THE SUDDENLY BLINDED DRIVER

TRUE STORY
as reported by Bo Guss

If there was ever a time to be buckled up...

A beautiful Spring day, with hardly a hint of a cloud in the sky and I was loving it. Heading for downtown D.C. on Massachussetts Avenue (to make a pick-up for the courier company for which I was an independent contractor), I had crossed Wisconsin Avenue and was about to enter an unmarked danger zone.

Perhaps traffic on the other side of the street had at least a clue that workers were down in the sewer, pumping up some sort of grunge. It was flowing down their side, filling and hiding potholes still waiting to be patched up since the previous winter.

After passing the home of the Vice President on Observatory Circle, I could see the British Embassy ahead. Suddenly, I saw nothing. Well, nothing on the other side of the windshield, that is. A car on the other side had hit a pothole full of muck, and I was the recipient who could not duck.

Having just started to change lanes to my right, my first thought was that I was about to be in the midst of a multi-car pile-up. I am happy to report that this did not happen. However, my journey did come to a very abrupt adjournment. As the Brits would say, "smashing!"

It was a lamp post that stood, unharmed by my pathetic wreck of a Mazda GLC. I, too, was unharmed, as I was glad to report to the people who had appeared to check my condition. I had, as always, been wearing the seat belt. Should I call it, "Life Belt?"

I now tell this story with one last caveat, "When you need it, you won't have time to put it on!"