The "Black and White Pulsar" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was searching for a car for my oldest son Derek to take to college with him. He was headed to Villanova and would need transportation to get from his room to the University. I had a friend who sold used cars so I stopped by his lot. "Hey, Barry. What do you have that will be a good reliable car for my son for a few years while away at school?" I asked. "I have two really nice '86 Nissan Pulsars on the lot. Really sharp! We have gone over them both with a fine tooth comb and they are in great shape. We have new paint on both of them," he replied. Yeah, right! I'm sure we've all heard that before. Well I took a look at both of them and the interior of the black one was a little nicer and it had about 10K less miles on it so I agreed to take it. "I'll be back in a few days with a check to pick it up," I told him. My wife drove me to the lot and I signed all the papers and paid for the car. I had already added it to my insurance so I was good to go. Took it home and parked it in front of the house. Later that day, Carol asked if I could pick up our daughter Brynn from field hockey practice. She had her friends Jen R. and Audrey W. with her when I arrived in the new Pulsar. Both friends live in the same neighborhood as we do. Boy was she surprised to see me in this really neat car. It was pretty flashy. Very sporty! Jen and Audrey hopped in the back seat while Brynn and I were in the front. I told her to buckle up since I'm new to the car. See would have anyway. She was riding with me. I thought we would take the scenic route home, since it was such a nice evening. Headed in the New Holland Pike towards our neighborhood. We were approaching the Rt. 30 Bypass behind a large tractor trailer when the road became two lanes both ways. I saw that the truck was going to turn right onto Rt. 30 so I pulled into the left lane to pass him. Just as we came to the Rt. 30 intersection a car pulled out in front of the truck and into my lane. We were traveling 35 MPH or maybe a teensy bit faster and it's really hard to stop that fast when the car is only 30 feet in front of you. SMACK!! Hit the car broadside!!! Lucky for the lady in the other car she wasn't killed. She was uninsured though. The girls in the back seat didn't have their seat belts on and ended up in the front seat with Brynn and me. They had minor cuts and bruises. Brynn's seat belt saved her from going through the windshield though she was badly bruised. She was able to get out of the car and help the other girls out also. Then she saw some smoke coming from the engine. I was hurting from hitting the steering wheel and was not feeling too good. Couldn't find my glasses which were ejected from my head. She hurried around the car and unhooked my seat belt and pulled me free of the car. We all made it to the side of the road and sat down. We could hear sirens in the distance. Then I realized that when I sat down I put my hand on a broken bottle and made a sizable laceration on my hand and wrist which started to bleed. We all traveled to the hospital where they checked us all and released us after a few hours. My only real injury was from the cut I sustained when I sat down along the road. The car wasn't so lucky. Black Beauty was dead. They towed her to Barry's garage which was right down the road. He had already gone home for the evening. When I got home I called Barry at home and asked, "Hey Barry, I hope you haven't sold the white '86 Pulsar yet. I'm going to need that one, also." It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.