MINDLESS MUSINGS

I do not know how my mates obtained the Go-kart, but it was there and nobody seemed to own it. My mates had hauled it up the steep dirt hill into the local tip and were taking turns joyriding. Since nobody actually owned it the guys were not bothering too much about being gentle with the machine. Basically they thrashed the hell out of it. Flying over bumps and swinging tight 360 turns. The poor leisure vehicle took one hell of a hammering. There was no helmet in sight, nor was there any safety equipment; I don’t even recall if it had a seat-belt. I was next after Jeff and I was imagining the crazy shit I would get up to.

Unfortunately the go-kart couldn’t handle the relentless rough treatment and it gave up the ghost. The weekend mechanics stared at it; tapped this and twisted that. “It’s fucked” was the unanimous decision.

So Jeff and I missed out; tough luck that.

As they pushed the cart toward the large hill that lead down to the exit of the tip, a conversation started regarding who would do the honours of riding the cart down the dirt decline. I, being the smallest, was chosen to take the final ride down the dirty slope. It seemed simple enough.

I jumped in the seat and the guys slowly pushed me toward the dip. It started out simple enough; I just rolled down the hill. However, no motor meant no power and that meant precious little control of the vehicle on the very loose dirt as it glided down the steep slant. I quickly spun into a sideways position as the speed of my decline increased.

Then the seriousness of this bad decision began to sink in. The go-kart began to tip over sideways down the hill. I had no chance of jumping out and all I could do was hold the (now useless) steering wheel and pray for a miracle. The go-kart had no roll cage and I was not wearing a helmet (obviously). Maybe the seat would protect my head if I ducked down far enough (fat chance there as it only reached my middle back). It seemed like I was destined to be crushed into the dirt with the go kart on top of me and to suffer whatever injuries that entailed. As the arc of the go carts’ tip began to reach its pinnacle I remember being terrified and just trying to convince myself that I would be ok somehow; despite the fact that all evidence pointed toward me getting very seriously injured.

Do you believe in miracles?

Somehow, I will never know, the back tire got caught in a dug-out trench running down one side of the hill. The go-kart tipped to almost 45 degrees and just stopped dead, with its wheel trapped in that godsend of a groove.

I crawled out and looked at the pale faces of my friends who understood that I had just been saved from a very serious injury or even death. I don’t remember anybody actually saying anything; just a lot of nervous laughter as they dragged the cart out of my lifesaving groove and proceeded to slowly walk the cart down the rest of the way.

I remember Jonno was the only one who was willing to bring up the subject as he spouted “you almost died”. I was still in too much shock to respond and nobody else would discuss my near death experience until later in the day when sufficient marijuana and beer had been consumed.

Ultimately it was agreed that it was a very bad decision and I should never have been placed in that predicament. It was also argued, just like Jules and Vincent did in Pulp Fiction, whether or not it was a ‘miracle’ or ‘a freak occurrence’. Personally I didn’t care; I was just extremely glad that I walked away from what could have been death or serious injury. It wasn’t the first and it wasn’t the last.