ACCIDENT IN MEXICO

by Wilson Chavez

It was a hot Saturday afternoon; my parents and I were on vacation in Cancun, Mexico. Tired, wet, and sandy, we were driving to the city with some friends who joined us at the beach. We were a little dark skinned because of the sun. Monica’s hair still looked wet and Daniel seemed the most tired, yawning constantly.  They were cuddled in the back under a beach towel sleeping off the day. Jose, Melissa and I were playing poker to pass the time.  
           
While we were on the highway, a white truck flew passed us so fast we only saw a blur. It seemed to have almost hit us, but my dad is a good driver and avoided it with ease.

Daniel awoke with a surprised look on his face saying, “What the hell woke me up, dude.”

“It was a truck, man”, I said.

“It sounded like a jet was going to crash into us.”

Later, we were getting off the long highway and we stopped at the light to get into traffic. We saw the same truck speed through a red light, crash into a brown minivan and a blue pickup that also got caught in the accident. The sound of fusing metal and breaking glass reassured my father that his decision to slow down after that truck passed us in order to avoid something from happening was right. If not, we could have also been in that pileup. It was hard to bare the sight of people getting out of their cars drenched in blood screaming for somebody to help them.

After my dad called the police and gave them a description of the accident and what happened prior to the accident, we left with my friends who were still shocked by the sight in front of them. Two cars seemed to have been fused together as one. The blue pickup also seemed totaled and the people of the other cars came out of theirs to help. Surprisingly, the people in the brown minivan got out, drenched in their own blood with glass fragments on their skin and lacerations on their legs and arms.

We later got a call from one of the officers at the scene.  Everybody managed to get away with their lives and no lasting injuries. The alcohol content in the man’s blood was found to be way over the limit. Early that day he had had a fight with his wife and, when he was incarcerated, the police saw that he had many open and empty beer bottles in the passenger seat of this car. He was sentenced to a 500, 000 peso ($50,000) fine with 15 years in prison. He will be allowed to go up for parole in 2014 if he has good behavior and goes through rehabilitation.