Thursday, April 2, 2009

THe Danger of Weather

The Danger of Weather
As Mistie stepped out of the warm heated house at six in the morning she was greeted with the
bitter cold air. She looked around and saw no change in the weather. The weather was the same
as it was the previous day. The tress were covered with an old layer of snow from the previous storm that
had rolled in. The snow glistened like crystals as the light from the front porch hit them. The house was
enclosed with a small mist overlooking the small creek a couple miles down the mountainside. Looking
down the mountainside there was nothing but a straight drop off the side of the cliff. As Mistie continued
to leave for school she put one foot in front of the other and realized that she was walking on nothing but
a thick sheet of ice. Not only was there a sheet of ice on the stairs which lead to the driveway,
but the roads had suddenly become dangerous.
Not realizing what the road conditions were she hopped into her car and started heading
down the mountain. The sky was clear as shadows from the stars glistened into the moving car. Mistie
continued down the mountain where an opening appeared from the clutter of evergreen trees it was a
beautiful site to see but, Mistie was concentrating on the turn that was about to come. About a quarter of
the way down the mountain Mistie was proud thinking she had tackled the most dangerous turn on the
mountainside. Little did she know that her luck was about to change. The car hit the part of the mountain
where it started to lose speed, so she pressed on the gas to accelerate. Once the car picked up speed it hit a
small turn, a second later the car started to swerve.
She slammed on the brakes and lost complete control of the car. The car was picking up speed as
it was swerving from left to right on inside. On the right side of the car there was a twenty foot
drop with a clump of trees lining the side of the road with a small brem that stood half a foot tall. The car
continued to swerve as it hit the next curve. The car was now on the left side of the road. There was
nothing but a straight drop off the side of the road, about half a mile up the mountain. With fear running
through her body she started to shake as she gripped the steering wheel. Her eyes were wide open as they
started to fill with water. The only thing going through her mind was, “I hope I don’t go off the cliff.” She
started to scream “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO” as she hit the side of the road leading to the edge of the
mountain. Not knowing what to do, she thought; it’s over I’m going off the edge. She let go of the
steering wheel, as her eyes clamped shut with fear of what was going to happen next. The front tire hit a
piece of thick ice or even a rock which moved the tires pushing the car into a different direction away
from the cliff.
A second later her eyes opened and the only thing she saw was the car headed straight for the
mountainside. So many things were going through her head trying to scramble to find a solution as to
safely getting out of this situation. “What did my uncle say to do when you slide, what did he say!” she
exclaimed, as the car suddenly came to a complete stop. The two front wheels had hit the side of the berm
which stopped the car and swung the two back wheels around. She was now facing the other direction on
the road. With the adrenalin still running through her veins she sat there for a minute trying to grasp what
had just happed. Not knowing what to expect she got out of the car to see the damage done. To her
surprise there was no damage. She got back into the car hoping she was going to be able to get the car out
of the brem. To her surprise the car reversed. Mistie headed up the mountain to turn around.
As she headed back down the mountainside, she was able to see the markings on the road from
where the car had lost control. Tire marks leading from right to left to right to left hitting each curve just
barely from the roads edge. She noticed she had come only one inch from the edge of the mountainside
where she had let go of the steering wheel. With amazement and the feeling of relief Mistie suddenly
realized she was very lucky to be alive. She felt someone one was watching over her making sure she had
gotten down that mountain safely, yet to teach her a lesson about driving up in the mountains during the
winter time. From that point on when Mistie leaves the house she will not underestimate how dangerous
the roads may be. No matter what the weather conditions may be.

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