Truckenspiels do crash.

I watched a truckenspiel crash on campus today. Right before my very eyes.

Truckenspiel. Say it with me... (pronounced truck-en-schpeel). A select few of you know of the glorious automobiles of which I speak, but for those of you who do not, let me tell you about them. They are little, teensy, baby pick-up trucks that the maintenance workers and such drive around campus. There are many different varieties; some are old and boxy, some are new and shapely, some have toppers, etc. Anywho, it turns out you needn't have prior truckenspiel experience ("truckensperience") to operate these vehicles, as demonstrated to me today by the kid that looks sort of like a donkey outside of OEC. You see, he was parked right outside of the door I was coming out, and he was trying to back up for some reason (although, come to think of it I'm really not certain at all that he really wanted to go backwards...) and I came out right in his way. He stopped and waited, but I waved him on. He struggled for what seemed like 28 minutes, and when he finally got it into gear, he floored it. Straight up floored it... into the tree 3 feet behind him. The whole tree shook, and branches and leaves were flying all over. His body was thrown forward from the impact, as I'm sure his very life flashed before his eyes.
"Oh, crap," was all I heard from the donkey driver, and I struggled with every fiber of my being not to laugh out loud then and there. It was quite an experience for all of us. When I walked back to the scene of the crime a couple of minutes later, the truckenspiel and the driver were nowhere to be found. The tree, however, will forever bear the scars of the incident... a six inch rectangle of bark completely removed by the blow. Talk about a battle wound.