Mr. Rhodes surprised his wife by coming home early from work. This gave him the afternoon to spend with his ten year old son. When the boy saw his father in the car rider lane his face blazed with excitement. He jumped in his dad’s car and they headed to his guitar lesson. The lesson was at 3:30 and they should arrive home by 4:30 to enjoy the rest of the day together.
Across town Mr. Hanks, his wife and their two dogs live in the country on an old farm. This farm was now the home of his business The Waste Management and Treatment Company. The business was growing and Mr. Hanks was now running it alone since his son had passed away.
On this same afternoon, Tina was home preparing for a quick afternoon photo shoot. Her son is a musically gifted ten year-old and he's enrolled in music classes after school. Let me rephrase that, he is in six after school music programs and plays five different instruments. Today was his guitar lesson and prior to her husband coming home, their son would have had to miss the lesson. Tina left the house about 4:20 for her on location photo shoot missing her husband and son’s arrival.
After the guitar lesson Mr. Rhodes and his son headed home. They’re only minutes away from home as Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin fills the car. His son explains that this is the new awesome song he started playing today.
Mr. Hanks had to go into town to pick up his wife's medications and to stop to see his employees. The end of the work day was approaching and his customer wanted their water turned on and the pharmacy would soon close. He left in the red Ford 350 pickup truck, carrying some extra equipment for the crew. It was already 4:20 in the afternoon as he drove nearing his next turn. His employee phones and gives him a quick update on his customer’s dissatisfaction and prepares Mr. Hanks for their encounter.
Tina makes her way down the winding country road headed into town. Only about a mile left until she will turn and head north of town. In an instant, she saw a large red pickup truck approaching a stop sign, but knew he wasn’t prepared to stop. The red truck, Mr. Hanks, balanced his truck on two wheels trying not to hit Tina. Mr. Hanks’s truck twisted into Tina’s lane cutting her off. His truck forced her out of her lane and into the lane with oncoming traffic. She held tightly to the wheel, braking, while the red pickup truck was still at her right door. Looking forward, Tina noticed the oncoming car. She braked harder and swerved back into her lane while Mr. Hanks had sped ahead, allowing Tina to swerve back into her lane just missing his tail gate and the oncoming car. Her heart pounded, it raced, and it felt as if it stopped. It wasn't only the red truck that made her heart skip beats, it was the car headed straight towards her. Her eyes met, face to face making her very aware that the near head on collision was with her husband and son. Their faces showed expressions of horror, pure shock, and alarm. Their faces images flashed at her, as she pulled over to catch her breath. There was no sign of the red truck that sped away and no visible trace of a near accident. Still parked, her phone rang, she answered it. It was the sweet sound of her husband and son.
(Note: This was based on a true close call. My heart leaps out of my chest every time I think of it.)
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