Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: JAM (02/09/17)
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TITLE: A Lemon Jam with Curbside Appeal | Previous Challenge Entry
By Vicki Thomas
02/16/17 -
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The light turned green. The used, green Gremlin my parents had chosen to test drive that day when I was about twelve, lurched forward in one swift motion – directly into the busy intersection…and died. The tiny, compact car was now a giant problem in the middle of oncoming traffic, with all of us trapped inside. My dad, behind the driver’s wheel, began to instantly do all the manly things he knew to save us from danger. My mom, from the passenger’s seat, began to do all the womanly things she knew how to do in a crisis – yell at dad. My younger brother and I, like two monkeys behind the glass, just peered out the side windows, watching the jam that could be made with one small ‘lemon’…
“Ray! Do something!” mom shouted above the honking.
“I’ve done everything I can do!” my dad fired back. “I told you this would happen – that’s what you get for not test driving a Ford!”
The misguided blame bounced back and forth across the front seats until it finally hit its mark.
“That’s it!” mom shouted. “I’m calling that dealership and giving them a piece of my mind! They are going to send out a car to pick us up – this is ridiculous!”
And in the early 1980’s, in the days before cell phones, the best one could hope for in a jam, was a nearby business with a pay phone in the lobby. We were in luck. Just to our right, through the dangerous intersection and across the grassy median, there was a Pizza Hut. Before dad had time to object, mom’s door flew open, and like a scene from an Atari Frogger game, she darted out across the intersection. The unfortunate event took place upon reaching the grassy median, when in her haste, she misjudged the height of the next obstacle…and with one swift kick of the curb and a nose dive into the grass, we were not only the main event – but the side show as well…
We must have deemed it more humane to her dignity if we just let her safely bounce around in the grassy median alone, because none of us got out to help. We did participate in her public dilemma by laughing at her from the backseat of the Gremlin. It was the best we could do, given our own predicament. She finally bounced up out of the grass, tore across the Pizza Hut parking lot, and disappeared into the lobby.
The return trip from the Pizza Hut back to the car was a bit more successful, as she carried with her the spoils of the war she had fought with the median – grass stain covering both knees of her jeans…
I honestly don’t even remember how we finally got back to the dealership. I obviously just recalled the best events of the day – the unfortunate ones. Life does seem to be filled with a series of unfortunate events. And my experience would tell me, that if life deals you a lemon – it makes a way better jam than it does a lemonade…
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Well done,
Blessings~
Well told.
And my VW Bug when I took it in and said it sounded like a sewing machine, they agreed. Your descriptions were precious.