It’s Always an Adventure

It was finals week and I had a test the next day. I was not in a mood to be messed with. I uttered a stern warning to my husband in the hopes he’d take me seriously.

“I don’t care if the house is burning down, don’t bother me!” I locked myself in the office to study. Surprisingly, several hours went by before he interrupted me.

“I need some help.”

“I told you I was indisposed.”

His face was pinched with worry. “We need to move my car. It’s blocking the driveway and the neighbors need in.”

His demeanor alarmed me.  

“I need to take a break anyway.”

“There’s just one thing you need to know before you go outside.”

Raising my eyebrows, I stared wordlessly at him.

“Well, remember…..this isn’t just a marriage, this is an adventure.”

We’d been on this “adventure” long enough for me to guess he’d royally screwed something up.

Walking outside, I was greeted with the sight of his Sports Coupe sitting at an angle in the driveway we shared with the neighbors. The front end was snugged up to the corner of the house. Not only was that odd, but how it got there without an engine made it even more bizarre.

He’d been restoring the car since before our “adventure” had began. He claimed he was getting close to putting an engine in.

Before I could ask, he explained, “I was trying to load it on the trailer and it got away from me.”

“Huh?” How does that even happen? It was then that I noticed our trailer sitting in the driveway.

“I decided I didn’t want to wait for you to help load the car, so I got the come-along and loaded it myself.”

This is not normal. Why is there a car parked there? Why is the trailer in the driveway? So many questions.

“You didn’t do a very good job.”

Looking embarrassed, he muttered. “I had the car on the trailer, but couldn’t get it all the way to the front and I needed to adjust the chain.”

“And….?”

“Well, uh, I unhooked the chain from the bumper and turned around to readjust it, and when I turned back around, the car was rolling back.”

“You didn’t put blocks behind the tires?”

“I didn’t realize there was that much of a slope.”

“So it rolled off the trailer and hit the house?”

“It didn’t hit the house exactly. It stopped short.”

He pointed out that there was about an inch between the bumper and the siding. Looking closer, there wasn’t a mark on either one.

Relaxing slightly, I asked again, “so it just rolled off?”

“Yep.”

Knowing there was more to the story, I pressed harder. “You turned your back and it just drove away, all by itself. “

“Well, I might have bumped it.”

I continued to stare at him. He fidgeted, refusing to make eye contact. Finally he told me the rest of the story.

“So, I unhooked the chain to readjust it, and bumped the car with my butt. It was just enough to start it rolling. I grabbed hold of the bumper to try to stop it, but it was no use.”

He brushed off the front of his shirt. “It dragged me down the trailer.”

“What?”

“It was like it had a mind of its own. It should have stayed in place. There’s no good reason it rolled off like it did.”

Secretly I had to agree with him. The car had sat so long the tires were no longer round.

“It was like there was a little demon pushing it. The steering wheel even turned ”

That explained the odd angle.

Noticing his torn jeans and dusty tee-shirt I tried to stifle a giggle.

“It’s not funny.”

“So, what happened next?”

“When my feet hit the edge of the ramp, it flipped me.”

I could feel the giggle starting to worm its way out.

“The car was moving pretty good by that time.”

Through gritted teeth, I muttered, “I bet it was.”

“But it didn’t hit the house.”

“No, it didn’t.”

We assessed the situation for a few more minutes before I finally lost it. I could picture him being dragged down the trailer and then being flipped onto his face as the car gained momentum.

He didn’t appreciate my sense of humor.

I finally managed to utter, “it’s always an adventure.”