Tighten that fitting while I finish under here, I said. It’s been leaking. When my brother put a wrench on the fitting, it blew off and 3,000 pounds of farm machinery dropped on me, folded me double, driving my ear into the ground beside my knee. I screamed but was too compressed to draw another breath. My brother heaved the machine up until I could straighten up and breathe. My legs were pinned so he backed it off me. I had crushed three vertebrae but could walk. My wife was eight months pregnant with our first child that day.
Chuck Zumbrun is a farmer, computer programmer, and student residing in rural Indiana.