It was the middle of spring about 8 years ago, and my sister, my nephew, and I were driving back from Florida. I was in the back seat, and my nephew, Kevin, was driving. We were following a contractor’s truck who had a big ladder and some plywood tied down to the top rack. I had an intuition about the ladder and the plywood not being secured properly, so I asked my nephew if he trusted me.

He said yes.

I asked him if he would back away from the truck in front of us, slow down, and get into the other lane. He did, and we continued traveling north on Interstate 95 in Florida.

A few miles up the road, we saw a couple big sheets of plywood go flying up in the air while at the same time the step ladder had been propelled off the top of the truck. Cars were scrambling everywhere to avoid the debris, and my nephew was able to slow down enough to avoid the debris and the cars on the side of the road with ease.

As my nephew continued going on the highway, without turning his head, he said, “Good call, boss.” My sister turned and said, “How did you know?”

Mark J. Ryan