Accidents Do Happen

Yuko Iwata

The accident happened on Saturday morning. On the day, some of my friends were supposed to come to my place for lunch, so I had been very busy since the morning. After cleaning the room, I found that I needed to go shopping to the supermarket. Then I went out from my house in a rush. There were two cars in front of my house and all of the doors were opened widely. A few boys who looked University students seemed to be moving. I said, “Hello” and jumped into the car, but after a 10 meter drive, soon I noticed that I didn’t have my purse. I drove back but I couldn’t pull my car over to near my garage because of their cars. I had to park in the corner on the small grassland by the roadside. I took my purse and started my car again. Suddenly, I heard a big strange noise. It sounded like a snapping on a branch. I stopped the car and got out. There was a small but thick wooden stake in the grass. The left hand side of the front door of my car was crushed and dented. I hadn’t recognized there was a stake in the grass until that time. Oh My God! My car, a new TOYOTA, I had driven for only 2 months.

The boys flocked around my car. One of them was very kind and coached me how to release the car from the stake. He also told me where I should bring the car for repair. Anyway, I said, “Thank you” He said, “It’s OK. Have a nice weekend.” I answered in a small voice “It’s impossible……” But, to tell the truth, I wanted to say, “If you hadn’t parked your cars in front of my house, I wouldn’t have had such a mishap! “