“The Light”

In my previous post I mentioned that I had stories to tell. I didn’t think it would be so long before I got a chance to tell the stories, but time has a way of slipping past you. Anyway here we are.

This story is about a street light. Not just any old street light but a light that seemed to sense whenever I drove past it. I know it sounds strange and it was probably just a coincidence. As a matter of fact I know it was just a coincidence but after reading this story you tell me what you would think.

The year was 1987. My car back then was a 1982 Ford Mustang. We had a tradition of sorts with Mustangs in my family. My mom had a 1966 Mustang convertible. My dad once owned an early seventies Mustang Mach II. I was a big fan of the mid eighties Mustang GT.

Around this time I would frequently visit the house of the girl I was dating. She lived in a quaint family-based community just off of the nearby river. The roads were mainly 2 lane roads with with no stop lights and no shoulders. The homes were spread apart by some degree of acreage and separated by trees and forest. There were twists and turns and slight peaks and valleys but the road leveled off just before intersecting a main thoroughfare. And the light of which I speak stood about a quarter of a mile before this intersection.

It was a typical street light. A fluorescent bulb inside a stainless steel or aluminum fixture attached to a tall brown wooden pole. That’s it. Initially I did not notice the light’s intermittent on-off behavior as I drove by because I thought it happened for every passing vehicle. Several weeks and multiple trips of traveling the route made me notice its curious behavior. So on a warm spring Friday night I decided to monitor the light to satisfy my growing curiosity.

It was around 11pm. Warm. Dark. Eerie. Sounds you typically here from the woods. The occasional car every few minutes. I pulled as close as possible to the right side of the road just behind the light. My windows were rolled up, except for the driver’s side window which was slightly cracked open. I kept my engine running and in gear, ready to move swiftly if the need arose. Remember: DARK. EERIE. WOODS.

What I saw was pretty surprising. The light stayed on the entire time. Four or five cars passed by the light in about a ten minute span. Not once did the light go out.

To be continued……

Well I’m back. Let’s pick up where we left off.

That’s right. The light stayed on as the othere cars passed by. So I left shortly thereafter. I didn’t know how to feel about what I saw. Certainly this was a coincidence, but even still what was the meaning for me? I continued to travel this road for months and the light continued to go on or off as I passed by. I slowed down, I sped up. Same result.

About a year later in the Spring of 1988 my grandmother asked me to go to church with her. I did not grow up in church but I would go occasionally with my family. I had a habit of not going to church on Easter or Christmas because I did not want to be viewed as the typical ” three times a year” church goer. If you don’t know what that is just ask somebody….

But. My grandmother asked me to go to Easter Sunday Service this particular year and I never said no to her. I lived about thirty minutes from her house and she lived about thirty minutes from our family church. We were due to be there on time even after I stopped for gas along the way. So after a quick stop for gas we were about ten minutes from the church.

As I was traveling down the highway I heard a soft thump in my car. Not seeing anything in front of me I looked in my rear-view mirror. To my surprise and horror I saw a dog lying on the side of the road. The next intersection was where I had to turn for the church. I made a u-turn to go check on the dog but he was no longer there. By now it was time for the church service to start and I didn’t want to make my grandmother late. So we went to church. Easter Sunday 1988.

A week later I was visiting my girlfriend of the time. We had a late date and so I left her house at around 3:30am on Sunday morning. This particular morning, as I passed the light it was off. And it stayed off. Never flickered. Never blinked. This was unusual. Okay.

Ten minutes after passing the light, exactly one week after hitting that dog on the highway, I was in my first and only car accident. My car was totaled. I was hit from behind by a drunk driver who had NO lights on and attempted to pass me on the left, crossing the double yellow line while I was turning left.

I woke up to someone screaming. The driver’s seat that I sat in was on top of my rear passenger seats. My upper torso was lying on what was left of my trunk, hanging out of my rear window. The rear of my car was folded down to the ground, so much so that my rear wheels were in the air. The passenger side of my car was pushed in, making my car look like the letter “C”. Fluids were pouring from everywhere.

After being rear ended I struck a cement wall that supported the property of a house upon a hill. I was exactly one minute away from home. The family that lived in that house came running towards me screaming and pleading for me to lay down and stay still. Somehow I had crawled out of the car and was now moving aimlessly in the road.

The man and the woman of the house were in their mid forties. They brought blankets and towels. I heard them say “shock” and “blood” and “gasoline”. They CARRIED me to a safe place away from the potentially dangerous car. And then I saw an emergency light. This all happened within a span of about ten minutes.

I thought to myself, “The ambulance got here fast.” Then I heard the screaming that I heard just after the accident. And then I saw the car. A police car. A police car with front end damage. Still a bit foggy with what I now think was a concussion, I could not comprehend why someone in the police car was screaming in obvious pain. Then the realization: I was hit by a police car. Yes, I was actually hit by a police officer. What are the chances, right? Exactly.

As I was being transported to the hospital I had two thoughts on my mind: the dog and the light. The light and the dog. To this very day I can only recall the thoughts of the dog and the light after the accident. The other details written here had to be told to me by eyewitnesses.

Miraculously I sustained only minor injuries. A few days after being released from the hospital I received a call from the insurance company concerning the status of the car. Total loss, but also a stunning piece of news in the report. My car had been in a previous accident. The previous owner had hit a pole. A light pole….

I didn’t buy a car until the following year. Rode with my girlfriend on the weekends. Drove past the light several times a month. It just stayed on. Always. Got a new car in May 1989. Drove past the light intentionally to see what would happen. Nothing. It just stayed on.

Fast forward to 2021. I haven’t driven on the road with the light for more than twenty five years. Sometime in the very near future I have to drive past that light one night. I have to. Just to make sure that this whole thing was just a coincidence. What do you think?