The summer of 1998 was in a word, delightful. I was working at a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains, a half hour from the nearest town. The isolation was amazing, I loved it. The quiet, no cars, no planes overhead, just the people in camp and they were somewhat sparse. It was the kind of place if you wandered off in the woods, and got lost, you might never be seen again. This was wilderness.
Monday morning showed up for the 5th time that summer, and I needed to drive to another camp 10 miles up the road. It was an unkept gravel road, winding and not very well worn. At the Camp B, I got a little held up now I was late getting back home.
I was feeling rushed. Cocky and confident with my ability to navigate the poor road conditions, I speed back to camp.
Thump!!! Oh shit!!! I pulled the wheel right, then jerked it left. Dirt and gravel kicked up as the car slide. The trees were getting close fast and I wasn’t going to stop. Time seemed to speed up and slow down simultaneously. There was nothing I could do except brace for impact.
And then you sense a change,
Nothing feels the same,
All your dreams are strange…
Van Halen was playing on the radio when I reached up and turned off the still running car. My heart was racing yet I had a sense of calm.
Taking a moment to gather myself, I realized I was standing on the inside of the passenger’s door. I’m not sure how, but I managed to pull myself through the open driver’s window. I stood on the door for a moment then I scampered up the slope to the road.
I looked back at the mangled automobile, the steel had crumpled like aluminum foil. I was stunned at the wreckage. It rested 10 feet down from the road on the passenger side pinched between the trees of the dense forest.
I just drove my car off the road I told myself.
Oh well, I thought, I come back for it later.
In the shock of the moment it didn’t occur to me that I should not be standing on the bank of the road.
Only two miles away from my camp, I calmly walked back. When I arrived back, the first person I saw was the camp nurse. Of course she asked me why I was walking into camp. I replied nonchalantly, “I drove my car off the road.”
“Where’s the camp director?”, I asked the nurse.
“Still out driving the campers to their hike.” She replied. “He’ll help you pull your car out when he gets back.”
Ok was my response and I went on about the rest of my morning.
Meanwhile, back at the accident scene, a car was leaving Camp B, when they saw the four skid marks on the road. Concerned, they exited their car to look around. They called out, but there was no answer. The accident was horrible and now there was no sign of the driver.
I can’t speak for their state of mind at the scene. They must have been terrified because they drove more than 30 minutes to report the accident at the State Police Station. It was 1998 and cell phones were just becoming popular. Even if the Samaritan had a phone, it wouldn’t work. We were too remote and there was no service.
Back camp, it was business as usual for about two hours. It was lunch time and the staff gathered in the dining hall for the meal and fellowship.
I was talking and joking when the nurse glanced over my shoulder and casually said, “It’s for you.”
Looking out the window, the camp’s little yellow school bus was flying down the road, followed by 3 New York State troopers. Tires squealed, dust from the dirt road everywhere. The speed limit into camp was 5 mph but they were driving much faster.
I pushed my chair away from the table in the dining hall and strolled out the side door to greet my guests.
The camp director leapt from the cab of the bus, as it skidded to a halt. The police had run my license plates and identified me. They told him about my accident and my missing body. I could see him running to the dining hall as I stepped through the screen door. His expression was frantic.
He exhaled when he saw me, bent at the waist, put his hands on his knees, and lowered his head.
The Troopers were now out of their cars walked towards me. “Are you mister Kaus?”
I shook my head yes.
“We thought you were dead son. That accident…”
You were dead… the words hung in my ears.
The calm had left me. My body began to shake. I should be dead.
