I Remember my Joyride of Death

I remember when I was little, about 8 years old. My Stepdad had just bought a brand new Lincoln Towncar. It was big and beautiful. I remember the colors were two toned beige and brown. He asked did I want to go for a joy ride. I was so happy that I jumped at the chance!

Man, the car was as big as a house inside. I remember the smell, you know that new car smell, yeah! We drove around a bit through the country side. I asked my Dad to go faster. He said "We'll see how fast it goes when we get to the Airport".

As we arrived at the Airport Parking lot my Dad slammed his foot down on the acceleration pedal. The car flew like a rocket. I actually thought we were flying! And then for some strange reason I felt that I should feel the floor of the car. So I reached down and felt the floor. The floor of the car was very HOT! I said "Dad why is the floor of the car so hot?" He seemed confused when I asked him that. So he pulls the car over and felt the floor under his steering wheel and said "The floor is not hot!"! But I kept insisting that it was Hot!

So my Step Dad got out of the car and popped open the hood. To his surprise the engine was on fire! He then ran to my side of the car and told me to get out and get away from the car! We both ran. Before we got a few feet away the car, it exploded!

We took the bus home that day. The car dealership said it was faulty wires. And they eventually gave him a new one with apologies.

My Step Dad never spoke about the incident again. I would remind him once in a while by saying "Remember when I was 8 and you bought that new car...?" He would just look at me crazy and say "thanks to you we're still here" and then he would walk away.