Guardian Angels

Today I am grateful for Guardian Angels.  I’ve always had the feeling that there is a team of them looking out for us, but now I’m sure.

If you are a follower of my posts, you will remember that we had to have new brakes and a new brake hose put on our van before we headed out on our road trip to meet John’s sister in Florida.  Then there was snow.  Lots.  And a delay in the arrival of the new hose part.  And a delay in our departure. . .but amazingly only by 6 hours.  As soon as the van was back in the driveway we had it loaded and were off before it got too comfortable.  $500 bucks spent before the first mile.

We’re driving along, joking and laughing as we pick up 95 South, go through Delaware and into Maryland.  “Making good time,” my dad would say.  Cops were everywhere.  State, local, more state, county.  I think we saw a cop car at least every five miles.  Just past Columbia, Maryland, John was telling me about a concept his design department at Kohler had presented in that town, to sell entire bathrooms-in-a-box. We had just passed two mustangs, a gray and a green parked in the median between the north and south lanes.  John said, “Look at that.  They even have cops in hot cars just to keep us off track.”  I was using cruise control and not speeding, so I wasn’t worried. 

Then I saw them approaching in my rear view mirror.  There were four lanes and I was in the second from the left.  The green mustang was racing up in the left lane, FAST.  The gray mustang was in the lane just to my right.  They were not cops, like we thought.  They were young men having a lark, drag racing on the busiest highway on the east coast. They zoomed around us at 90 miles an hour.  From there our world turned to slow motion, like in the movies when they really want you to get the point and not miss one thing, so they focus close-up on each and every detail at a snail’s pace.

The green mustang cut over in front of me, to the right, but was soon far ahead.  The gray one was planning to cut in front of me to the left, and fall in behind his buddy, but another car had come up on my left and was trying to go into the same lane.  One was veering left, one right vying for the exact spot at the same time.  The gray mustang driver spun his steering wheel back to the right, hard and fast. . .going 85 and started to spin out.  There was a van behind me in my lane, a truck behind me in the lane on my right and other cars behind them in all four lanes, but a little further back.

As the gray mustang started a 360 degree spin, he was facing me, still moving forward from sheer inertia.  My life passed before my eyes.  Adrenalin rushed through my cells so fast I was shocked that lightening wasn’t flying off of me.  Here is what I thought in the course of maybe five seconds.

“Oh-my-God-he-is-spinning-out-of-control-someone-is-going-to-hit-him-if-he-rolls-I-won’t-be-able-to-get-out-of-the-way-oh-my-God-the-van-behind-me-is-following-too-close-and-I-need-to-brake-and-horn-hit-the-horn-where-is-the-truck-why-is-it-so-quiet-in-here-all-I-hear-is-the-horn-and-screeching-brakes-are-they-mine-or-the-mustangs-he-still-spinning-how-many-turns-was-that-can-I-get-around-him-without-someone-else-hitting-me-or-will-I-hit-him-is-he-still-going-forward-I-can’t-tell-no-he’s-heading-straight-for-us-crossways-sideways-in-two-right-lanes--no-no-no-no-crash-please-I-have-to-take-a-chance-and-stop-stop-stop!”  Really.  Those thoughts in less time than it took to type them.

I already had my foot on the brake and wanted to veer to the left, but there was a car there, close and I knew I’d hit him or he’d hit me.  But when I saw the mustang’s back left fender heading straight for my front right fender, I knew instantly that I could no longer be concerned with who was behind me or next to me.  They would have to follow my lead and figure it out.  If he hit me, we were all dead, because the domino effect would be in full force.  All of us would collide.  It was happening so fast, that by now we were too close to avoid the inevitable, whatever that may be.  I don’t want us to be the big story on the local news.  Enter the Guardian Angels.

The air sucked out of the van like a vacuum at the car wash.  There was no time, just space.  I put full force on the brake, stopping in my lane, in the middle of Highway 95.  I didn’t scream.  John didn’t scream.  We waited. In silence.  For the sound of metal crashing into metal.  I felt a presence. . .several presences. . .surrounding me.  The guy behind me spun ever so slightly to his left and avoided rear-ending me as he stopped, too.  The truck, behind me on the right, also stopped.  So did the person on the other side of him.  We were a four lane wall of waiting.  The gray mustang was no longer moving forward-sideways, but backward-sideways, coming toward us out of control.  Fast. I was terrified.  Resolved I had done all I could.  Prayers shot out of my soul. This was totally out of my hands.  I put my hand across John’s chest, like you do when you have a child in the car and squirrel jumps out causing you to brake a little harder.  Like my hand would save either of us from this nightmare in daylight.  I still see all four wheels skidding and smoking as that mustang headed like a rocket, crossways on the two right lanes with us as its target.  Holding my breath for impact.  Then it stopped!  Just stopped!  Just like that!  Two-inches from my right front bumper.  I am not exaggerating about this.  Two inches.  We discussed the amount of “inches” for hours afterward.

My hand still on his chest, John looked at me in shock.  “Are you alright?” I asked, as if my hand on his chest could make it so.  “I’m fine,” he answered. “Are you?  That was some amazing driving you just did!  My God!”  We stared at each other for a beat.  I had visions of the bad brakes and bad hose I had just replaced.  My mechanic had said, “It could blow on the highway leaving you without brakes.”  Holy God Almighty!  Those old brakes would not have held.  That hose would have blown.  Best 500 bucks I ever spent!

Like the layers on an onion, we peeled ourselves out of the mess and drove off, but not alone.  We each had our own, personal Guardian Angel going with us.