First Close Call

When it was just Karen and me before Joe, Ann and Lori were born, we had a coal furnace. One night my father and mother got carbon monoxide. My father passed out in the bathroom but my mom became conscious and went to the nextdoor neighbors to say that “something was wrong”. Mrs. Baker came over and realized it was carbon monoxide and rescued us.

Frozen

Me and my dogs Clyde, Sam and Chip took a hike into the woods and farm fields on a very cold sub-freezing winter day. There was already snow on the ground from a cold snowy winter. Clyde was a mix of Rottweiler and Labrador. Sam was an old overweight beagle and Chip was a small brown dachshund. I was dressed in many layers with a coat made for below freezing weather. I had on a few pairs of socks and winterized boots, scarf, hat, and was very bundled up. When we were far, a very strong blizzard suddenly came dumping snow by the minute. We tried to make it home but the snow was rising and finally up to my waist and reaching higher. My legs, feet and lower body started freezing up. My breathing became difficult from the frozen air and snow. The dogs had to hop like rabbits to get through the snow. We were all having as difficult time making it back home. Clyde and Sam lived in a shed without heat. The next day Sam was deceased and frozen solid. Clyde was dug in under his blankets.

Apache Trail

When Alicia was a small child, Chi Wei, Alicia and my Mom and Dad took a vacation in Scottsdale Arizona. We visited a scenic and scary drive called Apache Trail. I was hiking up Superstition Mountain at the Lost Dutchman state park alone. Along the trail there are crosses where hikers have slipped and slid to the edge of a cliff and then fell to their demise. The trail is very slippery. I slipped and then started to slide down. Fearing for my life, I grabbed onto a cactus and held on to it. Then I crawled back up on my belly. I was almost another victim.

The Train Tracks

When I was a pre-teen, I was walking down the railroad tracks where Amtrak and Septa ran. Amtrak didn’t stop nearby so it ran very fast. As soon as you see the train it is on you. I saw an Amtrak coming and looked to determine which direction to get off the tracks. Right then another Amtrak from the opposite direction was approaching leaving me no time to get off of the tracks. I had to lie down between the tracks as Amtrak trains roared by me trying to suck me under from both sides of me from opposite directions.

Abducted

As a child I rode my bicycle very far. I rode to a park next to the Delaware River when a violent thunderstorm started. An old man with a blue station wagon asked me if I “needed a ride” home. We put the bike in the back of his wagon and then he proceeded to drive me in the wrong direction towards the city. I kept telling him that he was going the wrong way but he ignored me. I gave him such a hard time though that eventually he stopped and just put me out much further than my home. I didn’t realize I was probably being abducted until many years later.

The Honeymoon

My just married wife, Chi Wei, and I were at the island of Bali having been sent there on a honeymoon by her company. I got very sick and didn’t go on the tour one day but hung out at the beach at the hotel. A man with a “glass bottom” boat came up to the beach and asked if we wanted to go snorkeling on the coral reefs. We went and but he first brought us to an island called “Turtle Island” and left us off telling us he’d be back after our tour. There were many very poor people on this island in the Indian Ocean. They all gave us a tour of their turtles and tried to sell us more shirts, carvings and puppets. I told them that I already had many but they insisted if we wanted to get off of the island that we should purchase about a hundred bucks worth and then the boat owner would pick us up. We did purchase more souvenirs and got picked up.

We complained to the boat owner that he was supposed to take us snorkeling. He took us to a beautiful coral reef. The water was kind of rough and deep though. Chi Wei and I both thought we could still swim so we didn’t use the life preservers. Chi Wei started panicking and sinking and I was having a hard enough time keeping myself afloat than to be able to help her. We both would have drowned. The boat owner jumped in and saved Chi Wei’s life.

On Fire

I was in the “Boy Scouts”. At a meeting they taught us how to handle being caught on fire. Just a week or so later, in the “woods” by a campfire, a slower friend swung a container of flammable fluid into the fire splashing on my pants and on the dog’s back. The dog instinctively ran to a creek and jumped in. My pants were on fire so I ran out of the woods and into the grass and rolled around on the ground trying to stamp out my burning pants.

