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Asleep at the motorcycle wheel; zapped by lightning - Fate Faries - book version
This entry was posted on 11/28/2011 2:00 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies:Fate Fairies - book version.
In retrospect, writing from a time in older age and all the baggage that goes with that age, the following reflection now seems like a paradox. I was tired after being in the Army, the 1980 economy was in a shambles, my parents were getting older and living on the farm was becoming a burden for them, and I had to work two part-time jobs just to keep a bit of spending money and my head above water. The synergy between those many variables created a constant stress level. Yet, it seemed like I never slept - something entirely impossible for me now in this era that I scratch down these words.
I was commuting from Whitewater and my school bus job, to Lake Geneva and my bouncer bartender job. It was a short time in my life, yet intense for some the aforementioned reasons. It was clear I would not be allowed to find a much better job situation dealing with Southern Wisconsin's economy. I had been out of the Army a couple years. I was anxious to improve my lot in life some how and move on. Yet I was stuck in the rut that was 1980 in recession-riddled Southern Wisconsin. Thank the god of your choice, I would soon be married and fleeing the state. But at the time of the following experiences there was no hope in sight.
I think back fondly now on my mainstay vehicle of the time, that 1975 Kawasaki 500 motorcycle. Although I rented a room in Lake Geneva, I was on the road between the two towns and jobs ad nauseam. Often, I would swing by my parent's farm to visit. I had a series of back farm roads I would use as short cuts over to Lake Geneva and back to Whitewater as the crow flies. Two commuting episodes seem to be bound at the hip. I would get so tired. The bar clean up ended at 3:30 a.m. The school bus route started at 6:00 a.m.
One night in the fall, I remember the moonlit night, or morning actually. The whine of the two-stroke engine vibrated through my leather jacket as I raced down a farm road. Then there was nothing. There was a bump. I woke up near the edge of a shoulderless stretch of road. The engine noise returned to my consciousness. The typical rural ditch vanished in the darkness down the rolling slopes of Southeast Wisconsin. I was still on the edge of the road and upright..., but just barely. I had fallen asleep on a motor cycle, but did not crash.
Another night and eerily on the same stretch of township road an electrical storm blew in. It was spectacular. Lightning bolts crashed all around me - front, side, back, up in the clouds. But soon the driving rain accompanied the lightning show. I pulled the big cycle over because visibility went down to nothing on the dark farm road in the driving rain. The lightning bolts only gave momentary sight reprieve. I crouched beside a metal guard rail down a sloping ditch opposite the driving rain and under the canopy of some roadside trees. In logical retrospect, what is wrong with that picture..., metal rail, under trees, in an electrical storm?
I was thinking there must be a better way to make a few bucks - there was a crash, I felt a jolt, a second later there was a flash of light, another second later there was a deafening thunder crash. A telephone pole a few yards away rained down sparks. I was at a loss for a second. I remember shaking my head like I had been slapped.
I had apparently received the peripheral tale end hit of a lightning strike.
I remember my Dad being thoroughly disgusted with the story when I told it later. "Why the hell don't you quit those stupid bullshit jobs and work somewhere near your little apartment, Bub?" he said with a pained look. That was the Depression Generation's consummate summation of our own 1970's and 1980's recession - they did not see it as a big deal to find a job after their own experiences in the debilitating 1930s.
His word was always final, what could I say, I had often wondered the same thing myself.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" - book version Category is a work in progress. The original vignettes are being edited for book form. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology of the book vignettes (chapters).
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