Chat Pack Challenge 16 – The Big Oops

Hey everyone, wow, isn’t it amazing how quickly life can take you in a different direction than you had intended to go?

My month long self challenge to write a short story or post in January came to a screeching halt when I became overwhelmed with a large work schedule, family health issues and other obligations I had pre-committed myself to prior to beginning this challenge. I moved in the middle of all of this and had to make a couple of unexpected trips half way across the state for various reasons.

And now I’m absolutely convinced that when life sees you trying to succeed with a goal it will throw anything it can to knock you down.

If you get knocked down, that’s okay. No matter how strong you are or you think you are, you will get knocked down at some point.

The important thing is to get back up.

Thanks to Twitter pal @alexalvar7 for prompting me to continue my #ChatPackChallenge by tweeting, “Who cares about deadlines? Just keep writing.”

So, without further ado, here is today’s question with my short story (fiction) answer: What is the costliest mistake you’ve ever made?

 

The Big Oops

The light had been green. I swore the light had been green.

Yet the onslaught of traffic that battered my car around like I’d been in a bumper car and not a real car was proof enough that the stop light had been a different color when I tried to go through the intersection.

It happened so quickly that I didn’t know in what order the cars were bashed into each other. I think I’d clipped the bumper of one car first and another spun me around from behind, which then went off and collided nose-first with another vehicle. From there I was really lost. Now that the wheels had stopped squealing and metal had stopped crunching and car horns had stopped blaring I could count that five cars total – one of them a police cruiser – had been involved in the accident.

At least a police officer didn’t have to travel far to the scene of the accident, I thought. He had yet to come talk to me to get my side of the story. The little old lady he was talking too now kept glancing over at me, her lips drawn in a straight line across her otherwise wrinkled face and grey hair was poking haphazardly out from under her head scarf. The other drivers were looking over the damages to their cars.

Thankfully no one had been injured. My pocketbook, on the other hand was going to be limping for a long time after this I could tell.

What is the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made?

 

Please drive safely!