Four-Wheeler:D

By:jessica garner


The sun was almost setting. It sparkled brilliantly across Lake Houser, my cousins' home in North Carolina. I glared at it enviously. "Why aren't we swimming again?" I thought as i wiped little beads of sweat from my forehead. We were here on one of our frequent trips to see the family. As always, I was stoked to see my cousins. They are about a year younger than me but they are so funny and we always have a blast. Today was different however, i slumped in my chair, twisting my hair around my fingers, waiting for something to entertain me. That is when my uncle had the wonderful idea of letting us ride the four-wheelers. Finally! that was just the kind of fun i was looking for.
Hopping eagerly onto the bright red four-wheeler, i looked down confusidly at all of the switches and buttons. Kelsey(my cousin) right behind me, and my sister and Kristen(keley's twin...and my cousin.duh) where riding the other. I got a 2 minute crash course on all of my gears, then I flew out of the driveway and down the country road, leaving nothing but a little trail of dust behind.
We both laughed as I took the sharp curves a little too fast. I had always been the "dare-devil" in the family so she didn't seem surprised. "You probably shouldn't go over third gear," she half screamed in my ear over the loud roar coming from beneath us, "since it's your first time." ( For those of you who are not skilled with the four-wheelers, the higher the gear, the faster you go. Third being the middle.) But I was much too stubborn to heed her warning. Bouncing over the roots of trees and bounding over hills, I just assumed that i knew what i was doing. I mean, how hard could it get? Soon we reached an open road that was a straight shot for at least a mile. Slamming on the gas, we took off. I inhaled deeply, the harsh wind making my eyes turn into little slits, tears forced out of the corners. The feeling of racing down the road is amazing. It is as if you are leaving all of your problems behind. A smile spreading across my face, I kicked into fifth gear. We were absolutely flying now. The wind viciously whipped my hair around, slapping against my face making it impossible to see. And suddenly, the little dirt road ended. There was nothing but a main road and an extremely sharp curve branching off . I twisted the handle bars trying to slow it down but i knew it was too late. Missing the turn all together, we flew into the woods across the road. Saying a few words I won't repeat and steering blindly, i barely made it around the trunks of trees. But before we could hit anything we started to plumit downwards! I found out later that it was because we hit a little ditch. I was flung off of the four-wheeler into the air, heels-over-head. I landing in a nice long slide, I cringed as the dirt and twigs as the scraped across my face. then a huge blow hit my shoulder. I hadn't realized that it was the four-wheeler that had flipped and landed on my right half. I couldn't feel a thing yet. I scrambled up, looking frantically for Kelsey. She was laying under the bike. I guess my adrenaline must have kicked in because she was ripped from beneath that four-wheeler in about two seconds. I was sick to my stomach with worry for my cousin, not realizing that I was looking worse off than her. We were both alright, for the most part. I had a few gashes and a cut on my eye and my arm was pulled out of the socket. I thank God that Kelsey just had a few cuts. We got lucky and an old man who lived down the street from my cousins' saw the whole thing and offered any hospitality we needed and to pull out the four-wheeler with his truck. He hooked it up and towed it out while Kelsey and I pulled thorns out of each other's skin.
Fortunately for me, my uncle was very forgiving. I felt horrible about the little dent in the back of his four-wheeler, but he insisted it was no big deal. He was just glad both of us weren't seriously hurt. And very very fortunately for me, Kelsey was very forgiving too. I figured she would never get on a four-wheeler with me again but she proved me wrong. ...She just prefers for me not to drive. But this accident was a good lesson to learn and it hasn't kept me off of a four-wheeler. I still love the feeling of the wind in my hair and I four-wheel every time I get the chance.