And the World Went Dark

So, there I was, waist deep in the carcass of a 1975 Corvette. Waist deep because, along with not having a single piece of the original interior anywhere to be seen, the car’s floor was missing. The car stood on jack stands a foot or so off the bare concrete. Absent with the floor and interior was the rear window and T-bar roof frame. Liberal application of a Sawzall amputated them along with the rear deck. The list of missing bits gets longer, it would probably be easier to list what was left. The front and rear fenders were there, as was the long hood and the windshield. From a distance it looked pretty much like a Corvette convertible with no wheels.

I wasn’t there alone. The ‘Vette’s owner, and my best friend since Junior High was there too. He had a cutting torch in hand and blacked out goggles on to protect his eyes. I had on a welding mask.

I don’t remember exactly what Vince was about to give a dose of oxy-acetylene fueled flame, for reasons that will be evident in a moment. In truth, it could have been anything, ground effects tunnel rails, suspension bits (twenty year old bolts sometimes need a little help to loosen up).

There we were, him about to cut something and me probably holding the hoses that ran from the torch to the tanks so the didn’t snag on anything. The mask I was wearing was one of the auto-darkening variety.  The face piece of the mask stays relatively clear while you position the welding or cutting equipment, then when you start working the mask goes dark so you don’t go blind from the intense light.

Anyway, Vince is cutting away and decides he needs to check his work. Since he has regular old goggles on he can’t have the flame in front of him when he flips the goggles up to have a look and he didn’t want to shut the torch off and have to re-light it. Vince flips his goggles up with his left hand and simultaneously swings the torch 180 degrees away, you guessed it, behind him. And who’s standing behind him? That’s right, me, keeping the torch hoses safely out of the way. All I see is the torch swinging around right at face level and just as all the flame is about to go by at eye level the mask blacks out entirely. All I see is a tiny point of light go past. The whole world went dark.

I’m sure I said something colorful along the lines of “holy shit”.

If we had been standing a few inches closer together I think it would have gotten a lot warmer inside that mask.