Flood on the Bridge

On an abnormally warm early Spring day the piles of snow on the ground were melting causing the water to rise and rush down streams many feet above normal. I had a little Ford Fiesta. One evening I went on to a bridge which was many feet above Red Clay Creek. The water was rushing several feet over the bridge and flooded into the little car. I managed to get out and wade through the freezing water to the other side but the car did not and got washed away to its demise.

VW Bus Collision

When I was around 19, I was driving a VW bus down a long hill on Rt. 52 with Cindy and a dog named Matty. Flying down a long hill when a pickup truck pulled right out in front of us. There was no way to avoid a collision so I veered to the right to avoid a straight on then we flew over a fence, over a stone wall knocking off all of the wheels then through a lot of bushes. We were airborne for about 50 feet. We both flew through the windshield which popped out. The truck driver was drunk and said “I thought you dead. Well at least it gives me an excuse to buy a new truck”. The Delaware State Policed left us stranded at the accident scene. The other driver’s insurance offered me 600.00 to settle the injuries and value of the bus. I was foolish enough to take it because later the Cindy had to get nose surgery and wanted to sue me.

The Three Hour Tour into the Atlantic

The chef Rich, another cook and me went out on Rich’s very small motor boat from Egg Harbor New Jersey into the Atlantic Ocean to fish. I got very sick from the waves and vomited a lot which attracted many Sand Sharks. They caught some and one was jumping around on the boat scaring me. Those two got very drunk and just laughed at me vomiting and trying to stay away from the shark.

All of a sudden the sky got dark and it started to pour rain and thunder. The waves became at least ten or twelve feet and breaking making the boat just slam off of the breaking waves. Rich didn’t have a compass and couldn’t find land. He told me to drive as he was so drunk. We were just being slammed and I was sure the boat was going to smash up or flip over and we were all going to die. I prayed that we would survive and promised to never go in the ocean again on a small boat. Thankfully the storm broke and we found our way back to land.

Run in with the Bike Gang

There was a band advertised on the local radio station at the Park Restaurant and Tavern on Maryland Avenue. A friend invited me and set me up on a blind date with a young divorced woman. The “tavern” turned out to be a dingy dark stenched biker bar. My my friend, his girlfriend and my “date” were on the dance floor dancing as I sat at a booth with a high backed wooden bench. All of a sudden I get lifted into the air by my neck from the back of the bench. Some nut was raging with hatred and anger was strangling and beating on me. I heard the bartender tell him to “take me outside”. Him and a bunch of rough looking low lifes tried to kill me as I was being strangled. Finally, one guy got them off of me and told me to “run for your life”. I was bleeding, bruised and my throat was swollen. I ended up in the hospital. I don’t go to shady places anymore.

I don’t know if it was a mistake of identity, the woman’s ex-husband’s friends, the person I worked with to get rid of me and take my position which he previously stated that he wanted and ended up getting fired for this as the employer suspected he tried to put me out of commission or if it was just a random act by a hateful low life hoodlum. All options are likely.

The next day, after getting out of the hospital, I asked the state police to go into the bar and let me identify the person. The state police officer was too scared to do it and said it was “my fault for being there”. So much for any help from the police. I learned that lesson early.

Watch Who you Befriend

When I was taking some night courses in the 80s, we were discussing politics in class. A student approached me after class and said that he liked what I said. He invited me to a “John Birch” meeting which I went to one but thought they were all extreme. We became friends and hung out. He had a wife and a young daughter that I saw he was teaching to be a bully. He was a Baptist and invited me to his church. I went a few times but then they nagged me if I didn’t show up so I got scared away. I found that he kept a loaded gun under his car seat. One time hiking at a park on a snowy frozen day, he told me that if he killed me there that no one would ever know. There were a couple of other strange incidents with him but overall he was a good friend. I found him quite violent and possibly nuts so I decided not to be friends with him anymore. I had to tell him this to get rid of him. His response was that he was coming over to my place to kill me. I was living at Ms. Fassett’s which was a sort of rural place without close neighbors. He did come over and started shooting at the house. I called the police. The state police came over and got him with the gun.