EPISODE 741 THE 53 NEARLY FLIPPED OVER WHEN DAD ZIG ZAGGED
alan skeoch
feb. 14, 2023
To Dad those little pot holes were a challenge. He tried to avoid them and failed. If we had gone deeper into the swamp, the story
would not be funny Mom did try to get out the passenger side. Imagine that. That’s cousin Ted Freeman with the tractor
This is the Fifth Line…in the far distance is the swamp below the hill that rises to Frenk Freeman’s farm.
Not as full of holes as it would become when that snow melted .
2) Car story 2:: The 53 Meteor had an exciting life at our place. Take the day Dad almost flipped the car
on the fifth line when we had planned to visit Uncle Frank and Aunt Lucinda . Their farm is just a few minutes f
north of our farm, We could be in their lane in less than ten minutes on a normal day.
But it was March and the gravel road was peppered with pot holes all of which Dad decided to avoid. He had already
made a fool of himself getting to the farm from Highway 7.
“Why are you rolling the window down…..it’s cold.”
“I have a reason.”
“What reason?”
(pause as we pass farm house close to road)
“Fix your Goddamn road…FIX YOUR ROAD!!!”
“Dad, road repairs are done by County … not farmers”
“I don’t care who…FIX YOUr ROAD!!!”
The Fifth Line was a mess… potholes were raising hell with the shocks
of the 53 Meteor…and the car cried to us with each crunch. The smashes
were louder than dad’s yelling.
And things got worse.
We were getting close to Uncle Frank and Aunt Lucinda’s farm. Passing through
a very swampy area. Dad decided to zig zag. But still managed to hit every
pothole, Sometimes at right angle to the road as he twisted and turned….swore
in his melodic way. Dad could make swear words sound like poetry.
THEN THINGS WENT VERY WRONG…THE SWAMP
Then Dad swerved sharply. The Meteor hit the soft shoulder and then down
towards the swamp. Bad luck with good luck to the rescue. The undercarriage
of the car ground into the shoulder and the car hung there. It happened so fast
that Dad did not even have time to swear.
MARJORIE and I crawled out through the drivers side passenger door…now at a 45 degree
angle to the road. Dad did the same.
Mom did not move.
“Elsie, get out of the car!”
“I can’t, Red…can’t move.”
“Get out…in case it turns over.”
(Dad was worried. We knew that because he called mom, Elsie, rather than his
favourite name, “Methuselum”, the name of oldest person in the bible because mom
was a year older than him. So the use of Elsie’s proper name was startling.)
“Get out, driver’s side like I did”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Pinned here.”
“Pinned?”
We all worried mom was badly inured. But that was not the case”
“Oh, Red, you fathead. My high heeled shoes went through the floor
of the car when you hit the ditch. Cannot move.”
“Take the goddamn shoes off and crawl out barefoot.”
(Dad was relieved. We knew that because he started to swear again.
Soon he would be blaming either the road or the 53 Meteor for our trouble.
He had one final remark though as Mom crawled out the driver’s side.”
“Elsie, pull down your skirt. We can see the top of your nylons. Hardly lady like.”
That was not the end of the adventure. Dad sent us up to Uncle Frank’s
to get the Massey Harris 55 and a chain. Cousin Ted got the tractor revved
up and pulled us out. Dad turned the key and the Meteor revved into life
as usual.
To save face I think Dad tried to give Teddy five bucks but Ted, amused, refused.
Ted liked my Dad in spite of his cantankerous nature. How do I know that?
Because one day I was out with Ted alone and he lit up a big cigar…a White
Owl Invincible…the kind Dad smoked while leaning out the back window
of our house. Mom put her foot down. No smoking of cigars in the house.
Only once did she put her foot down hard enough to go through the floorboards
of a 53 Meteor.
alan
Dad, teaching our boys how to smoke a cigar. Both boys never smoked except when we
told stories about dad.