EPILOGUE: Escape From Boston Part I (Saturday 11/20)
Saved by Holy Water
(To best experience the Invent-Ory start at chapter 1 and go forward through time)
It took me and my friend a few extra days to get on the road. I wanted to see some of my friends or, at least, those who had not totally abandoned me (of which there were a precious few).
In the meantime, I was ready to rent a U-Haul when a customer pointed out I wanted a Penske truck. “U-Haul charges by the mile,” he said. Considering he saved me about one thousand dollars,
I went ahead and comp’d his ticket.
Down at the moving truck lot, it was very busy. There were only two trucks in the massive lot and one of them was ours. My friend put the truck on his credit card (I had no credit card) so he insisted he drive the whole way. My friend only just got his license (at 39) and was not a very good driver. So this will be an ongoing theme.
It took a few days to load the truck as it turns out I had way too much stuff.
After visiting with my favorite Irish family restaurant one more night and with the truck finally packed we were off in the morning.
I went ahead and doused the truck with the holy water that nice old Irish-Catholic lady gave me, just for good measure.
Of course I had to go by the store to give it my final salute and we needed coffee for the road.
We got back into the truck and my friend put the truck in reverse to back out of the parking spot.
KA-RUNCH!!!
A loud sound came from the back of the truck and my stomach fell to my knees.
We had hit someone and I was never ever going to be able to leave this wretched hellhole
Fortunately the holy water worked.
The man we had backed into said his bumper was already damaged and he wasn’t going to file insurance or call Penske or do anything about the damage. I considered it to be a miracle, in all honesty. (Either that or the man was driving illegally as his license was revoked due to parking tickets or a DUI)
Either way, I was sure to thank God for the circumstance. And, with a quick prayer of thanks to the Lord, we hit the road on our way out. And, a few hours later, we finally crossed the border into New York state. Where it was out of the frying pan and into the fire.
More on that next week.