Life had become complicated and busy the way life tends to do, given enough time. My marriage to Len dissolved almost as quickly as it began. We finally separated when it was clear he would not stop cheating.
Without missing a beat, I dialed my old boyfriend, Jamal. Mal and I started dating again.
A growing baby boy and two single women. My sister, Marg was also pregnant with her first child at this time, which meant more expenses and needs. I worked long hours. Whatever it took,
right? My social life was almost nonexistent.
One afternoon, Mal, his brother Van, best friend Dave, and
Dave’s girlfriend, Nicole, invited me to Chandler Park.
When I went in to tell Marg and get Moe, she looked concerned.
“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” she informed.
“I feel like something bad’s gonna happen.”
I raised my eyebrows. Like really, she’s gonna do this now?
Why’s she acting so weird?
“Marg, I work over 80 hours a week to take care of us all. Now I finally have a day off and chance to hang, you
wanna trip?”
“You can’t go,” she insisted. She moved to block my path.
“Don’t go, Veda!”
“I’m going.” I pushed past her and headed toward the door.
She got in front of me.
“Girl, get out of my way.”
She pressed her back against the door and her arms out to both sides. She wouldn’t budge.
“Move, Marg. I’m going!”
A conflicted look crossed her face. “Well, you’re not taking
my nephew!”
Even better, I thought. Without a toddler tagging along, I could really let loose.
“Fine, babysit then.”
Marg let out the breath she’d been holding in. “I really wish you wouldn’t go, Veda. Something bad is gonna happen.
I just know it.”
***
Mal and I led the way to the park. Dave, Nicole, and Van followed in the car behind us.
As we passed Mercy Hospital,
an explosion happened in front of our car.
The initial blast rumbled the ground beneath us and rattled my eardrums. A
giant pillar of flames erupted from the manhole just feet away
from us. It violently burst through the opening and shot the
manhole cover toward us.
I sat up straight in my seat. “Oh, my God!” I yelled in
reaction to the explosion. The manhole cover turned missile,
rocketed through our windshield—barely slowed by breaking through the pane—and crashed into my head and Mal’s right arm, which he raised to shield himself from the blow.
It blew past us into the backseat, where its destructive path ended by
crushing Moe’s child seat.
In an instant, my hand covered my left eye. I faded in and out of consciousness. Marg’s warnings flashed behind
my closed eyelids. Thank God, oh thank God! Moe was at home with his Auntie Marg. If only I’d listened and heeded
her warnings.
“My arm. My arm,” Mal repeated as he stepped out the car.
His humerus bone had snapped in half. His arm hung at an unnatural angle. His severed bone protruded like it might
break through the skin. With his left hand, he cradled the lower part of his injured arm, and Nicole drove him across the street to Mercy Hospital.
Dave and Van frantically jumped in
the wrecked car. Then, Dave managed to maneuver the car’s bent steering wheel and get me over to the hospital.
He picked me up out of my seat and rushed me into the ER, where the
alarm was sounded for immediate attention.
After the incident was investigated, they determined there had been an electrical joint failure underground. This
cable collapsed and caused sparks to unite with gas, igniting
the explosion.
Nicole had her camcorder and recorded the accident scene. This was later borrowed by Fox 2 when they
covered the accident and used in the lawsuit hearings.
© Daveda Buckman-Reed