True Short Stories P2: The Crepe Myrtle-er

During the Fall of 1999, I was a freshman at Texas A&M. I had started going to church on my own. Kinda strange for many schools but not at Texas A&M. It was a Sunday morning and I had been at church and I returned to the dorm to change clothes to go out to Bonfire cut. (If you put Bonfire and 1999 together, you’ll realize that is another story unto itself) I hopped in my Blue 1992 Mercedes 190-E. I loved that car. I had a CD called “WOW worship” that was playing on the CD player in the car. Jesus-mode engaged.

It had freshly rained in Texas (the first one in awhile) and the roads were slick. I was trying to make a left on Bizzell Ave and there was a lot more traffic than normal. I accelerated to make a left and that is when things went sideways. The car started to fish-tail. I was actually pretty cool about it and I turned into the spin like I learned in Massachusettes drivers ED. Time was moving pretty slowly at this point. That is when the car caught its traction again… shit shit shit shit shit shit. A few years later, Carrie Underwood would have said “Jesus, Take the Wheel.” I learned the hard way, this is a horrible idea. There were no cars in ancient Judea. Jesus wouldn’t know the first thing about driving a car. I had expertly turned into the spin. Jesus plowed us through two Crepe Myrtles on the campus of Texas A&M. I later received a ticket which detailed what I owed the great State of Texas. You’ll notice there are some Crepe Myrtles on Bizzell Ave that are just a bit younger than the others. The murder of those trees is my legacy on that campus. I am the Crepe Myrtle-er… and the lord was my accomplice.