Around 8 am this morning Devon came into my room, woke me and said he had some bad news. I immediately guessed, "Were you in an accident?" But what I was not prepared for was the answer, "Yes!"
(The rest of this went very fast and could be out of order - I just can't remember it exactly, but it approximately what happened)
"What? Devon, are you okay? Devon, did it involve another car? Where did it happen? What happened? Devon, who brought you home?" The answers were surprising. All this time I'm assuming it was on the way home from XC.
"Yes, I'm okay, but my thumb hurts a little." Okay - we can get that checked out - are you sure you don't hurt anywhere else - "Yes, I've checked myself all over - I don't hurt anywhere else."
"No, it did not involve another car." (That was great news) It happened on the windy road. (Betsy is assuming Covered Bridge Road - but he means Sleepy Hollow).
"I was driving around a curve and my tire went over the edge so I pulled the steering wheel but it went too far and I went off the edge on the other side of the road and ran into a wall." WHAT!
"I walked home." You walked home … then the wheels start turning in my head and I conclude it must have taken him a long time to walk home so this couldn't have happened on the way to XC so it must have happened on the way to XC (which he left the house at 6:07 for). "Devon did this happen on the way to XC? You didn't make it to practice - no one knows?" "Yes"
"Where is the car?" I pulled it over as far as I could. It's on the side of the road." Well, there isn't much room on either side of the road so I tell Devon to get his shoes on and we are going to drive there immediately.
This all happened so fast - and with the way my brain works things went in this order: Thank the Lord he is mostly OK, Thank the Lord no one else was hurt. These are two huge blessings. Thank goodness Devon knew to come home - too bad his phone wasn't charged. He must have over compensated when he turned the wheel to bring it back on the road. I hope he didn't damage the wall too bad, I hope the car isn't totalled. Oh, my - let's just get there and see.
So Devon and I get in the van and drive the 2 to 3 miles to find the car on a steep slope between two curves on Sleepy Hollow Road. He's telling me about it as we get closer. I can see where he dragged dirt and grass onto the road, so it must have happened just prior to that.
As I come around to corner I see a police officer is already on site with his lights on as a precaution to warn other drivers. Wow! Devon's tail end is sticking out about a foot into the road, but that is about as far as Devon can get the car off the road because there is a steep dirt wall to the left. The police man tells me to move the car immediately - yikes! He sounds upset. I attempt to move the car a few times, but there is too much dew. I ask Devon to help push and I get some slate to put under the tires so I can get some traction. We are successful, but only to find out the car has two (2) flat tires on the driver's side and it is not drivable. UGH! Now it's sitting in the middle of the lane on a two-lane road.
I tell the police officer that we can't drive it home and we will call a tow truck immediately. I call our emergency roadside assistance, but they take way too long, so the police calls Barrington (I've used them once before to charge my car). They arrive 20 minutes later and pull the car up. That's when you can see the full extent of the damage. It's only the driver's side but he hit slate (which doesn't give) so it bent both tire rims and flattened both tires. It also looks like it completely broke the tire rod of the front wheels. Oh my goodness. This is heavy! As Devon and I wait for the tow truck I find I finally have a minute to call Mark and tell him the events of the morning.
Through all of this I am so impressed with myself. I can lose my temper on occasion, but this entire morning I haven't raised my voice once! I've stayed calm and objective. Devon felt terrible about what happened and it's obvious by the look on his face and his solitude. He doesn't know what to say. I follow the tow truck to Certified Auto Mechanics but they don't do collision repair. OOPS! They tell me it's going to cost at least $3000 to repair the car. It's then that I call Mark and relay the information. Mark says to scrap it - we let the tow truck take it away. By this time it's raining and slippery. I carefully climbed up on the flatbed to remove our personal belongings.
Then it's time to say good-bye. The Corolla is history!
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