Chapter 1
Dear Rosie:
You often say on your show you want to hear extra-ordinary stories about ordinary people. I believe the story I have for you fits that criteria to a "t". It all started with a celebrity and my daughter…
~*~ A few weeks ago ~*~
"I can't believe this," Amanda said as she quickly braked her car to avoid the wall of vehicles in front of her. "I am so stupid," she added as she quickly grabbed her cell phone to call work. Normally traffic was not a problem for her as she usually had to be at work at 7am, but today, she was picking up an afternoon overtime shift for a few extra bucks. Out of habit, she automatically took Interstate 4, forgetting how the freeway could become a parking lot after 11am as every tourist within a 30 mile radius headed to Walt Disney World.
Just as she was about to dial, she heard a crunching sound and found herself thrown forward then back into her seat. Confused,
she looked at the car in front of her; afraid she'd not stopped quickly enough. It looked clear. She then looked in her rearview mirror and knew from the
look on the driver behind her, she had been rear-ended. "I CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS," she yelled, to no one in particular as she put her car into park,
put on the emergency break, hit the hazard flashers, and quickly stepped out of her car.
As she walked down the side of her car, the guy who had hit her stepped out of his Jeep Grand Cherokee. They both stood and
inspected the damage before saying a word. The SUV suffered nearly no damage, just a bit a green paint on the bumper. Amanda's car, however, was not so
lucky. Her bumper was crunched, the trunk door was caved in, both sets of lights were broken and, because he had hit off center, the driver's side fender
was bent in. Tears formed in Amanda's eyes
"Are you ok," the guy asked as he touched her elbow.
"Yeah, it's just I've had this car for less than a year and it was my first new car, I'll be fine in a
minute" Amanda replied as she wiped the tear that fell from her cheek and took a deep breath. "We need to move the cars from the road and call the
highway patrol." Before the guy could say anything, she went back to her car. After a few minutes, and a couple rude comments to people who refused to let
them move from the middle lane to the shoulder, they were back to looking at the cars. Just as Amanda reached for her phone, the guy made a suggestion that
took her by surprise.
"Um, listen, do you have to call the police? If you could just give me an estimate of the damage, I will pay for everything,
including a nice rental car while yours is in the shop," he said as he took his sunglasses off. Before then, his face had been hidden by a hat and the
sunglasses. Amanda almost had to bite her tongue in two to keep from smiling.
"Sorry, JC, there's well more than a thousand dollars worth of damage. I don't care who you are or how rich you are,
I'm reporting this," she answered as she dialed the highway patrol.
"Wait a sec, how do you know who I am," he asked in confusion.
Amanda smiled, "I used to watch MMC and you're the reason I started liking *Nsync five years ago. I've been to
multiple concerts from Virginia to Florida, I have almost every CD y'all have released, and would never have wished to run into you one day if the gods
above were to take it literally." She wasn't harsh but almost smiling. It intrigued the celebrity.
"Ok, let me get this straight, you're a fan and yet you're standing there as if I were a normal person?" He
wasn't used to that kind of treatment though he always wished for it.
"Um, yep. You are a normal person with an extraordinary job," she responded. Just as he was about to reply, she held a
finger up. "Yes, I'd like to report an accident. I-4 West just past the acceleration lane of the Bee Line. Green Honda Civic and Black Jeep Grand
Cherokee. Ok. Thank you." She then quickly called her insurance agency and reported the accident to them. "Do you want to call your insurance agency
now or later," she asked as she held out her phone for him to use.
"I've got my own, thank you," JC replied slightly miffed. The last thing he needed was more points on his driving
record. "You know, I may loose my license because of this," he said as he walked over to the front fender of his car and leaned against it and folded
his arms across his chest.
"And you know what that tells me," she said as she walked over to him.
"What's that," he replied gruffly.
"You need to stop having people drive you around everywhere," she answered with a playful smile. He rolled his eyes.
She got serious then. "Listen JC, it's nothing personal, I'm not doing this because you're a celebrity or anything. I've just had a run of
bad luck recently and I just want my bases covered, ok," she asked as she lightly touched his arm to get him to look at her. He could tell by her eyes and
voice that she was being sincere.
"I understand. It was presumptuous of me to ask you not to report it. I'm sorry. Forgive me?" He held out his right
hand.
"Provided your insurance gives me no grief, you're forgiven," she said with a smile as she shook his hand. She then
laughed slightly.
"What's so funny," JC asked with a quizzical expression.
"Oh, it's just times like this that I wish I had invested in a gas guzzling SUV than my nice fuel efficient car."
He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Because they ride higher, the bumper would have absorbed more of the impact and more than likely there would have
been less damage. Oh well, c'est la vie," she finished just as the highway patrol pulled up.
Thirty minutes later, the highway patrol finished taking their statements and investigating the damage. It was a simple case of
failure to reduce speed to avoid and accident and JC would be charged.
Just as Amanda was about to get in her car, JC called out, "Hey, if you had bought a SUV, what would you have
gotten?"
She looked back at him, "Toyota 4-Runner, indigo blue, four wheel drive with every bell and whistle."
"That's a forty-five thousand dollar car and you probably didn't pay twenty for that Civic," JC called
back.
"Yeah, now you know why I went with the Civic," she replied with a knowing grin. "No hard
feelings?"
"None," he yelled back. They both got into their cars and drove away. On the way to his insurance agent, he thought of
ways to make up what he had done to her.
