Terror

1980s Ford Bronco, everything electric:
seatbelts, windows, door-locks, lights,
brakes, power-assist steering. So when the electrical system went out
at the top of the cliff on 4th Street in Oregon City
with a teenaged driver at the wheel of the Bronco
her father had bought used the week before—
juggernaut.
Lightless steel screaming down the hill with four terrified teens trapped inside.

She rode that thing,
stayed out of the ditch,
made the turn at the bottom,
didn’t roll the car,
spun out in the four-way at the light and bumped the car in front of me
back into mine. Minor damage. No injuries.
Four hysterical teens, three shaken but relieved adults,
one dead Bronco and a traffic cop who dais:
“That was good driving, Miss,
damned good.”

Available! High-Voltage Lines, Knocking from Inside