It was a moment when someone offered an irrrefutable truth.
And it had the bonus of showing I’m not so bad, after all. There was more such proof this week.
In the 1998 cable movie “Floating Away.” Paul Hogan (shown here in his crocodile days) said this to Rosanna Arquette: “Sometimes, a bad parent is better than a good parent who leaves the baby on top of the car.”
He’s right, you know. She had put the baby-carrier (with baby inside) on the roof, loaded groceries, then drove away. The baby survived, but people were judgmental.
I found her mistake understandable. After all:
— I once put the library books on the roof, loaded up the kids and drove away. When I got home, I was genuinely surprised to find there were no books in the car. Fortunately, people who found them (strewn on the street and sidewalk near the library) returned them.
— Another time, I put a 12-pack of Diet Coke on the roof, loaded up a kid, and drove away. I soon heard a splat behind me. This one wasn’t completely tragic; three or four of the cans survived.
Some people (one of whom I’m married to) have said this should never happen to anyone, let alone happen twice. But at least I had my priorities straight and never put the kids on the roof.
Now comes news from Grand Haven, Mich.: On Thursday, a man – (well, it seems safe to assume it was a man) – put a cash box on his truck’s back bumper and drove away. The box fell out and spilled $30,000 onto the street. So far, reportedly, only about $7,000 has been returned. I guess people are better about library books.
I’m guessing, from experience, that the man was soon told he should be more careful about driving away without putting things in the car. His only defense is that at least he didn’t put a baby on the roof.
I did that with my house keys once. They turned up six months later at Kroger, thanks to ID from my Kroger card…