I can only think of one incident where I truly thought my life was in danger and it was car-related as well. Now I find it an amusing story – so I’m going to toss this in as a lighter note in what may become a rather dark thread, given the theme.
In the 1990’s I worked for a law firm in a lake resort town. The senior partner owned a condo and he rented it to me at a very reasonable rate. There were only two buildings, mine was second tier, that is to say half way up a BIG hill from the lake itself, with a winding drive that came from the top of the hill, past my building on the left and the pool just below it on the right, then around a bend to the lower level, where if you turned right you’d go to the bottom building, if you stayed straight, you’d go in the lake. Basically, it was a steep, giant S shaped drive.
In the winter, I was the ONLY resident of the entire condo complex. Of course living near a large body of water in the Midwest means ice storms. We had a doozy – 7 inches of sleet piled up. The condo association was probably not too happy that they had to do it, but they paid a lot of money to a plow, that managed to keep the road clear from my spot on the parking lot, up the hill and to the street. The remaining drive, pool parking and lower building were all still ice-covered. Of course, between my door and my car was also ice…so I would literally crawl to my car and then stand up, get in, and away I’d go!
One morning I got up and did my usual routine, crawling in my jeans, tossing my skirt in the car as I had court that day, and I noticed that it looked like it had rained, but I didn’t think much of it…until I got out of my parking lot and started up the curvy hill and halfway up, realized it wasn’t water on the drive, it was black ice. The wheels spun, the car stopped, and then started sliding backwards down the hill. I tried turning the wheels, hoping to get the car to slide into the parking lot…nothing. I tried tapping my brakes and that put the car into a spin. After two, 360 degree turns, it finally stopped, past my parking lot, next to the swimming pool lot and facing back uphill again. I later learned that the little, light car had caught its front wheel on a tiny hill of ice that the plow had scraped up. That’s what stopped it. Why it followed the drive and didn’t just go over the hill into the pool…well, I’m just glad it did!
So…choices…I only had one. I didn’t dare stay in the car as I was now completely off the plowed areas and on the flat, thick ice. So I very gently opened my door, climbed out…and fell down and slid under the car! I was terrified to touch it so I wiggled my way out and then sat on the ice a minute. I gently reached in, got my keys, and left everything else, including the door open, for fear of dislodging the car. I couldn’t stand up, so I decided I’d have to crawl across the drive and slightly uphill, to get to my condo which was at that point just barely above me, but a streets-width away. Keys in pocket, on hands and knees, I started crawling. Halfway across the drive, my behind slid around and downhill – gravity, duh – and I started again sliding down the hill toward the lake – this time on my knees! I dropped flat hoping to stop – which in fact made me more like a toboggan than a sled – I just sped up! Eventually, about 40 feet from the flat ground and probably 80 feet or so from the lake – I caught my fingers in a little crack in the ice.
Now I was hanging on the drive by my fingers, looking UP the hill at the rear end of my car which I thought could start moving again if a stiff breeze hit it. Below me straight ahead was flat ground, but no way to walk on it and if I slid too far, the icy cold lake. To the left of that, as I was hanging with my back to the lake, was the lower tier condo. No one was there of course, but I considered trying to work my way there, break a window and go in and maybe at least have warmth and water and, if I got incredibly lucky, a phone. This was in the days before cell phones, and a lot of people disconnected the phones in the summer places when they’d be gone a long time. Option two was above me on my right. My ground-floor condo’s deck was above me, about 50 feet away if I could get directly up the hill, about twice that by road because it curved around. That seemed better than breaking and entering, if I avoided drowning in the lake, so I gingerly worked my way to the retaining wall that bordered the curved drive without losing much ground, shoving my fingers into the ice everywhere I found a crack, hoisted myself up and over…and realized there were big-ass SPIKES sticking out the back side! If I were to go straight up the hill and lose my grip and slide down, I could be impaled! So, back over the wall and onto the drive side again, hanging over it so I could hold on to the spikes, I did the only thing left…I hauled my heavy hiney UP the drive, hand over hand on the spikes, sliding my body along the top of the retaining wall, about 100 feet given the curve of the drive. I finally got to the top, crawled to my door, into my condo and continued crawling straight across the floor to the liquor cabinet.
After about 4 good pulls on the vodka bottle, my hands had stopped shaking enough for me to call my office and tell my secretary what happened. She called the court and asked for a continuance, but called me back and told me I’d have to talk to the judge myself. His Honor advised me if he and the clerks could get to the courthouse, so could I! My response, fueled by vodka and shock, was, “If you’re so sure I can get to court, you can damn well come get me yourself!”
I got my continuance. I didn’t go to jail.
Of course, later after the black ice melted off my boss sent someone to get my car and all was well. But being all alone, I could well have died if the car had not caught and stopped or if I had slipped into the lake instead of catching my fingers in that little ice crack. I stayed at a hotel for a few nights after that.