4 Accidents & A Nightmare

This morning, Son No 3 told me he had a nightmare. He dreamt that we had a car accident.

I don't blame him. Over the past 4 months, my car has been involved in 4 minor accidents. Yes, that's an average of one accident per month. In all four incidents, Son No 3 was in the car. The other two boys were in school. But Son No 3 wasn't like traumatised or anything like that. Really.
I will just give a short description of each accident.

Accident No 1

• Isuzu pick-up squeezed its way through a narrow lane and caused a deep gash on my car and broke my tail-lamp.
• Happened outside Son No 2's school.
• Male Chinese blue-collar driver.
• Hit-and-run. I had to foot the repair bill of RM900.

Accident No 2

• Car in front of me stopped abruptly. I managed to stop my car in time but the Vios behind me slammed into my car.
• Happened in Bangsar.
• Professional Chinese woman driver, late-30s?
• Driver apologised immediately and said she hoped my son did not get a shock (she must be a mother herself). Footed the entire repair bill of RM700.

Accident No 3

• I stopped at a stop-look-go junction. The Kia behind me hit the back of my car.
• Happened in Bangsar.
• Male Chinese driver with a deep tan and a "pai-kia" look.
• First thing the driver said in Cantonese was that we were fellow Chinese, so we should just help each other. Amazing... I wonder if I were a non-chinese, what would he have done? I told him straight in the face that this was not a racial issue. (I learnt the Cantonese word for "race" from Son No 2's Moral Ed lessons.)
• Next thing he said was that I should not have stopped. Hello? I was turning into the very busy Jalan Travers.
• Driver then said I was "ba bai" as in very fussy because I was unhappy with the dislodged bumper. He then used his fist to forcefully give the bumper a big thump to push it back to its original position. It worked. Ignoring me, he then sped off.

Accident No 4

• A Honda City reversed out of a parking lot and knocked into my parked car on the other side of the road. Luckily, I was still around to hear the "bang" when the accident happened.
• Happened in Bangsar, outside the kindergarten.
• Middle-aged male Chinese driver, a fellow parent at the kindergarten.
• Footed the entire repair bill of RM350.

Moral Of The Story... nah, there's no moral here. I am pretty blase about these scrapes now. For the last two accidents, I did not even call anyone from the scene of the accident. No big deal. I told my husband as an afterthought after dinner, "By the way, I had an accident today....." like it was just another conversation topic.

Son No 3 has been pretty cool about these accidents too. After the last accident, he asked me, "Mummy, why cars like to bang you, ah?" Wish I knew.

[P/S: The past tense for "foot" is footed. I just checked the Oxford Dictionary :)]