Tales from the Dark Side Part 4 - Conclusion

Tales from the Dark Side Part 4 - Conclusion

Continued from Part 3

I became ever so cautious as I neared the age of 42.  Life had been so wonderful for us as a family; I dreaded the impending disruption that I had been anticipating for years.  We had purchased our most recent home at the perfect time just as the real estate market was about to take off sky high.  We had invested in a number of properties in Eastern Washington, where real estate was more affordable, we had everything going for us.  Our youngest child was almost 5 years old, and everyone my mother included was enjoying good health.  The only obstacle in the way was a pending (predicted) near death experience.

My birthday in February came and went without even the slightest incident.  The Wednesday before Thanksgiving of that year, I considered that within less than 3 month, I would celebrate my 43^rd  birthday and the prediction would have been a non-event.  Later that same day my wife and I had to go visit one of our regular customers and we decided to make the 18 mile drive at 11 pm rather than take time on Thanksgiving Day.  We always took the option most traveled by taking Broadway past the Mall, this time at the very last minute and for no special reason that I can discern, I took the Boeing Highway 526.  Just past the Evergreen Boulevard underpass is a pedestrian bridge.  I approached it at about 60 miles per hour in my new Dodge Dakota truck. I didn’t see it coming but the person following a short distance behind saw everything.  The witness, a Boeing engineer heading to his office for some last minute paper work prior to leaving for Hawaii the next day for the holiday, saw my near death event.  In the light of his headlights he saw a shadow of a boy or man drop a chunk of concrete on my windshield and run towards Casino Road.

As the splinters of glass flew past my face I could hear the splinters bouncing on the back window of the small truck cab.  I worked desperately to control my truck as it almost lost control and nearly flipped over. My first thought was that I must have hit a pedestrian.  I first checked to see if my wife was alright, and I knew that she was because she was shaking the splinters of glass from her hair and coat.  Right about then the driver following behind me came to my driver’s side window and asked if we were alright.  The first thing he said was that he was afraid to look in the cab because he expected that at least one of us would be dead.  Then his next statement re-assured me that the event I had been anticipating had taken place.  He said, “THIS IS AS CLOSE AS YOU WILL EVER COME TO DYING WITHOUT GETTING HURT.”

The chunk of concrete hit the base of the windshield wiper directly in front of my steering wheel, from there the concrete penetrated the windshield leaving a weird shaped protrusion into the cab about one and a half inches long, and then spun over the cab.  The witness saw where it landed and handed it over to the state Patrol when he arrived within minutes (the engineer had called from his latest gadget a cell phone in a brief case).   The engineer also mentioned that if I had been traveling a few miles faster per hour, the concrete would have gone through the windshield and possibly knocked my head off.

As cautious and prepared as I tried to be, it took me by surprise.  I can’t lie; my whole body was shaking for about two hours afterwards.  I was very happy to be alive and happy to be over my 29 year ordeal.  The best is yet to come…..