Team Work 29 April 2008
This story actually took place on the 24th of July. I don’t know the exact year, but it was around 1995. A group of my friends and I were asked to do some volunteer work for the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. We were asked to wear light clothing. So we decided to go hit Shopko’s clearance rack! We found some golfing shorts, and some bright white T-shirts, with a nice pocket. We wore those newly purchased uniforms to the parade. Afterwards we decided to go to Lagoon, since we all had purchased Lagoon season passes. Needless to say we definitely turned some heads, and that wasn’t just from our good looks. After making our “Appearance” we decided we were more than they could handle and headed back to the car. Did I mention it was very very hot! (just in case you cared.) We climbed into my friend’s parent’s Cutlass Supreme, or as we called it “Gutless Supreme”.
During our travel home we spotted a car-full of girls. They noticed we were trying to keep up, so the sped off. As we were trying to catch up we noticed a decrease in what little power we had. Moments later I noticed the temperature light had turned on. I told Justin to turn on the heater, in hopes it would cool our engine. We continued to lose power, so Justin pulled to the side of the interstate so we could get a closer look at the problem. Danny and I stayed seated, in the well heated car. (remember the heater was on full blast, as was the stereo) We heard a yelp come from under-the-hood. At first it was hard to discern what the noise was. Then just moments later we heard Justin yelling, “TURN IT OFF! IT’S ON FIRE!!! IT’S ON FIRE!!” So of course we shut the car off and sprung from the vehicle. Not knowing how to extinguish the flame we began to collaborate. Finally we decided to cover the flame with dirt. So we ran frantically back and forth throwing dirt on the smoldering engine. This was to no avail. We send Justin for help. Then Danny and I came up with the idea of smothering the flames by closing the hood of the car. (yeah we were pretty brilliant, seeing how the air could also come from beneath the engine). So after a few moments we opened the hood and the flames had grown, much to our surprise. Seconds after a Highway Patrol vehicle entered the scene. He came running up with his extinguisher. As he pulled the trigger to extinguish the inferno we thought the panic was over. BUT there was no umph left in the extinguisher. So he ran back to his patrol car and radioed for another officer to assist. Eventually the other officer arrived, extinguished the flames and there was much rejoicing… yeah …. We were wrapping things up just as Justin had returned, after phoning for a ride home… We heard sirens approaching and then saw the red fire engine approaching. Much to their dismay the flame was extinguished. The fire fighters looking at our “stunning” uniforms and commented,” You guys look like a team, how come you couldn’t put out the fire!?” Needless to say we never wore those outfits again.