Death Ride

They say that if you die in your dream, you die in real life.  I don't know who "they" are, but they sure as f*ck don't know shit!  I've died many many times in my sleep and have woken up each and every single time.

There was a point when I was younger that I died a different way in every dream I had over the course of about a week.  One involved riding a rickety old roller coaster that jumped a high sharp turn.  I had one where I'd jumped on a grenade.  There was one that involved another amusement park ride, where the arms spun round-and-round, as well as up and down, the little pod at the end, of which I was riding, went up and kept going up into a cascading arch, before plummeting into a nearby parking lot.  There were a couple of dreams where I was trapped in a vehicle sinking underwater.  Those ones I've never been very fond of, having a healthy respect for the water.

Nope!  I'd say who ever the scholastic "they" are, they don't know shit about dreams.  Or if their synopsis is correct, then I'm an exception to the rule, perhaps.  Whatever the case, I've died a great many times and I've awoken every time.  The reason I'm addressing this, here, is I had another one just the other night.  Only this one was exceptionally strange.  In all preceding death-related dreams.  My death would come in the natural pace that it would.  The roller coaster car making contact with the ground, then I'd calmly wake up.  The grenade explodes under my torso and after a brief pause in my head, I'd open my eyes and be safely within the four walls of my bedroom.  As for the sinking vehicles, I was surprisingly calm before waking up safe and dry.  This dream the other night, though...  Troubling.

I'm unable to remember the events leading up to my tragic end, the other night.  I can only recall driving my pick-up to a location just outside a city that I've never been to before.  After sometime at this place, I was dispatched to drive back into the city to visit another locale, only they people gave me a car to drive back.  It was a nice car, if I remember correctly.  A sleek black sedan with bright LED and Xenon lights on the front that were bluish in colour.  It may have been a BMW, but that's not an important factor in this story.

I set out on my mission, the night quickly approaching and the world growing more and more dark.  I headed north, I think, on towards the amber glow of the nearby metropolis.  The roads that took me there weren't paved, thick with gravel that made driving a little more challenging in the sedan that it had been in my truck.  I was close, though, and soon found myself gliding along smooth concrete surfaces.  This mysterious place definitely was not in Saskatchewan, as I've never traveled such gloriously smooth highways anywhere in  my home province of Saskatchewan.

The GPS, that had been programmed by my hosts, directed me to cross an overpass that dissected a train yard.  There was no traffic on the roads so I never bothered to slow down at the flashing amber light.  I signaled left and sped up the brightly lit roadway that lead straight into the darkened sky.  The speedometer needle continued to climb up the dial, even after I found my wheels had left the safety of the roadway.  It became all to apparent that the overpass was still under construction, after I glanced to my left and realized there was nothing there, but a few straggling re-bar.  My attention returned to the view in front of me as the nose of the car began to bow towards the ground.  I braced for impact, like that was going to help reduce the pain for falling a couple hundred feet.

It never happened in slow motion, although the events that followed did seem to move at a slower pace.  I remember making out the grey stones that made up much of the ground in this train yard.  I remember the front of this luxury sedan folding up like a cheap suit, the moment it made contact with the ground.  I remember being jarred in my seat and a sharp pain zipping up the right side of my spine, like a shock of electricity.  Then I remember quiet.  Absolute silence, interrupted a few seconds later by the sounds of steam and the car settling into it's new resting place.

I sat quietly for a few minutes, trying to comprehend just what the f*ck happened.  Conjuring up the memories of what lead me to this moment in time.  I hadn't seen any traffic signs indicating that the road was closed due to construction.  I couldn't move.  I was pinned behind the wheel of the car.  Light from the flickering GPS made shadows dance across my face and the cabin of the car.  I reached up and turned the key off, despite the engine being quite dead.

A few more moments passed, but they seemed like hours.  I now found myself outside the car.  Standing across from the bright headlamps that were still operational, I assessed the damage.  I looked up to see a gathering of people looking over the edge of the defunct overpass.  To my right, I saw rescuers making their way down the embankment, with flashlights in hand.  I tried to approach them, but was unable to move.  I was confused, but more so once the people made it to the car.  They began trying to open the driver door, all the while reaching in and screaming at me.  "SIR!  SIR!  CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

They were obviously calling out to me, but their attention was directed inside the car.  In fact nobody bothered to look my way at all.  I called out to them, but no one responded to my pleas.  Finally I was able to make my way to the front of the smoldering car and take note of myself unconscious behind the wheel and the rescuers checking my vital signs.  "It's too late..." I overheard one of them mutter to another.

I continued to stand there watching, confused by what I was witnessing unfold, but completely calm.  Aside from their incessant chatter, I could clearly hear my own breaths.  Deep inhales followed by heavy sighs.  I felt at peace.  One thought did cross my mind that didn't involve the happenings unfolding before me.  "What's going to become of my sweet little boy [cat], Monkey?"  On that single thought, I heard the alarm on my cell phone going off.  I turned away from the car and found myself awake and hitting snooze.

Once more, after being killed in my dreams, I awoke to live out my dream life.  Working a job that doesn't appreciate me and living with my sweet cat, Monkey, who does appreciate me.

