This American Life - 279: Auto Show

Broadcast on: 10 Dec 2004

From WBE's Chicago, it's This American Life, distributed by Public Radio International. I'm in request. Message three, Sunday 12 AM. Hi, Rob. It's Rita. I've had an accident, and I'm upside down in my car. I've called 911, and I think the cops are coming. I just want you to know that I'm completely flying, except that I'm upside down, and aiming from my feet out because I can't undo it. I'll call you with symbols. I get out of here. I love my car. So here I am, bye. So you're a Brita? I am. From the phone message? Yes. And at the moment where you're making this phone call, you're hanging upside down, being held in place by your seatbelt. It seems like it would be hard to talk normally. Well, my head was also squashed up against the roof of my car. And it was a really odd position to be in. So I reached my cell phone and called this a wonderful woman at the state troopers. And she said, you're upside down in your car. And I said, yeah. But I'm fine, but send a whole bunch of people to get me out of here. What happened to Brita is that she was driving her Subaru station wagon about 100 miles from her home in Maine. There was a red SUV parked in the road. Just stopped there. Dead. She swerved around it. The road was wet. She went into a ditch, flipped over. Her shoulder is still hurt, but basically she's OK. The most amazing thing you say on this message is that the moment where you pause and you just say, I love my car. Well, I'm talking about the fact that I've just murdered it. That I know that I'm not going to drive it again. And it's a sadness. It's a tragedy for me to have done this to a car that was perfect.

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