Knight in Shining Armor Saves the Day

What would you do if you were travelling down the interstate highway at an unspecified speed, with four children in the back of the truck, and someone pulled up next to you, honked, and motioned that you had a flat tire? Would you panic? Would your heart start racing? Most people would freak out and maybe say a few unmentionable words. Not this Carlson Times writer- I kept my cool. Okay, okay. Maybe I freaked out a little bit. A witness (who happens to be the oldest son of this writer) woke up, as he had dozed off, when he heard his mother shout "Shoot!" Well, maybe he had a little wax in his ears or was still a little bit groggy, but it was something to that effect. I have to say that I have been in my share of car accidents- and I would never admit guilt to causing any of them- but those were a walk in the park. At least when you hit a car, your car comes to a complete stop. When you blow a tire, the car develops a mind of its own and you are just kind of along for the ride. For those of you who know me, you know I drive a pretty big truck, a Ford Excursion at that. They just don't make them any bigger. Well, when it was all said and done, there we were, safe, sitting on the side of the road with one really flat tire and an almost dead cell phone. Good thing we still had enough juice to call none other than the Editor in Chief of the Carlson Times, my knight in shining armor, James C. Carlson. Upon hearing the news of his beautiful wife's strife, he dropped everything and headed out to the rescue. An hour and a half later, we had four cranky, hungry kids, one spare tire on the truck, and great Carlson Times material.