The Big Blow-out of '67

#2-Actually –also before the first encounter, the “Fecal finger of Fate” /actually #3 -was the blow out on the way to Sealtest Ice Cream… In the summer of 1967 when I was 17 my Dad had arranged a summer job for me at the Sealtest plant in Framingham. This was my first real full time summer job, having done custodial work for the church, some babysitting as the only responsible young lad in the neighborhood, and going as a helper on milk trucks with Dad or his compatriots. Dad even let me drop him off to get a ride to work and take his car so I could work that 6AM to 2:30 PM shift. My position was as general helper – which included everything from making ice cream base in a giant cauldron- recipe= grind 30 40 lb blocks of butter fat, add 2 feet of water and bring to a boil before the masters added flavorings…grab the milk cans for the overflow ice cream when the delivery line was blocked but it was too onerous to stop the automatic fill, which when we ran out of metal milk jugs, barrels and baskets just ran out on the floor…to working in the city block size freezer chest in arctic gear at 5 degrees chipping novelties, fudgesickles etc. from broken packages off the floor with a long chisel. (Getting deluged by fudge when a 100 gallon drum broke while I attempted to attach an agitator motor to it and rescuing a 5 gallon container of Frozen Pudding for my future father-in-law …these were all benefits of this unusual employ.) Back to the close call on the way to work. I had dropped Dad off , and as I had for the previous month I sped along route 128 at 20 to 6 at the 65mph speed limit, listening to the radio, with all the windows rolled down in the cool morning when suddenly the driver side front tire blew out with a terrific explosion and I struggled to steer as the car veered and swayed violently, so much so that I thought I might get thrown out the open passenger side window. The station wagon finally came to rest across the high speed passing lane with the car almost tipping over. I jumped out of the driver’s side door and scrambled across the break down lane onto the grassy shoulder, my heart racing as trucks and cars zoomed by with narrow misses. Fortunately the State Police pulled up in very short order, directed traffic as I pulled the car off and was able to change the shredded tire for the spare. I really don’t remember if I was actually wearing the seat belt at the time, but I clearly remember that helpless feeling of nearly being thrown out the passenger window , and I always have worn a seat belt ever since!