I had an unusual experience yesterday that is leading me to take an unexpected break from woodworking. Now, I only expect this break to last a few days, so no need to worry. The strangest things seem to happen to me, and my immediate family for that matter, that I could not resist telling the story.
Yesterday, I took my manual transmission work truck to get its state inspection done. Since I don’t drive it very often, I had been neglecting to get it done for quite some time. I took it to a local all-in-one shop that does tires, oil changes, inspections, etc. The gentleman doing my inspection was very nice. I pulled my truck into the parking lot and let him know what I was there for. He quickly jumped in my truck and had it in a bay to begin before I knew it. He immediately began doing an examination of the vehicle. I really liked the fact that I did not have to wait for service and I would be on my way shortly.
I stood in the doorway between the office and the bay that my truck was in watching the mechanic do his work. A lady with two young children were also they’re getting the tire fixed on her car. The woman was in the small office’s waiting area while her two children were playing in the parking lot right outside the doors. The mechanic went around to the driver’s side of the truck and checked that the parking brake worked and then released the parking brake and walked away.
A few seconds later, my truck began to roll since it was on an incline. It was headed in the direct path of where those two children were playing. My heart dropped and my father instincts kicked in. I yelled for the kids to move as I ran to the truck that was moving at a good speed. Either the children did not hear me or they didn’t understand what was going on because they didn’t budge from the spot they were occupying. I got to my door and flung it open. I managed to get one foot inside the vehicle and get to the brake just as the truck door slammed into the railing frame of the roll up bay doors on the shop.
My hand was crushed! I had been holding onto the truck door for stability while trying to get my foot inside. When the door of the truck collided with the door frame of the shop it pinned my hand there between them. I was in an awkward position. If I let my foot off the brake, it would increase the pressure on my hand, but I could not get my other foot inside the vehicle to push in the clutch so that the truck could be put into gear. This is when I became aware of my surroundings. The mechanic was in shock of what was going on and he was unsure of how to help me. He ran around the truck several times looking for ways to free my hand. I finally worked my other foot inside the vehicle. At this time, I have both feet inside and I was able to push the clutch in and get the vehicle into gear so that I could get free.
As soon as I was loose, another mechanic jumped in the truck and got it out-of-the-way as I assessed the damage of my hand. I have little feeling in the top of this hand from a prior injury that left me with the nickname “Slash”. I don’t know if this is a good thing or not. I knew my hand was bad, but because I don’t have complete feeling in it, I could not tell how badly I was injured.
The mechanic that was doing the inspection on my vehicle could not have apologized more. He ran across the street to a local pharmacy and got bandages and peroxide to clean the wound it left. He finished the inspection at no charge and even gave me a soda while I waited. Everyone kept urging me to call for an ambulance and go to the hospital, but I did not want to cause a fuss over just a few broken bones and a cut.
Then I had to tell the wife what happened! This was almost as scary as the event itself. She of course was extremely concerned and urged me to take a hospital visit. I calmed her and let her know that I was fine. As the evening went on, the swelling in my hand increased. This morning, now that all of the shock has worn off, I am swore and almost positive that my hand is fractured at the very least, but I cannot let that slow me down! I plan on taking a few days off to let the soreness where off and then I plan on being back in action! I am not quite sure why these odd incidents keep occurring to me, but at least it has left me with a good story!
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