Lost in the desert

I suppose it's been long enough since this embarrassing incident.

Long enough for me to remove the constant blushing and find what remains of my dignity.

Nicky and I were out driving recently. We do this often enough. I take risks and the skin of my teeth gets a little grated. But the entire 8 months I've held a license have been scratch free. So i am pretty lazy about driving. It's an automatic car, it does the work for you.

I took us through a short cut, it ends just at a set of lights. These lights do include a green one, but it is the least used of all. I think orange lasts longer then green. We waited while all the cars zoomed ahead, but as we were turning left onto the road to wait while the light was having it's evil glee time on red, a bunch of cars piled up and blocked my way. I was somewhat strapped. A car was arriving behind me. I could have just waited. I should have waited.

I turned right, not into the wrong lane. I was going to cross a sandy patch of ground that led to a car park from where you can more easily turn left onto the road. I was going to be snazzy and take that risk. I'd seen a four wheel drive do it just the other day. I forgot what i was driving in. It was definitely not a four wheel drive. But the sand looked shallow.

I was going slow. Too slow. I felt the front wheels sink. Sand was flying everywhere. I reversed but naturally, nothing happened. The front wheels were just whizzing wildly. The onlookers gestured me to just turn the car off before i caused a sandstorm. We got out, and gaped at the wheels almost halfway down in the sand.
"I didn't know it was that deep." I remarked to a quiet Nicky. I waited for her to blame me and walk home.

Some onlookers were being helpful. "Wow. How did you get there?" They asked. A man with a pink shirt made it his business to get us out. He hailed a guy in a ute and asked him to pull us. My phone had conveniently just run out. At the moment i realized the keys were face deep in the sand, four or five black men came along. They were all helpful. They tried to push us out and Nicky joined them. She had the right idea, it was an adventure. A grand sandy adventure. I couldn't help

The boys moved us about a foot. They gave up and suggested shovels. They sallied forth to their next damsels in distress. We thanked them and felt all alone. Lost in a sandy desert no more then 10 minutes away from our house, we suddenly felt very thirsty.

Is that a cactus?

The guy with the ute came along, tied us together and pulled us out. We were not thirsty anymore. I called them sweethearts. The guy with the pink shirt left, and the other guy (most shocking of all) got the green light. We sallied forth, vowing never to go near sandy pits of destruction ever again. The disturbed mounds are still there to remind me of my mistake.