Three wrecks

Posted on by February 25, 2020

I was 19 and lost. I didn’t see the stop sign until a truck struck my sedan. No injuries, but the car was totaled. I thought I was taking my friend to research.

I was 21 and new to Kentucky. I stopped at the light, but the car behind me didn’t. She thought the light was yellow. I thought I was taking Mom to the castle.

I was 35 and composed. I had the green light, but the other car didn’t see me. He thought he was moving a vehicle. I thought I was taking my kids to swim.

Bang

 

This is my entry for this week’s Trifextra. The first and third links are to the blog entries discussing the wrecks in detail, and the middle link has pictures of Lexington, KY’s authentic castle. Each description has 33 words for a total of 99. Since Trifecta gave us from 0 to 333 today, I thought I ought to impose some kind of Trifectan order by myself.

About jesterqueen:
Jessie Powell is the Jester Queen. She likes to tell you about her dog, her kids, her fiction, and her blog, but not necessarily in that order.

Comments

Three wrecks — 30 Comments

  1. Trust you to get that into Trifecta! Take care of yourself and have a good weekend. 🙂
    My recent post WOE: To the Moon

    • Thanks! It's been actually pretty decent, though I'm horribly tense about the whole 'getting the rental squared away and the 'getting the car fixed' bits.

    • The last one was honestly the least stressful. I knew at once that nobody was hurt in either car, and I kind of know what happens when you bump these days. Still, having my kids in the car made it stressful for sure.

  3. Excellent take on the prompt. I really enjoyed the verbiage of "I thought I was…" Ahhh, what happens when life makes other plans. 😉

    • I'm glad that came through – I wanted something to hang the wrecks together for readers in the same way they hung together for me.

  4. I liked this one a lot. I actually considered something similar. I especially like the extra rule you imposed upon yourself. Made it flow very well.

    • I didn’t like giving each wreck 111 words, which was my other option. It felt less authentic, especially since I’d talked about them all in-depth before. I’m glad the 33×3 thing worked.

  5. Love the writing and the cadence. Glad you could use your life experience in this creative way.
    Excellent!

    • Thanks Diane! My life experiences tend to be the stuff that theraputic writing was invented for.

  6. very disciplined and well written

    glad you survived you make me so entertained and touched with your writing

    • I’m glad that everyone was OK, because things could have so easily gone the other way.

  7. Thanks for linking up, Jester! I love the structure of your piece, and I really enjoyed you adding in your own rules. Great job with the prompt. My favorite line is that of the castle. It sounds like such a metaphor–I love that it's not. Hope to see you back soon.

    • Me too. Cars are dangerous equipment, and I have always had a healthy respect for the things that could go wrong in one.

  9. Accidents are so stressful, especially with kids in the car. Glad you survived all three (and it made for a nice Trifecta entry!) I'm impressed at the additional 33-word restriction you put on yourself.

  10. I wasn't sure what the castle "really" was. You've had your share. Great story of three told in such an interesting and tight fashion.
    My recent post Three Times Asked

    • It’s a real castle in Lexington, Kentucky. It’s a neat place, recently rebuilt after arsonists burned it to the ground. It’s kind of the thing you do with your out of town relatives. Mom went to college in Lexington, but there was no castle then, so it was something I could do with her that she hadn’t done herself while at UK.

  11. WOW, nicely done, especially with the self imposed rules. So glad everyone is OK from all 3 accidents.

    • My grandfather said that any accident you can walk away from is a good accident, and I have to say I agree.

  12. Each wreck sounds awful. Glad you weren't injured in any of them.
    My recent post Dodging the rain

    • I felt more composed each time, but I know if anything had happened to my kids, I’d have been a hysterical wreck.

  13. Oh man… Wrecks can definitely be life changing experiences! I blew through a stop sign when I was 18 and totaled two cars. So, that was kind of like your 19yo stop sign thing. I think when you have less driving experience, you do not do things like stop at stop signs automatically like you do when you have been driving 2 or 3 hundred years, like I have now 🙂
    My recent post The Headhunter

  14. I love the 33 word limit per event. Very creative. I, too, have had three wrecks. The first was in my driveway. I thought I was learning to drive stick shift. I was wrong.
    My recent post Hay Season

  15. Like a bouquet of flowers, the vignettes are nicely tied together by a bow called three. :-))

    • Thanks Robin! I figure they ought to be good for SOMETHING besides sticker shock 🙂