Unfiltered Story #260684

(This story happened when I was 9 years old, in the Summer of 1989. My parents and I were at a local grocery store, getting the weekly shopping done, when we were ready to check out.)

Dad: “Do we need anything else?”

Me (seeing an endcap stocked with picnic/cookout supplies, like paper plates, plastic cutlery, and plastic cups): “We need bendy-straws!”

Mom: “Why do we need bendy-straws?”

Me: “To drink stuff like tea or Coke with!”

Mom: “No, we don’t need bendy-straws. Let’s go.”

(I dropped the subject. We went to check out and headed home. Two weeks later, my mom came home with her head in a neck brace. She was in a car accident where another car backed into hers. The other vehicle was a full-sized Oldsmobile and hers was a Yugo, a compact hatchback that was made in Yugoslavia.)

Mom: “[My Name], you must be psychic!”

Me: “What do you mean?”

Mom: “Remember a couple of weeks ago when we were at [grocery store] and you said we needed bendy-straws?”

Me: “Yes.”

Mom: “Well, you must have known I was going to be in a car accident and mess my neck up.”

(She paged my dad [back then beepers were all the rage] and had him call home. When he did, she explained what happened, and asked him to bring home a box or two of bendy-straws.)