The Dresser

    I have often mentioned the scary winter drive from McBride to Prince George.  One of the many hills along the route is the one that climbs up from Slim Creek.  When I am driving that incline, I often think about an episode that happened to our old neighbors Kjell and Celine on one of their trips to Prince George.  

    The story actually starts with Bob and Mary, some other neighbors.  They were getting ready to move to Australia, and had to get rid of a lot of possessions before the move.  Among the items they were going to give away was an antique dresser.  Mary had a friend who lives in Prince that wanted it, so they took it over to Kjell and Celine’s and asked them to take it along to Prince George sometime on one of their trips.

    Kjell and Celine put the dresser in storage in their basement and sort of forgot about it, until they had a bit of a flood in their basement and it came back to their attention and they decided it was time to deal with it.  One winter’s Friday evening after work, they loaded the dresser into the back of their station wagon and took off down an icy Highway 16 to Prince George.  

    It was probably around this time of year, and they didn’t have good tires on their station wagon.  When they began to climb the hill at Slim Creek, the icy conditions caused the rear of the station wagon to fishtail back and forth.  It swerved toward the side of the road, slamming against the rim of snow on the curb.  The resulting “Bump” caused the back door of the station wagon, which didn’t close properly, to swing open, ejecting the dresser, which rolled over the bank and down the hill.

    Kjell stopped the car and walked back to where the incident took place then slogged down through the deep snow to where the pieces of the dresser were scattered.  I assume it took him several trips up and down the deep snow on the slope to collect all the pieces, but he gathered them all, piled them into the back of the station wagon, and then they resumed their trip to Prince George.

    Once they arrived in Prince, they drove over to the address Mary had provided where they were to deliver the dresser.   Unfortunately, they discovered that no one was home, and not knowing what else to do, Kjell just unloaded all the pieces of the dresser from the car and put them into a pile on the carport, then drove away.

    I always wonder what the recipient of that dresser thought when she discovered the pile of wooden pieces on her carport.

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