HUMOR

Panic! at the Gas Station

I barely escaped disaster, thanks to one thing in my purse

Now imagine all these people in one gas station, losing their minds. Photo by on

You know that panic scene early in disaster movies when a group of people first realizes they’re screwed? Yeah, I lived through something like that — and it was years before the pandemic.

Actually, I didn’t see anyone panic during the pandemic, since I wasn’t in a health-care setting. My experience took place in an interstate gas station.

Two things to know about my husband and me

One, before this event we almost never carried cash. We put absolutely everything on credit cards. Two, we tend to wait until the last minute before getting gas.

A piece by

Roz Warren, Writing Coach

, Is Cash Kaput?, reminded me of how these two facts, plus a broken card reader, nearly led to disaster.

My daughter lives about three hours away from us, and we were on our way to visit her when we realized we really could not wait to get more gas. To get to her house, we pass through a long stretch of farmland in which there are very few exits with services.

If you are low on gas, you want to fill up before you reach that stretch or you can be in trouble. We know this but routinely push our luck. Yes, we have…