The Chase

I had three girls screaming at me all at once. I yelled at my friends to shut up, buckle up and let me think. I was in fast forward mode and was squealing tires out of the parking lot. My goal was not to get trapped by the four cars that were pursuing us.

"T" was rational enough to make a few suggestions. "Just drive to your house, your mom will take care of it!" Oh yeah, like I am going to let these yahoos know where I live so that I may be tormented forever! "Ok, go to the police station, they won't follow us there!" Alright another brilliant idea! And what will we tell the police??!! Excuse us but we were just in a fight at another high school and now those bad kids are following us. I was not in the mood to get caught, suspended, volleyball career over, and the possible grounding that would come from my parents.

During this sarcasm laded conversation, I am flying through the backroads of small town Ohio just to get to the freeway unscathed. If I could just get someplace I knew, the idiots chasing us would not have a chance. So where does a novice teenage girl like myself decide is her turf? The mall. I know every inch of every street surrounding our local mall. If I was going to lose those turdwhackers I was going to have to drive to someplace I could get to quickly. By this point my speeding is raising the alarm in my two friends in the back seat and they are begging me to just stop or go home. No way, those two idiot girls started us on this path and I was not going to turn back. "T's" response "Alright Mario, but could you please slow down a little!"

During the small town Ohio chase I was able to lose two of the cars following us. I still had two cars hot on my tail and knew I was pushing the limits of how fast I had ever driven, let alone the speed at which I knew the Mustang could go. The mall exist was coming up fast and I had to make an on the spot decision. One of the cars was right behind me and I was in the far left lane, cruising at about 80. Checking my mirrors I decided I could beat the Semitruck in the right lane just in time to hit the exit. I gunned it and made a sweeping move across the lanes and made the off ramp just in time. The car behind me had no choice but to keep on going. That left one car, a Firebird, that was still giving chase. That boy could see what was happening and reacted by hitting the off ramp right behind me.

I was starting to panic thinking I am never going to lose this guy. I decided to turn into the mall parking lot knowing that the mall was closed. If I could get through the lot and hit the other side leading to some neighborhood we could park undetected. No such luck as the Firebird dude was hot on my ass.

I learned from my two cousins that when in a fight or flight situation sometimes turning around and going to the fight might work to your advantage. I had seen them do this while playing chicken on four wheelers. It only took about 5 seconds for me to decide to turn that steering wheel leading me into a 180 towards our pursuer. The Firebird dude never knew what hit him as he attempted to follow suit and crashed into a lamp post.

And that started my career as Mario aka Koko the international race car driver.