Bad car-ma

Driver's dead

I think I've mentioned before that I'm a realtively new driver--I only got my licence a couple of years ago. So, certain things about cars don't come instinctively to me.

Friday afternoon, my husband calls me at work. He'd gone to Montreal by train that a.m., just for the day, for business. He'd started coming down with something the night before--sore throat, achy, etc. I guess over the course of the day he'd started feeling much worse, because he actually asked me to come pick him up at the train station and see if I could take him to a clinic or a hospital.

Husband never wants to see the doctor, so I knew it must be bad. I go home, walk the dog, then have to brush off the Snaab from the snow we got the night before (we both walk to work.) I'm kind of stressed and distracted, worried about the husband, worried about being late to meet his train, etc.

I get in the car, start the engine, pull out. I hear a scraping noise and immediately brake, thinking I've hit something in our laneway (it's a pretty narrow fit). I'm clear on all sides. I shrug, thinking it must be snow under the chassis or something.

I get to the train station, pick husband up, drive him to walk-in clinic clear on the other side or town--the only one open late on a Friday night. He gets looked at, gets some prescription for cough syrup with codeine. Doc says it's a virus, so no antibiotics. We stop at a little Vietnamese joint on the way home so I can pick up some takeout for dinner. I drive to the pharmacy near our house, so Husband can get his prescriptions. I drive us home. I park the car.

That's when I notice the extension cord hanging out of the hood. The plug end has been ripped off, all the wires exposed.

Husband had plugged the Snaab in overnight. I hadn't checked or noticed when I got in.