I did not expect that

I expect certain phone calls. A call from Sean saying he's on the way home, maybe a, "Just checking in" call from my mom or sister. But I never expect a call from a frazzled Michael informing me that he, Sean and Rebecca were going to be a little late getting home because while Sean was pumping gas Rebecca had gotten herself tangled up in the seat belt and couldn’t free herself and was, at that very moment, unable to move and Sean was trying to get her unstuck. But that is the call I received last night.

(Pausing a moment to let that sink in…)

I wasn't sure I'd heard Michael correctly so I got Sean on the phone and asked if he needed me to meet them at the gas station. I couldn’t imagine there would be anything I could do and assumed Sean would say, “No.” When he said, “Yes,” I couldn’t believe it. I was chatting with a friend as Amy and I drove up to the Speedway, fully intending to see a simple solution to this problem. (The thought did cross my mind that if the engineer couldn’t get her untangled what the heck was I going to do?) At that point Amy and I were chuckling a bit about such a silly scenario, and we were giggling as we pulled into a parking space next to Sean’s Saturn Outlook.

The laughing stopped when we saw Rebecca. The seat belt was wrapped so tightly around her waist under her shirt it was nearly slicing her skin.

All I could say (which was quite unhelpful, I realize now) was, “How the heck did this happen?” Well, it seems she sprawled out in the backseat while still buckled and when she sat up she twisted around to look out the back window. She completed the twist, going a full 360 degrees and at the moment she faced forward again the seat belt caught and ratcheted itself up. In an attempt to get free she unbuckled the seat belt which made it even tighter. The more she wiggled to get loose the tighter it got.

Sean and I worked for a few minutes trying to untangle her only to come to the realization that cutting the seat belt was the only solution. Of course, Michael whipped out his new knife, handed it to Sean who easily cut right though the belt. At that point I wondered if Michael should be walking around with such a sharp knife, but snapped back to reality when Rebecca fell into my arms, sobbing. She’d kept her composure so well in the heat of the incident but as soon as she was free she fell apart. And to be honest, so did I.

Can I just tell you that is not how I thought I’d spend my Wednesday night?

So Sean gets to go to work and tell his boss that he needs a replacement for the back seat seat belt of his brand new 2010 Saturn Outlook company car that he’s had for all of two days. He is hoping to avoid explaining why.