5-14-02, Lisa Laird
Lisa's Lair
By Lisa Laird
IPS Features
Sightseeing is Believing
Truth, they say, is stranger than fiction…and do I
have proof for you! As a child, our
family traveled quite often due to my father’s job with the FAA.
He had to attend school in various cities and states.
On one occasion, I experienced attending a two-month period of elementary
school in Texas. I have traveled
many places since, and have a lot more of this wonderful world to see.
A few years ago, I went with my sister, Jane, to San
Francisco. What a beautiful city
San Francisco is! After sightseeing
on foot, we decided to take a cable car ride.
I had always seen them on television, and had to ride on one.
There were so many people waiting to do the same; it took a while for us
to finally board one. Once aboard, we were packed in like a can full of sardines.
Jane and I were all the way in the back of the car.
The ride I was so looking forward to was now a nuisance I couldn’t wait
to escape from. Jane and I had no
choice but to make to best of it, although we could barely move.
The cable car began its ascension up a monstrous hill.
I was happy to experience this sensation and enjoyed gazing at the pretty
scenery. The climb was pleasant and
serene until the unforeseen excitement began.
What happened next caused me to believe my eyes were
playing tricks on me until Jane looked at me in disbelief of what she also had
seen. As we were approaching the
peak of the hill, we both noticed a man working on an automobile in one of the
driveways. He grabbed a tire and
tossed it onto the hill just as our cable car passed by. Since my sister and I were standing in the back of the car,
facing the bottom of the hill while going up, we saw the tire hit the ground,
stand on its side, and begin rolling down the hill. Our eyes were glued on this ordinary tire picking up speed as
it traveled downward. It was
rolling rapidly and steadily, approaching the intersection below.
Our greatest fear was that the tire would fly into traffic and cause a
terrible accident. I felt as though I were watching a strangely comical show.
However, this rendition could, at any moment, turn tragic.
Even though this was all occurring so quickly, my anticipation of the two
possible consequences caused me to interpret the speed as slow motion. I knew the tire would either somehow miraculously roll
through traffic and avoid all obstacles, causing me to sigh in relief, or, it
could prove to be the source of a dangerous collision.
Just as the tire was almost at the intersection, a third
possibility was to be the unpredictable and unpreventable one. As if out of thin air, I noticed a woman swiftly walking
across the street. I wanted to give
a scream of warning but was too far away to possibly be heard. My body was still and my voice was silent as I dreaded the
unknown ending to this odd course of events.
With my heart pounding faster and faster, I winced when
the tire crashed into the woman, unmercifully throwing her onto her rear end.
I prayed that she wasn’t seriously injured and smiled thankfully when
she got up off the ground. The
woman then brushed off her clothes and resumed crossing the street as if nothing
had happened. I don’t know at
what point, if any, she realized what had knocked her to the ground.
It is said that all is well that ends well. Thank goodness this one ended well. I wonder if she can sympathize with bowling pins.
At least they see the ball coming.
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