ALMOST DIED TODAY….
November 26, 2005
It was a simple reunion dinner with primary school classmates. Its been years since I’ve met these buddies. You remember the teasing, the love stories, the petty arguments, and the fun games you could play using almost nothing. Well, we have dinner at Marche Movenpick at The Heeren. After dinner, we go for some karaoke and pool. Everything is fun and fine. We leave the place at 1.15 AM.
Everyone goes home. I decide to go over to my friend’s house in Serangoon, to discuss our training programme: The Total Get-Hitched System. (I know, it sounds corny.) The four of us organise our techniques and lesson plan. This lasts till 5 AM when we feel our energy has run out. Now here comes the tough decision… should we sleep over for the next seven hours till noon? Or do we tolerate the exhaustion, drive everyone home and then send ourselves home? Well, my friend TY offers to drive my car, so I suppose I can bear with it and drive myself back after he has sent Lydia and himself home.
We drop Lydia at her place in Serangoon Central. Then TY and I continue down the Central Expressway aiming for Jurong. TY misses the Pan Island Expressway (PIE Jurong) exit, so I knock him and say, “Hey, you missed the turning.” TY says, “Ah well, since we’re here already, let’s just go the usual route, AYE (Ayer Rajah Expressway).” I flick his arm with my fingers and lament, “Got shortcut don’t go… go long way.” He keeps a straight face.
I feel sleepy, so I tilt my seat back and relax. I look at TY through my half-open eyes. He’s staring at the road. I say, “Okay, just keep driving.” I shut my eyes, everything goes black. I sense only the rumble of the engine, the seat’s leather, and the chill of the air conditioner. My mind is a total blank for a long while… I am in a deep sleep. Then SUDDENLY, BANG! I feel the car swerving badly enough to overturn. I think, “Shit! TY, did you fall asleep?!” I can’t see a thing, my eyes aren’t working yet. I feel another BANG, and then ANOTHER. “Oh God, this is the end! Buddha Bless Us!” Finally, a hard CRASH nearly jolts my head off my neck. Everything is still black, but then I hear, “Lance, quick! Get out of the car!” My eyes open and I see the expressway. I quickly sense my body for pain… no sign. Unclip the seat belt and open the door. Scrambling out of the car, I can smell the road. This seems so surreal. Is it really happening? I’m waiting to wake up and say it’s all a bad dream. But as the seconds pass, I realise it’s not going to go away. I have to stay calm and face reality.
Ahead, I see the black Honda Prelude that banged us. It also has swerved and banged into the road railing. The car’s hazard lights are flashing. The driver has yet to emerge. I wonder if he is unconscious…. Five minutes later, the police arrive, and so does an eyewitness taxi driver, who tells us that when the black car hit us, we swerved and almost hit his taxi, but his reactions were quick and he changed lanes.
The black Honda’s driver walks slowly toward us, a lanky Indian man in his mid-20s, looking stoned. More police arrive and they put him to the breathalyser test. He’s way over the limit. So he’s handcuffed and led away.
I’m having a spasm in the neck from whiplash, while TY’s arm hurts from the impact. We call a tow truck. Then it’s another 12 hours of following the tow truck, making police reports, filing insurance claims, and emergency medical checkups before we get home. And now, it’s 12 midnight. I’m writing about an accident that happened this morning at 6 AM.
Don’t Take Life Or Safety For Granted.