I was driving. The accident was my fault.
My little sister and her friend were in the car with me. They were laughing and telling stories, and I was distracted. The intersection was loaded with cars, but that fact seemed not to register in my mind until it was too late.
I was laughing, I was happy. And then it happened:
I ran a stop sign.
(*hides face in shame*) I know, I know. It was a terrible, unlawful thing to do, even if it was an accident. I almost hit another car as I blasted my way through the intersection. And then I realized retrospectively that there had been a stop sign on my side of the street too, and I cried out in shock.
I just ran a stop sign. What an awful thing to do! I would never do something like that! I just didn't see it - oh, but I should have seen it! Why didn't I see it? I'm a criminal and a thug, and I'm a menace to society. Oh, what have I done?
I had to pull over to the side of the road, not 30 ft from the intersection. I pulled over and waited for someone to come yell at me. I waited for a cop to come and arrest me. But no one came. Feeling shameful and filthy, and having no one around to punish me, I put the car in park and turned off the engine. When my sister and her friend opened their mouths to ask what was going on, I explained, "I just did a very bad thing. I need to sit here for a while and think about what I've done."
Yes, I put myself on time-out.
I had a moment of silence, apologizing a thousand times in my head. My young passengers were bewildered, but they kept quiet. After a full minute, I shook myself out of it and started the car again. And I was very alert for the rest of the ride home, you can be sure of that.
Thus begins my life of crime. I just wanted you to have this post as a reference point ten years down the road when I'm dealing drugs in prison. When you ask yourselves where it all went wrong, you'll have this blog post to remind you. It all started with a stop sign.
(Hey, that's kinda funny. Starting with a stop sign? Gosh, I'm so clever!)
4 comments:
I have had those heart-stopping moments where I realize "I could have just been killed. or killed someone else." I get all nervous and shaky.
Welcome to my world. Next rest stop - a billion miles and some cheesecake.
Gros, I HIT someone the other day. (A very merciful woman.) I'm not really happy you ran that stop, but I don't think any the worse of you for it. ;)
Seriously, you'd better not ever do anything really bad. The guilt would probably kill you.
Wait... your life of crime started that recently? I beg to differ, Pickaxe. What about your days of hat-thieving and roughing up young men?
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