AT-ATs and an unfortunate newspaper delivery accident
I was a paperboy throughout Middle School and High School. Every afternoon, I delivered the Evansville Press, our now-defunct local afternoon paper, to approximately 100 houses in my area. Except Sunday. I delivered the Evansville Courier & Press early in the morning every Sunday. It was quite an experience. It taught me responsibility. It taught me about the economy. It forced me to exercise. Well, it did until I could drive. Then it forced me to learn how to slow down in neighborhoods. And, of course, it gave me a steady stream of cash.
Every day, a delivery truck would drop off bundles of newspapers in our driveway. I would take them into the garage, cut open the plastic strapping that bound the bundles together, fold the papers, and load them into my bike (or car). It was a pretty simple process.
Of course, things get a little dangerous when you somehow forget to cut one of those straps and it’s sitting on the floor of the garage. And you can’t see where you’re walking because you have a large stack of newspapers in your arms. And your feet get caught up in that uncut binding strap that’s conveniently shaped like a circle that’s big enough for both of your feet to fit at the same time. And then you try to take a step.
But you can’t.
Suddenly you know how it felt to be one of those AT-ATs on Hoth.
You wind up hitting the hard garage floor with your left knee. Since it’s summer and nowhere near the weather on Hoth, you’re wearing shorts. And so you get a pretty nice thumb-sized scar on your knee when you do that.
It could be worse. I could have landed on my chin. I guess it’s a good thing that I had all of those newspapers to break my fall.
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