I live near a tiny airport where someone apparently gives flying lessons. While I'm working outdoors, I will hear the engine of the silver single-engine plane above me suddenly quit. I can almost hear him telling his student: "Okay, NOW what are you going to do?"

For many years, it has been a "hobby" of mine to figure out what would be the best thing to do before it happens: If I do something dumb like stop on the railroad tracks & the barrier comes down, would it be better to back up or go forward? If some maniac with a knife tried to get into my car at a red light... If I walked into the local mini-mart with my head down, right into an armed robbery. Etc.

When I first noticed that I was doing this, I asked my sister if she every did that. She just looked at me like I had grown ears on the top of my head, and said, "NO! Why would I want to do that?"

So far, I've never run screaming from the scene. I usually do what needs to be done, then fall apart afterward, which still seems kind of whimpy...

On TV, I saw a woman who had stopped her car at the RR crossing, & then was rear-ended and knocked into and grabbed by the passing freight train. What on earth SHOULD you do in a case like that, anyway???

Sue