Wednesday, August 29, 2007

cha-ching


My next door neighbors The Tiger and his quasi-step father Manuel (Frieda Sanford’s guy) were in a huge wreck last week.

They were east of the fair mother city in the bedroom community I refer to as White Utopia. Manuel works as a self employed lumber jack near there and clears mesquite fields for various ranchers, then sells the wood. The Tiger works for Manuel on occasion.

They were in Manuel’s latest $800 POS: an old chevy pickup on its last leg. They were hauling a flat bed trailer loaded down with chopped mesquite. Somewhere on a busy street some young woman on a cell phone turned in front of them, totaling both Manuel’s truck and trailer.

The Tiger was taken to the hospital by ambulance, but left the ER when he was informed of the six hour wait. He had minor scratches on his head. Manuel’s left fore arm is all swollen and jacked up. Today he discovered his pinkie has been broken all week. So finally, he went to the hospital and got fixed up some.

I’ve seen Manuel more this week than I’ve seen him in months. Usually, he works seven days a week. Now, he’s home all day. And he can’t sit still for long. I think he’s mowed his grass every day now, even with his messed up arm.

Well anyway, the other person’s insurance came through today. I was walking by right as they were headed for the bank with a fist full of checks. “We’re going out to eat tonight!”, they said.

And they’ll probably be buying a better truck than the one he had real soon.

I’m not a big fan of the whole insurance system and industry. But I know things like mandatory liability insurance are in place for a reason.

And I’m glad it paid off for someone who could really use it. Thank you CEO...and big thanks that their injuries were very minor.