My dad decided to go into the appliance sales businesses when I was
in sixth grade and it was a bootstrap operation that involved my mom
being a runner. We lived about 60 miles from a major city and the
distributor would ship the appliances there for much less and then we
would pick them up there and take them down to our showroom that was
rented from a local hardware store. We had been using a pickup truck
but that could only hold about two machines which was not very
efficient so my dad build a special rack that allowed for six units
at a time. I loaded up with my mom to go on the maiden voyage and the
trip up went very well the new rig loaded up perfectly and we started
driving home. My mom was a napper, a really regular napper who took a
nap almost every day. It was warm day and as we drove back my mom
started getting drowsy and told me to put on my seat belt because
she was worried about getting in a wreck. We had driven about halfway
home and I went to sleep because I was so tired. In a few minutes
after I went to sleep I was ripped side to side and the cab filled
with dirt and debris flying around I looked out the window and saw
dirt and then sky and then dirt and then sky and then the truck came
to rest. I looked over and saw my mom bleeding from her mouth and I
was trying to figure out what was going on. A man ran up and opened
my mom's door and asked if she was okay and then he noticed that
there was flame coming from underneath the hood of the truck and he
pulled my mother out and then came and got me away from the truck in
case it was going to start on fire. We moved back and sat down on the
side of the road and started crying and hugging each other. The
police, ambulance and firetruck came and so did a reporter from the
newspaper. We got checked out and nothing looked broken or badly
injured but my mom had hit her face on the steering wheel and bit
through her lip. My dad was contacted and he came quickly and was the
sweetest I ever remembered him being in my whole life. He was not
worried one bit about the truck or the appliances and that had been a
concern to me I was thinking they would all be ruined and cost us so
much money and he was just worried about my mother and I's well
being. The man who helped us out of the truck said that we had
drifted off the road at about 70 miles per hour and then when my mom
noticed she corrected to hard on the soft dirt and we started to
roll. The appliance rack broke off on the first tumble and then we
rolled four or five more times. We landed on the tires and the truck
still ran. To this day my dad denies that we rolled over multiple
times but The people who were there thought s, I was in the cab and I
know so but evidence is not entirely convincing for my dad. I rode
with my mom to the hospital and her lip was sown back together and
still has the scar. We got our picture in the paper with a quote from
my mom that there were customers waiting for their appliances. I got
nothing but some emotional trauma, bruises from the seat belt and a
great story.
