On the way, there was the old bridge there that we had crossed 100 times or more in my lifetime. Pickups and cars and delivery trucks went back and forth across it many times a day. There were probably thousands like it all over rural USA.
On this day, though, we came to the bridge, and I started crying and screaming for Mother not to go across because it was going to fall. She just kept trying to reassure me everything was okay.
She finally told me in no uncertain terms that I better hush. She snapped, “Be quiet! That bridge is NOT going to fall! It’s fine! You’re making me nervous, and I’ve got to drive!”
Sure enough, we made it across, and only then did I calm down.
The next day, a Pepsi truck loaded with, in those days, all glass bottled soft drinks. It almost made it across. The front tires were close touching the edge of the bridge and solid pavement.
Suddenly the truck lurched and started moving backwards as the bridge tumbled into the water dragging Pepsi with it. The driver managed to escape without serious injuries but the truck was a goner!
After that, Mother just took a different route, and we never mentioned it again. Mother just took a different route. I don’t think she was trying to ignore what had happened. She was most likely afraid she would never get to cross another bridge again without me going into hysterics and being traumatized by fear. 😀
I had precedent for that when I got my teeth knocked out in a car accident when I was two. Mother said it was a while before I stopped screaming every time our car was about to meet another car going in the opposite direction.
“They’re gonna knock my teeth out! They’re gonna knock my teeth out!”
To finish the story about the Pepsi truck, for weeks, kids were able to “fish” free drinks out of that Creek.
The county was able to fix the problem by moving the road over and making it a concrete, very solid bridge.
