Today, Dad and I went to San Angelo. Kalyn’s car had been in a small wreck (a ridiculously large Dodge truck backed into it in a parking lot), and we needed to drop it off to be repaired. Also, Dad needed to pick up an air conditioner for the nursing home (where he works) from Lowe’s. So we went, and for the most part it was uneventful. That is, except for the little disaster we nearly caused.

You see, the stupid air conditioner wouldn’t fit into my Neon’s trunk or backseat. That’s a problem when you are in San Angelo and you only have the one car with you and you need to bring the air conditioner back to Menard. But then we put on our thinkin’ caps, and we took out Dad’s pocketknife and cut the box off of the air conditioner. You see, it wasn’t really the air conditioner that wouldn’t fit into my backseat; it was really that stupid air conditioner box. Without the box, the air conditioner fit nicely, and we were very happy with ourselves.

But then, in our moment of pride, we stopped using our noggins, and we cursed Pierces just sat the cut-up box on the flat cart we had brought the air conditioner out there on. We were in a rush and were sort of far out in the parking lot, away from all of the cart wracks, and so, Dad said, “Let’s just leave the cart here and go on,” and so we got into the car to go home.

I know, I know; this was a very discourteous thing to do; we should have taken the cart to one of the cart wracks. But we didn’t, and we paid the price. Because in West Texas there’s wind, and when you place a large box on top of a flat cart in a flat parking lot, you’re crazy and you have created a rocket of sorts. Anyway, to punish us for our sin of not putting the cart up, God sent a West Texas whirlwind gusting by, which caught that box as if it were a sail, and the cart shot off at an unbelievable speed, heading straight for a brand-new Lincoln.

Several thoughts ran through my head when I saw that cart moving. First, I thought something like the following: “Hm, that thing’s moving.” Then, I thought, “Hm, it’s going fast and is going to hurt someone. We better get out of here now.” Then, I thought, “Hm, I’m the terrible person who didn’t put my shopping cart up and who made it into the projectile that is now careening through the parking lot. I guess I better go save everyone.” And that’s what I tried to do.

I wasn’t in time to save the Lincoln, and it would have been terrible had there not been a metal grill in the middle of the parking lot (for drainage) that it hit. The grill slowed it down slightly and turned it just enough to the right to miss the Lincoln (though the side of the box scraped it). Of course, the grill turned the cart right toward the side of another car, but at the last moment, the wind caught the cart and it weaved to the left, in a space between two cars just big enough for the cart to fit. Then, the cart was in the clear, and it made a run for it. It was just a matter of me catching up to it and stopping it. So, I went running after the cart for a good ways across the parking lot, and I’m fast, but it was faster, and I wouldn’t have caught it, but the wind died down. The cart turned a bit to the right and parked itself right in front of one of the cart wracks. I put it up, where it went all along, got in the car quickly so that I wouldn’t see how many people had seen me running like mad across the parking lot chasing a sailcart.

And then, we went home a little wiser. So, let this be a warning to you (Reminders #5 & 6). Take your carts to the cart wrack, even if the cart wrack is far away. And don’t place boxes on top of your shopping carts that may cause them to blow away. The world will be safer for it, and this will save you a lot of embarassment.