Tuesday, May 09, 2017
Rollin' and Tumblin' and Dief the Chief
Who among us hasn't fallen out of the family car?
My fall happened while rounding the crescent in Alberni. I was about five and it knocked me out. The car in question was a blue Monarch vintage about 1947. It had a shakey catch on the rear passenger seat. By shakey I mean that if you leaned on it the door would open. Needless to say I must have leaned on it.
I woke up to a late night TV screen full of John Diefenbaker.
"That's the Chief," Dad said. "He's the boss. And he's from the west like us." He looked wrinkly.
Dad worked on that latch but it was another car that ReGina fell out of. We were on the way to Courtenay, and she was sitting beside me. The car was pretty full. Mom sat between Lloyd and Dad in the front seat, the rest of us were piled into the back. Dad often had a hand rolled tobacco heater stuck to his top lip. The carbon monoxide and the long winding road made me dizzy. Dizzy and bored....and very inattentive.
In my right ear I could hear my sister's voice," I'm going to count to three and we are going to be a Grandma's. One, two, three...." the door opened and my little sister flew away.
Through the rush of air I could see her all bundled up in her thick wooolen coat, rolling, rolling shoes flying off her feet.
"Barney!!" Mom screamed.
"Jeeezus," he replied and pulled over.
I knew where she was. I could go get her. I could go bring her back.
As I leaned out of the door a firm hand met my face.
"Get back in the car," said Lloyd.
"But..."
"Stay here."
I don't recall if it was Dad or Lloyd who carried her back to us. I do know they could only find one of her shoes. I remember Mom's hands over her face the whole time.
"You sit here, " ordered Lloyd, and I did, with my back to the door the whole rest of the trip. Her oversized heavy woolen coat had protected my sister from serious injury. Bumps and scrapes and one lost shoe.
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