MRS. LESH!

Driving down Ashley Street this afternoon, I was witness to the most bizarre incident. I was in the southbound lane, headed to the cancer center to meet Jimmy, who was getting another little dose of poison, when all of a sudden, the car directly ahead of me started to fishtail back and forth, and sparks and fire and smoke began to spew from the undercarriage. As it swerved into the northbound lanes of oncoming traffic, the front left tire blew thirty feet through the air, then the front right tire blew off, and hubcaps and debris rained all around. I don't know why a car's two front tires would suddenly fly off like that, but it happened, right in front of China Garden Restaurant.

Tires were squealing as drivers in both lanes slammed on their brakes to avoid a collision. The stricken vehicle, an old model BMW, slid to a smoking stop, and several passengers exited the car, apparently unhurt. Police arrived, and traffic was snarled for many minutes.

I drove away thinking, "I wonder if those unfortunate people just bought that car from a used car lot." All I could think about was the old Andy Griffith episode where Barney Fife buys the old clunker from a con artist posing as an elderly lady named Myrt (Hubcaps) Lesh. Mrs. Lesh (played by Ellen Corby, who also played the grandmother on The Waltons), assured Barney that the only time the car had been driven was when she and her dear departed husband Bernard drove it to church.

Could it be that Mrs. Lesh is at it again?


[My son Max just reminded me of one his and Jackie's favorite lines, which came from Barney, reacting to Andy's attempts to talk him out of buying the car: " You smell gas? OF COURSE you smell gas! What do you think it runs on, COAL?"]