Kevin Is An Idiot!!

Holy f*ck, did I ever come close to dying yesterday.  I am in no way, exaggerating.    I could've died, or at the very least, been injured quite seriously.  I still shudder to think that if I'd been (literally) two seconds earlier, my Thursday would've ended with a tremendous crash and a trip to the hospital...

I drive a fork lift for a living for a local farm implement manufacturer.  I've been there for a little over a year now, most of which I've spent covering for people who were out on disability or vacation or whatever.  A few months ago, those transient ways came to an end, when I was moved into the warehouse, where I'm now responsible for the loading and (mostly) unloading of tractor trailers full of stock and supplies.  This is something that I've done for many years prior to coming to this company, and it's something I've always done well and with very little incident.

Yesterday began much like most.  Trucks would arrive and I'd quickly unload them, usually running the large over-sized items, shipped to us by a variety of suppliers, out the door and onto the concrete pad or across the road.  Wherever we can find room, a commodity we are quickly running out of.

In addition to those trucks, we also have a warehouse nearby, which houses most of the stock for manufacturing.  We have trailers upon trailers arriving daily from the other warehouse, stocked to the teeth with replenishments for our shelves.  On occasion we have overstocks which require to be sent back on the emptied trailer.  This is a common practice, though not necessary everyday.  Yesterday, happened to be one of those days, where shit needed to be sent back.

I raced to unload this truck yesterday afternoon, as there was a violent storm occurring outside, and there was a waterfall between the trailer and the building, thus every time I entered the trailer and made my exit with heavy pallets on my forks, I'd be drenched by the cascading water.  I was instructed by, not one, not two, but three different people, to place some nearby stock back onto the truck to be sent to the other warehouse.  The last pallet of stock came off the truck just as a crash of thunder echoed overhead.  It scared the bejesus outta me.  The stock at hand, had to be delivered around the corner to the delivery lanes, where another forklift driver is responsible for delivering said stock to the various locations around the east and west plants.  I was gone for maybe a minute.  No more than two, as the route was congested with all sorts of machines designed for the delivery of manufactured parts and carts.  It's much too complicated of subject matter to delve into at this time.  Rest assured, there was heavy traffic.

As I rounded the corner, back to the loading bays, I was preparing to begin my loading of the now emptied trailer.  Lone and behold, if the ramp wasn't already returned to it's upright position and the overhead door closed.  "What the f*ck?!?" I wondered aloud.  So I got off my lift, opened the overhead door once more and lowered the ramp that bridges the gap between the building and the trailers.  I got back onto my lift and began to inch forward.  It was just as my front wheels got to the edge of the plate, the trailer pulled away from the building and the ramp dropped violently, scaring the shit out of me in the process.  "HOLY F*CK!!!" I cried out, as Kevin, the warehouse supervisor was returning from his trip outside.

I'd noticed Kevin walking away from the overhead door as I'd come around the corner moments earlier.  It wasn't difficult to spot him, as he was wearing a brightly coloured orange raincoat.  "Why is this door open again?" He asked quite sternly.

"Why was it closed, is a better question!!"  I replied, "I could've been killed."

"When you're done emptying the trailer, you have to close the door and send C___ on his way." Kevin scolded.

"Which is what I would've done, had I been finished.  But I wasn't!  I have all this shit that they wanted me to put back on the truck to send back..!!" I replied.

"Well," he began, "I came over here and you weren't around and I walked into the trailer and came back and closed up everything.  You were gone for too long!!!"  He was acting like this was my fault, which was bullshit, and I told him so.

"Bullshit!!!  I was gone for maybe a minute.  I had to take the stuff to the delivery lanes.  That does NOT take more than a minute."

He just stood there, looking at me with that stupid f*cking look in his head, a kind of nervous smile, and shrugged his shoulders.

"You could've killed me.  I could've died." I told him from my forklift, which towered over him.

"Awe, you wouldn't have died," he guffawed and waving his hand.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with how the loading bay is designed on a building, it is essentially a descending ramp which tractor trailers are backed into and which should meet up with a large opening in the side of the building.  The distance from the floor of the building to the bottom of the ramp is generally between 3 to 5 feet.  To fall a distance of three to five feet, might result in some minor bruising or worse yet, broken bones.  To fall that distance behind the wheel of a forklift, a machine that weighs, in some instances, twice that of a regular motor vehicle, is going to hurt a f*ck of a lot more than falling just by one's self.

"That's horse shit!!!" I said, "I'm serious, you could've killed me."

Seeing that I wasn't going to laugh it off like he was attempting to, he just stormed off.

What a f*cking idiot!!!  Instead of clarifying with those of us who actually know what the f*ck is going on, he took the initiative to butt his nose in where it didn't f*cking belong.

Today, was uneventful.  Kevin stayed out of the warehouse for most of the day, and when he did happen by, he'd make jokes, trying to get back on my good side.  Too little, too late, Kev.  Your stupidity and ignorance almost got me injured or worse.  You can make all the jokes in the world, it's not going to change my mind on the fact that YOU, Kevin, are an idiot!!