Grandfather Says: The Continuing Chronicles of Elaine, Part 51

The following was written by my late wife Elaine. She wrote a long book, a diary really, from which this is one passage:

The Runaway Truck

The homebound teacher’s starting pay was $12,976, with a mileage allowance of 22 cents per mile; this allowance added up because I often drove 100 miles in one day. I began this job with my brand-new sporty truck, which all my students liked, and it had a narrow escape one afternoon, parked on a hill while I mailed a package. From inside the Union post office, I could see Nevitt A. and another man running toward my truck across the street because it had started to move toward down the hill.

After piling up many miles on that truck, my next commuting vehicle was a yellow Toyota Tercel 4-wheel drive station wagon. One Valentine’s Day I lost control on ice, and the four wheels locked and I skidded sideways across the opposite lane in which, fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic, and went over the bank. A man stopped and helped me out of the car which had landed on its side.

Among my homebound teaching supplies in the car was a tall plaster of paris box, and as the car landed on its side with the radio still playing and two of the wheels turning, some of the white powder spilled from the box and flew around and floured the inside windows and it was my hope that nobody would think it might be some illegal substance. It’s strange what new worrisome thoughts show up in worry warts’ minds at times, as if there wasn’t enough real stuff already going on!

Many miles later we replaced that car with a tan Ford Bronco, and I drove that until I retired in 1992.

P. S. – I was not hurt when I “went over the hill” except for a tiny abrasion on my neck where the seat belt did its job holding me securely during the bouncing around. My accident confirmed something I’d noticed before: It almost always snows or ices on Valentine’s Day. These storms crippled Washington, DC more than once on the 14^th of February; whenever it snowed, it was heavy, slippery snow, not just nice gentle powdery stuff.

To be continued…

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About the Author: RD Blakeslee is a nonagenarian in West Virginia who built his net worth by only investing in that which can be enjoyed during acquisition and throughout life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, like stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here.

Photos: Courtesy of the Blakeslee Family