Behind the Lines: by David Heiller

David Heiller Sometimes it’s nice to have a little good luck. I’m speaking about an incident last week with my car. The car, a 1996 Ford Taurus, is a pure beater. Two doors don’t work, and the dash board has more warning lights flashing than an F-15. It has plenty of little dents, and a few big ones. I’m almost embarrassed to drive it. But not quite. It still drives all right. The mileage is decent. And it’s paid for! The car has seen just under 263,000 miles of action, first in Pine County, now in hill country. Nothing major has ever gone wrong with it, which I find amazing. That’s a testament to how much better cars are made these days. The car almost suffered a fatal blow about six years ago, when I hit a deer with it head on. The impact broke the windshield, fractured the frame in front, and deployed the air bags. No one was hurt, except for the deer, but the repair estimate was $3,600. That was more than the car was worth, so the insurance company totaled the car, pa...