Thursday, May 13, 2010

Invisible Coyotes

The call from Tim came in just about the time he was supposed to be home, “I’m all right Mom” he tells Cindy, now this is not a good way for a teenager to begin a telephone conversation when he is due home. Tim was supposed to be at a church function in Grady, NM, which is about thirty-five miles from where we lived and then to a birthday party for a friend in the same town, the conversation continues with “a coyote ran out in front of me and I hit a sign when I swerved to miss it, I was only doing 30” he goes on to tell Cindy that a man stopped and towed his car to the Grady High School parking lot because the radiator is busted, now this nice man gave him a ride to Grandma Dixie’s house and he will stay the night with her. We called Grandma Dixie and Tim was already there so he was in her care now.

This is when my mind starts breaking down the story and coming up with the questions I would be having for Tim, first off why did they tow his car back to Grady if he was on his way home and how in the world did he bust his radiator after swerving off the road at 30 mph, in the meantime we called a friend who lived near the school and asked him to go look at the car so we could have an Adults view of the damage, it was a couple hours later before Walon called saying “Jimmy I towed his car to my house because if I left it at the school there would be police all over it” now this got me thinking for sure, you just have to come see this was all he would tell me and he assured me that 30 mph was not the speed this car was going. I now had a road trip planned for early morning.

Tim arrived home real early in a borrowed truck from Grandma Dixie and I asked for his version of what had happened and where it had happened, “A Coyote ran out in front of me and I swerved to miss it and hit a sign” OK how fast were you going, 30 mph honest I looked at the speedometer and I saw 30, OK where did this happen? “Right up the road from the school”, you mean right down the road from the school if you were coming home, “No Sir, up the road I was actually coming in from San Jon” why were you coming in from San Jon, “I went to get a coke” OK the story starts the twisting here. San Jon, NM is about 20 miles from Grady all the way up to I-40 now he had no reason to be here.

Cindy, Tim, and I load up into my truck and the road trip begins, I finally had to ask Tim to stop explaining because the story was beginning to get confusing and I wanted to see the car before I jumped to any conclusions, we arrived at Walons house and there sits Tim’s car next to the driveway, the hood is bent back across the windshield and laying on the top of the car, the grill and headlights and busted and both front tires are flat and flat spotted all the way down, the radiator is obviously busted, heck even the battery was even busted and there was gravel all over the roof of the car, Tim is still sticking to his 30 mph story when the coyote ran in front of him, I am thinking Walon just may be right about the actual speed and Walon is just grinning at me because he is seeing the same thing I am that Tim’s story is falling apart, OK Tim let’s go look at where it happened, Tim doesn’t think we need to drive out there because there is nothing to see, I assure him there is something I want to see, at the scene there is a 20 mph curve and coming off the road there are black marks which go into deep ruts where tires have cut into the gravel, these ruts go all the way into the grass and off into the brush where I found the sign which has the curve sign showing you which way the road turns, I walk back out of the brush to my truck, Tim is not saying anything now, this is rare for Tim, I now start walking up the middle of the road following the straight black marks that tie directly into the ruts that go to the sign way off the road, recon these are Tim’s tire marks? He assures me they are not but to make a long story short I walk back to the truck and tell Tim, “This is what happened, you were driving about eighty five mph when you came up on this curve, you were too busy talking (I was actually hinting at cell phone use) that you didn’t see the curve until it was too late, there was no coyote you were simply going too fast and not paying attention, “Who told you Jose was with me, did he call you?” I assured him I didn’t know anyone was with him until just now, and after realizing he had told on himself and the condition of the car and marks on the road told the rest of the story.

Tim had the nerve to ask when I would be turning it in on insurance so he could pick the repair shop, I told him insurance is for accidents and stupidity is not an accident, he then says that’s OK I can fix it myself but I need you to front me the money for parts, you can see where this is going, Tim had to sit home and get his friends to come get him until he saved up the money to order the parts, he did all the work himself and paid for it all except for the shipping which I did pay because this was all he was short on.

Tim was never a good liar, he always told on himself and this time we knew there was more to the story by the look on his face, he learned a lesson here about eighty five mile an hour coyotes and twenty mile an hour curves, he learned that you have to be responsible for your own actions and to never start a phone conversation late at night with I’m all right Mom, he also learned that getting money fronted for parts depends a lot on whether you are honest or not when explaining how you got into this situation.

