Published in Fate Magazine
Cartoons Saved My Life
by
Wayne A. English
These events of precognition happened on two separate occasions. Both occurred while riding my motorcycle, a 1971 Triumph Daytona. As motorcycle accidents are vicious affairs, I have no doubt that these precognitions saved me me from serious injury. They may have saved my life.
My first experience was in West Hartford, Connecticut while exiting I-84 onto Caya Avenue while on my way to school at Hartford State Technical College. The Caya Avenue exit was a strange one in those days, really strange, because at the end of it traffic did not stop. Rather, you drove directly onto Caya Avenue, a one way street. It was the traffic on Caya that stopped for the vehicles coming off the highway. Like I said, strange.
So there I was on my bike coming off the high way on my way to class. Ahead of me was a large truck. I’ll never forget it and can see it now in my minds eye. It was black and rack bodied. That means the cargo area has a fence around it. Suddenly, a cartoonish image flashed in my mind. I am not trying to be dramatic, but there is just no other way to describe it. In the cartoon, a truck stops and the bike and rider hit the truck. The bike’s rear wheel comes off the ground and the rider flies over the handle bars and hits head first. Just like in a Saturday morning cartoon. That is one of two cartoons that I will never forget. The third one I’ll never forget involves Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fud, but that’s another story.
My Triumph and I slowed down in this world and it is a good thing we did because the truck stopped. Stopped where it should never have stopped. Where it did not need to stop. Yes, it did. The truck stopped and so did I, easily and safely, because I was only traveling about 20 miles per hour instead of 40 or so. Had I not slowed down, I would have hit him for sure. That’s one.
My second life saving precognition was in Winsted, Connecticut, where I lived in those days. My Triumph and I were going south on Torringford Street, a hilly, twisty road. It was a lovely summer day and I was enjoying the ride. Again, just as suddenly, a cartoonish image is in my mind. This time a large tree branch swings out of a tree; the butt knocks the rider off the bike. I slowed down because I couldn’t see around the curve ahead. As I rounded the turn there in the road was a large limb. Not a branch or a twig, but a limb, five or six inches thick, covered with summer foliage. It took up most of the lane. So much so that I had to go into the other lane to get around it. And that would not have been possible if I had not slowed down. That’s two. And this is all true. It happened to me. More than that, it saved me. Twice.