Sorry this is so long .....
One December evening, about six years ago, I was giving a final exam to a class of about 45 students. It was a three hour exam and we were up on the second floor of the Engineering Building. As the students began taking the test, I realized that I had forgotten the stack of student papers that I wanted to grade. They were on the front seat of my car, out in the parking lot.
I dreaded the thought of sitting there for three whole hours doing nothing except watching students take the final. Across the hall from my classroom was a break room with Coke machines. Everyone was busy with the test . . . I had a brainstorm. "Why not act like I'm thirsty, coughing once or twice, and then walk out of the classroom pretending that I'm heading to the Coke machines," I thought to myself. "Then, when I'm out of the room ... I'll race down the stairs to the first floor ... head out the door ... and run across the parking lot to my car. I can grab those papers and be back here in no time!"
It sounded like a good plan.
I coughed once ... then twice .. then stepped out into the hall ... and raced like hell to the parking lot. It was dusk. The parking lot was temporary ... instead of pavement ... it had large cobblestones. It was beginning to rain.
I raced to my Toyota ... grabbed those papers .. and started running back across the parking lot. (Many IAP members don't know this about me ... but, for the last 20 years I have been dealing with a hearing loss. Actually, I have TWO hearing losses ... one in each ear. (LOL)
Now, you think I would be able to hear a vehicle driving across those large cobblestones. But, I didn't see him or hear him. As I was running back across the lot ... I ran right in front of a Chevy Tahoe. Everything began to happen in slow motion. As the Tahoe was about to hit me ... I remember thinking to myself, "Oh, NO! I'm not just going to get hit by the Tahoe ... he's also going to RUN OVER me!!"
I couldn't believe how big that thing was! I was hit from my mid calf all the way up to my shoulder. When he hit me ... he threw me about 20 yards across the lot. I landed face down in the cobblestones ... papers flew everywhere. The poor college kid driving the Tahoe was beside himself. I had blood all down my arm. My pants legs were shredded, the sole was torn from my Rockports, my shirt was ripped up. I didn't feel like I was hurting, except for the blood. Of course, my adrenaline was pumping so fast that even if I was hurt, I didn't pay any attention.
Now, I don't know about you guys, but when I get hurt ... I don't lay there whimpering and crying. I go into this survival mode and immediately try to help myself. So, I managed to get up on my two feet. Two young coeds came running over. "We'll call the EMTs!"
"No way," I said. I thought to myself, "This is embarrassing enough. I sure as heck don't need flashing lights and sirens coming across campus. I told them not to call anybody.
Meanwhile, I have 45 undergrads sitting up in a second floor classroom taking a final exam. I remember being confused about what to do about those students taking the test. I sure couldn't walk into the classroom with my clothes all torn up and blood all over my arm ... nor could I cancel the test. It was a final exam!
So, I asked one of the coeds to walk up to the class and quietly tell one of the students that I wasn't feeling well .. and to stay to collect the tests for me.
I then got on my cellphone and called my wife. "Honey, there's been an accident .... ummm ... hit by a car."
My wife replies, "Oh, No .. not the Celica!!"
I try to explain, "Ummm Marsha? The Celica didn't get hit by a car ... I did!"
Then she freaked.
I decided to drive myself home since it was only about 6 miles away. By the time I got home I had calmed down. I stepped in the house and realized that I needed to get to the hospital. My wife drove me.
The rest of the night was spent being x-rayed and having an mri. Once they realized there were no internal injuries ... I became the joke of the ER. The nurses and doctors would walk by making cracks, "Oh, you're the professor who was hit by a car while giving a final exam?" The laceration only took about 7 stitches.
All in all, I figure that I at least got a good story out of it. I tell my students that I am The Only Major University Professor to be Hit by a Car While Giving a Final Exam.
Just thought you'd get a laugh out of it.
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