Tim also learned that invisible coyotes can run really fast and you don’t see them when they run in front of you and your parents who have been there themselves rarely buy stories like this.

85 mph through a 20 mph curve---------$600 parts plus 2 tires and a battery

Lying to your parents about it--------loss of trust until you prove yourself truthful

Time waiting for your car to be repaired----depends on your speed and skill

Nothing but pride injured and regaining your parents trust----Priceless!!

18 comments:

  1. That's a great story Jimmy! We've all been through things like that. From both ends it!
    That wreck could have turned out much worse than it did...

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  2. Yes Sir Pat,

    I was happy he held it straight rather than trying to make the curve, the slide through the sign damage was way less than had he rolled it.

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  3. Oh yes, the old coyote ploy.... I think I tried that a couple of times in my youth.

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  4. Having raised four kids myself, I was fairly adept at extracting the truth, hidden in the fabrication. Hubs, on the other hand, always accepted whatever they said and rarely scrutinized, or asked questions. Boy, did they love their daddy... still do.

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  5. I lied to m dad about my first car accident and told him a dog ran in front of my car...that was why I hit the parked car. Not because I got distracted changing the radio station! As far as Sam and his first accident..well he hit a Ferrari...I guess not every 16 year old boy gets to call home and tell dad I got into an accident with a Ferrari!!! My poor boy...Yikes.

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  6. LOL!!! I wonder how long it took for him to come up with that one!

    How did you know? I didn't, you just told me. Parents have got to be sneaky! LOL!

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  7. Ah Yes Betty,

    Those Coyotes just come out when you least expect it, and mostly in front of teenagers Ha Ha

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  8. Ms A,

    You know exactly what I am saying, you always have to listen for the story behind the story because that one is the truth and yes I agree with accepting what they say and giving them benefit of the doubt but at the same time I remember being on their side of the coin :)

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  9. Good Morning Susie,

    A Ferrari Wow--did he start the conversation with "I'm alright Mom----but!!!!"

    Yes you have to watch those invisible dogs too :^)

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  10. Hey Heather,

    Good to see the phone company finally came through for you.

    I'm sure Tim was practicing the story all the way on the ride to Grady, he was a good kid if you made a suggestion that was way different than his story he couldn't run with it he mostly came through with the truth right then.

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  11. Actually Jimmy...he tried to call home after the accident but I was on the other line and did not answer. So he handled it himself, called about it and then drove home. When we saw that his car looked okay we thought oh well...this is no too bad. That is when he said..."but I hit a Ferrari." At that point I think Tim must have burst a few blood vessels as he exclaimed.."YOU HIT A FERRARI??????" Umm. I think you could hear him where you live! But that lasted only a few minutes..we were very relieved he was okay and told him now he has a great story to tell!!!

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  12. I think that invisible coyote is related to the invisible dog I told my dad about!

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  13. Yes Susie, I can relate to those blood vessels busting, I had that same feeling when I found out our Tim had Jose with him, you always feel better finding out that they are OK though.

    I am sure I could have heard "YOU HIT A FERRARI" all the way up here, the sign I am sure was less expensive than the ferrari.

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  14. Hey Suzicate,

    I think all of those invisible animals come from the same family too.

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  15. Oh man I wrecked my parents car once, told them I got hit in a parking lot. I had a naive mom who believed me...I still don't think they know the truth. **Hanging my head in shame**
    Glad that he was ok though, things could have turned out much worse.

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  16. Hey Melissa,

    The naive parents are usually the ones that know more than you think, my wife was telling a story of taking her Dads truck without him knowing when she was a teen, he laughed and said I knew you were taking it, who do you think put gas in it.

    Yes this one could have been worse and everyone was blessed no one was hurt.

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  17. Holy Cow, Jimmy....what a GREAT story!!!

    I was reading your every word; thinking to myself, "Jimmy should be a detective!"

    Columbo Jimmy!

    HA!

    Thank god, Tim wasn't hurt in this accident. I mean 85 mph through a 20mph curve - WOW!

    Confession: I too was not a good liar, as a child. I got busted SO MANY times!!!!

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  18. Hey Ron,

    With kids you have to use what detective skills you can find just to figure out what they have done sometimes Ha Ha

    He actually slowed down quite a bit after this one, I have other stories about him and could write a whole book but you know how that goes :)

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