Once Upon a Time When Gravity Was More Powerful Than Friction

The day began like most days over the past three or so decades. I woke up at my normal 4:45 in the morning, attempted to exercise on a tread mill I’ve been ignoring for the past three or so decades, and got ready for work. After showering, making sure my ears were clean and my clothes didn’t smell, I had some coffee and breakfast with my wife and off to work I road at my compulsive 6:28 a.m.

It was wet outside but remarkably mild. This was odd since it was just a few days before Christmas and even though there was no snow everyone expected it to be a lot colder. The drive down Route 95 South went like it had over the years but then history changed and I reached the top of the Piscataqua Bridge between Maine and New Hampshire. The concept of friction disappeared from my reality. Instead of my normal forward cruise down into New Hampshire my truck decided to take on a mind of its own. Instead of watching where I was going my truck and thus I watched where I had been. My truck spun and decided to play the part of a Round-Up found at any fair in every state of our nation.

            A few Nano-seconds later I discovered I was not alone. On all sides of me were individuals with terrified expressions on their faces riding their vehicles using none of the controls we all had enjoyed in the past?  Small cars, large cars, SUV’s, and even tractor trailers spent a time in a frozen mist that allowed gravity to become more important than friction.

            I discovered that the concept of a brake no longer existed. In order to not become a part of a many car mountain I accelerated in order to stay away from any and all foreign cars. I de-accelerated in order to not become one with any and all SUV’s. I was actually becoming proud of myself when all of a sudden I found myself facing a tractor trailer that made the decision to jack-knife and thus sprawl its mass from one side of the highway to the other. All I could do was push my now useless transmission into reverse thus starting a race between myself and the helpless driver of his tractor trailer. A good analogy would be having a turtle try to outrun a rabbit but I guess that concept was used before.

            To my joy, yet possibly the truck driver’s dismay, the truck ended up becoming one with a guard rail that did its job by not allowing it to become a living room ornament in a house that was build adjacent to the road. I, on the other hand, did not meet my specific part of the guard rail and continued my backward twirling race into the New Hampshire portion of Route 95.

            My ride finally ended in the middle of 95 where riot barriers were built so a vehicle traveling south would not be allowed to travel north no matter what the weather was. I think I stopped breathing when my truck finally stopped. I took my foot off the accelerator and was about to place it in neutral when all of a sudden my truck once again took on a life of its own. I started to slide horizontally across the road as cars zoomed by going in every and all directions. Once again gravity raised it mighty head and made friction a meaningless force. My slide ended on the other side of the highway and was only stopped by that same guard rail that saved a home just a few seconds before.

            I once again started my first breath when all of a sudden I felt a punch from the rear of my truck. My luck had apparently run out. More so for the driver of the vehicle whose luck ran out by hitting mine?  I was now destined to spend the next two and a half hours waiting to have the car mountain in front of me unravel in order to let me pass.

            I sincerely hope no one was injured on the day when gravity became more powerful than friction. As a chemistry teacher I should have known this all along.

Jim Fabiano is a teacher and writer living in York, Maine

You can contact Jim at: james.fabiano60@gmail.com