Blind-sided on the corner

The old car clanked and rumbled as Agnes drove it up the steep hill of the deserted San Joaquin Valley road. California Highway 168 had shown no signs of life for over fifteen miles. Her 1962 Chevrolet Nova, already on life support, was spewing loudly and sharply as they made their painful way up the steep slope. Smoke began to spew from the hood and, and Agnes looked behind her, from the tail, white-gray billows of smoke that became dangerously darker with each passing second. She could feel the heat from the car's front emanate through the dashboard into the aluminum-steel steering wheel and into her palms. The end was upon them; the car slowed from 45 mph to 40. And then it slowed to 35 mph. And then to 20. And then down to 10.

Steven, Samuel, and Joey made a racket from the back seat, asking her to drive faster, Mommy, drive faster, Mommy! Racer barked his golden retriever voice box a command that he wanted to go outside for a walk. And with the ding of her family surrounding her, Agnes wanted only the safety of stopping the car on the side of the road and getting her sons and her dog away from it to safety. But the car had other ideas.

The car screeched to a halt right there in the middle of the two-lane highway, just at the apex of a sharp corner. Neither an oncoming car or a truck from behind would see her dead car as they approached the sharp bend in the road, their only alternative the 50-foot drop on the other side of the steep slope.

"Children, out, get out of the car right now! And to the right, to the right, Steven!" They all clambered out the right side of the car: Steven, her oldest son at 9, first, taking Racer from the front passenger side; Joey, her baby at 4, always eager to do Mommy's bidding; and Steven, the middle problem child at 7, following up at the rear at a languid pace.

"Hurry, kids! Way off to the side, let's get as far away from the car as possible!" And as she shifted herself over the hump in the middle and to the right, just to get out, her dress caught on the emergency break. Tugging at it, it tore with a loud flourish. She exited, her slip, her girdle, her stockings for the whole world to see.