LUNKHEADED

Part 8

Upon leaving that show, I had the first of three near-death experiences. Incidents where I didn’t die, but shouldn’t necessarily have lived, either. Mike, one of the Wildwood OG’s and my partner in petty larceny, myself, Tom, and Pete were leaving the Unicorn, which was underneath the freeway, and pulled up to the stop sign at the bottom of the ramp. There was someone exiting the highway and apparently Mike must have thought they had a stop sign also, and began to pull into the intersection. The exiting car was going at least sixty when the driver hammered on his brakes and started sliding sideways right at us. We were dead. About 10 feet from our station wagon the guys wheels caught purchase and he flopped past us, jerking his car so hard he almost flipped it. I remember the terrified-yet-still-annoyed look on the drivers face as he hurtled past within inches, and smelling his burning tires as he sped on. There was a long moment. I looked at Mike who slowly turned to me, wide-eyed, and just shrugged. We drove home in silence.