Zingered!

Sometimes in this world we like something and just cannot live without it. No matter what happens, that something can bring you all the happiness in this world. It could be anything. It could be the love of your life or something as small as a KFC Zinger burger.

One of my colleagues in Jo'burg loved to eat the KFC Zinger. I remember a week where we had driven to a KFC 10 miles away every single night just so that he could have his burger. I resented it. I have a philosophy that one should broaden one's horizon and try new different things. One needs to get out of his comfort zone and experience life. Its a price you must pay to reap the benefits of what this good earth has to offer. 

For me, to get out of my comfort zone was to drive. Its not that I hate it but my inexperience freaks me out. And the car which  I am driving is usually not mine and this always adds to my troubles. So it was a beautiful afternoon and we had decided to go to Suncity, me and two of my colleagues. Since we were going to take the highway, I thought that this was a good time to get out of my comfort zone. I snatched the keys from the KFC-loving colleague and informed that I was going to drive today. I wondered why he seemed so uneasy. I have a valid driving license. But then again so does my Mom. 

As usual the other two picked up zingers from KFC's drive-through and we headed towards the beautiful Suncity (Atleast we think its beautiful!). We were very excited. The KFC-lover was excited to visit Suncity's KFC. I was even complimented for driving well. It was a breeze I thought. 

We left the city behind us and took the R115 (that’s the highways name). It was a single lane highway for both sides. The speed limit was 100 Kmph. And I was following it obediently. It being a single lane, the incoming traffic at 100 Kmph made me a bit uneasy. This resulted in a tendency to drive a little towards the left. This was just the beginning of my problems. The road narrowed suddenly and I realized that my left wheel had gone off-track. Following my natural instinct to correct this, I turned the steering towards the right but in attempting to do this, I over steered (Inexperience!!). What happened next was anybody’s guess. I lost control of the car but did not let go of the wheel. The car swerved on the road, hit the bank on the right side, somersaulted twice in the air, bounced on its roof, and finally landed on its wheels on the grass off-track.

I was still holding the steering. I looked at the others. They seemed to be trying to get out. I followed suit. We were out in seconds. I noticed nobody was bleeding. But the other two were hurt. One of them was almost unconscious. I had escaped without a scratch. I was worried for them.

I stood in the emergency room nervously. The two of them were undergoing check-ups. My seniors took care of the paper work. The doctors had said that they were going to be fine and they were only making sure that nothing had gone wrong. More than that, I was worried to face them. They were in this shape because of me. I could almost hear them say, ‘we told you so’. Then one of them caught my eye. He gestured me to come towards him. I did. He wanted to say something to me. I had to lower myself because he was unable to lift his head. I brought my ear closely and to this day I cannot believe what he said to me…

“Did you manage to pick up my Zinger from the car?”