FIVE

I was in a car accident the first week I had my drivers license.

I didn’t get my drivers license until I was 17, I think. Maybe even 18. My mother wouldn’t teach me to drive, and couldn’t afford drivers education, so I had to wait. I was quite possibly the LAST person in my grade to be bestowed with the ever-coveted license.

The week after passing the “big test” my mother went out of town with a friend. She left the car with me. And I wrecked it.

There were a few people in the car with me and we were following one of my other friends. The girl in the passenger seat flipped her leg up on the dash, and announced that she had sexy legs. I of course looked over, because, well… god only knows why at this point. We were all laughing and having fun, and I guess the whole paying attention while driving thing seemed too much to handle.

When the girl in front of us stopped, I was looking at Annette’s “sexy legs” and ended up ramming right into her. She didn’t have insurance, and therefore didn’t want to report the accident. I didn’t want it on my record, so I agreed. Her car was pretty much untouched. My car was a mess. I had moved the whole engine back about 6 inches into the car and had smashed up the front quite a bit.

I remember not wanting to tell my mother. I tried to find a way to borrow the money to get the car fixed and have it done before she got back from her trip…however there was no accomplishing that. Even after finding the money, there was no way they could get the parts and fix it in time…so I had to tell my mom what happened. She took it well. Better than I would have expected. But I never forgot that feeling of doom that overcame me when the whole thing happened…