Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Memior- ‘Ol Red Part 2

The third cause of our disasters was the throttle which controlled the gas hence controlling the speed of the scooter-o-Satan. You just twisted the handle of the scooter and off you went, it would be convenient if a persons’ first reflex when faced with a compromising situation is to let go of the handle; instead of squeeze it as hard as you can.
One beautiful day I was riding Ol’ Red around our circular drive way, it had rained recently and so it wasn’t possible to ride in the pasture. I was enjoying myself when Logan came out to see if I would give her a ride. Her throat was healing nicely and to this day there is barely a scar. Like the kind big sister that I was, I drove her around the circle a few times. Deciding that I’d take my kindness to the next level, I asked Logan if she wanted to learn how to drive the scooter. I figured it would be just like teaching her to ride a regular bike. Every kid needs to know how to ride a bike and drive a scooter… I sat behind her and told her the scooter basics: gas, brake, blinker (we always used the blinker, the horses needed to know which way we were going to turn), horn, key, the horn again. We were ready to go, as we started our halted stop and go ride around the driveway, Logan started to get the hang of things as I sat behind her encouragingly. I was congratulating myself on being the “World’s # 1 Scooter Teacher and Big Sister” when Logan started to speed up. As I look back at the following events, I admire my level-headedness as our lives passed before my eyes. In slow motion, I told Logan to slow down, but for some reason (maybe a flashback of her being clothes-lined) she was paralyzed except for her hand which squeezed the throttle. I yelled at Logan to let off the gas, again this only resulted in her twisting the handle even more. As I tried to take control of the scooter I realized that we were going to crash and we had three options to choose from as to what we were going to crash into...
To our left was mom’s flower garden, to the right was dad’s big yellow work truck, I surmised that if we survived this crash, we would probably not survive the punishment bestowed on us if we ruined mom’s flowers or put two head dents in dad’s truck. I made a millisecond decision and pulled the handle of the scooter towards option three, the pond.
I don’t know which one of our screams brought my folks running from the house but I’m sure they weren’t expecting to see three rear ends sticking out of the frog pond. The scooter’s back wheel was spinning since Logan still hadn’t let up on the throttle. I had been thrown over Logan’s head and landed in the very center of the pond where I was trying to cough up the pollywogs I had eaten as my gaping, screaming mouth hit the water. After that, Logan has entered the ranks with Captain; I don’t drive with her anymore. As a side note, dad said it would have been ok for us to hit his truck, to this day I wonder if I made the right choice…


4 comments:

hil said...

Haley, you are such a fantastic story-teller! you should write a book. i especially like the part about the 3 rear-ends hanging out of the pond. i'm imagining a blinker glistening under water. what a great memior.

gigi said...

Once again you didn't disappoint. You are just to funny.

I was so excited that you tried my fake "Thin Mints" cookie recipe and that you and Nate really liked them!!
Hey, when it's August and you have a cravying for G/S cookies and they don't come out again until the end of Jan. They really are GREAT! I can't wait to try the Blizzard. I haven't had a blizzard in years! We have a DQ in our town, YEA!

Aramie Judd Christopherson said...

Once when I was 12 my friend Rachel decided to teach me how to drive her parents beat-up old car in the pasture at her grandparents plantation. I had a Logan moment and pressed the gas peddle to the floor and was so scared that I couldn't take my foot off. We hit a tree. I think I have blocked the rest out of my mind for obvious reasons.

The Cinderella Life said...

You are an amusing story teller. I,too, think you should write a book. I had a motorcycle moment with Aunt Sue. She and I were driving (I was the driver)dad's new motorcycle around our property in Fallbrook. For some reason I started going too fast, we hit a bump, and Sue flew one way and I another. The motorcycle continued on for a few seconds and then slumped over on it's side wheels still spinning. I heard my dad yell "My bike, my bike" as he ran towards us and never again had any illusions about which child was my dad's favorite!!!