened of our car falling down the steep mountainside into the valley below. My brother reassured me and told me that all I had to do was brace myself. I grabbed his cyber pet ad clung desperately to it. I could feel wet fluid rolling down my face and the screams of my little sister with her eyes scrunched up as she screeched uncontrollably.
My mum was already out of the car at this stage and undoing our belts. I realised the fluid running down was in fact tears not blood. In the distance I could hear sirens blazing. As my mum continued to fumble with the seatbelts and try and extract my little sister and me from the car I saw a … smiling policewoman looking in at me. She offered me her hand but when I got out I realised I had forgotten my brothers cyber pet so I broke free from the policewoman’s grasp and grabbed it.
She then took me to the side of the pavement beside my mum and little sister and set us all on the adjoining wall. She reassured me that my mum, sister and I would all be okay. I began to shiver uncontrollably and my head started to spin and it was only then that I became aware of the gash on my leg. I just could not seem to get warm realising this a policeman came over and gave me his jacket whilst my mum phoned my dad and called him to the scene. I remember my mum crying, as she was concerned about my sister, her unborn child and myself.
The lady in the other car was very supportive and friendly but I was so glad when dad arrived and took us home. My mum was very keen to take me to hospital to have me checked out but I could not bear to be taken anywhere strange or to be parted from my family. I just wanted the warmth comfort and protection of our own home. When we got home mum and dad cuddled us on the settee and gave us a warm blanket with cups of steaming hot chocolate thankfully our next door neighbour who is a GP came and tended to us.
Thank goodness no one received any serious injury and my cuts and bruises soon healed. When I look back on the accident I feel very glad I had my seat belt on because otherwise my injuries would have been much worse and I am also glad my mum was driving a large heavy car which absorbed a lot of the impact but more than anything ever I realised something for the first time just how precious life is and that we should always try to enjoy each day.
