I pulled up to the Bay Car Wash in the tiny town of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, population 9,000. It was around noon, and like a good granddaughter, I figured it would be nice for me to wash my grandpa’s old sedan from the 1980s. After all, he had generously let me drive it during the time I had been staying with them for my summer vacation.
I slowly pulled the car up to the coin machine and selected a basic wash. Carelessly, a quarter slipped from my hand and onto the pavement below. I switched the car into what I thought was “park” and hopped out to grab the fallen change. What happened next is a blurry mix of adrenaline and shock.
The car wash was built on a slight angle. As I got out of the car, it began to slowly roll backwards. In utter fear of the impending disaster, I attempted to throw myself back into the front seat of the car. However, the minor slanting of the pavement was enough to cause the back end of the car to veer right just as I attempted to slide in. The open door hit me instead, pushing me into a wall in the path of the tire. I scrambled as the weight of the moving car dragged me 180 degrees until I heard a gentle thud. The car had miraculously come to a stop, thanks to a vacuum stand. I prayed that there was no damage to the car.
I stood up too fast and tried to take a step. “Are you all right?” A man stopped shining his car and ran over to me.
Then I saw the blood. My right arm was covered. There were tire marks on my tank top. I collapsed to the ground. The next thing I remember was the sound of sirens as my body went numb. Moments later, I was lifted and placed into the back of an ambulance.
“Why can’t I feel my legs?” I gasped for air while my heart nearly exploded from my chest.
“You need to slow your breathing down. You are hyperventilating.” A lady in white leaned over me. “We are almost there.” The room faded to black.
I awoke an hour later on a tall hospital bed that seemed to have me on display. My shirt had been replaced with a hospital gown. A little clear tube pumping morphine came out of my arm. The room was spinning.
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