{"id":1608,"date":"2019-11-01T23:26:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-02T03:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=1608"},"modified":"2019-11-01T23:26:03","modified_gmt":"2019-11-02T03:26:03","slug":"whiplash-u-better-believe-im-going-to-need-whiplash-surgery-after-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=1608","title":{"rendered":"Whiplash! – \u201cU\u201d better believe I\u2019m going to need whiplash surgery after this."},"content":{"rendered":"

Whiplash: An injury to the neck caused by an abrupt jerking motion of the head, either backward or forward; And in the case of writing or speaking, can be caused by a rapid change of topic without prior notice.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Whiplash! – \u201cU\u201d better believe I\u2019m going to need whiplash surgery after this.<\/b><\/p>\n

It was unusual for Irwin to be out so late at night. His usual routine was to be home by six, dinner by 6:30, one hour of television, usually some sort of mystery program, then take out his law studies books and work until 9:30 before taking a shower, a cup of tea and go to bed. Clara knew this, so when Irwin was not home by 6:30, she was concerned. When she had not heard from him at all by 8:00, she was very concerned. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span>She thought of calling the police but knew they wouldn\u2019t respond to someone only being a couple of hours late. Having tried his cell phone numerous times and getting only voicemail, she decided to call his co-worker and best friend, George. <\/span><\/p>\n

George claimed he didn\u2019t know where Irwin was and was sure that nothing was amiss. \u201cIrwin will probably walk in the door any minute,\u201d he said; but she knew he was lying. Something was up.<\/span><\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t know what to do; her only thought was to go out and look for Irwin herself. And so she did, which was unusual for her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whiplash!<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Have you ever tried to ride a unicycle? Well, I have. I have yet to succeed. You would think that since I rode a tricycle when I was a kid, that\u2019s just 3 wheels; a bicycle now, that\u2019s just 2 wheels; How hard could riding a unicycle, which is one wheel, be? The answer, for me, is impossible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The school I taught in had a circus arts program every year as part of their physical education curriculum. Unicycle riding was part of it. Each year as my 4th and 5th graders learned and excelled in unicycle riding, I would attempt anew to learn how to ride one. I did gain a lot of experience in ways not to ride one. <\/span><\/p>\n

Nowadays I\u2019m not in those schools very often and don\u2019t get many opportunities to explore my unicycle riding prowess. I don\u2019t even ride my bicycle very much anymore, though I probably should. It\u2019s just another one of those things that age and my body have surrendered to. In this case, the unicycles still have the edge on me though I continue to enjoy watching other people doing their unicycle thing. Riding a unicycle is not on my bucket list. <\/span><\/p>\n

Whiplash! <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

It was a unique opportunity. If this worked, he would be very rich and powerful. It required him to do something underhanded and unconventional, but he felt it was worth it. He confided in no one other than his friend and coworker, George. George often tried to dissuade him. After receiving the umpteenth phone call from George pleading with him not to go ahead, Irwin just stopped answering his phone. It was now or never, and Irwin chose now. This could get ugly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whiplash!<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Irwin seems to be under a lot of strain. I hope he doesn\u2019t underestimate the task before him. Unfortunately for us, we may never find out what the urgency is for this utterly, unshareable and unique plan. Unless…it involves a unicycle. What do you think? <\/span><\/p>\n

Time continues to run down…\u201cV\u201d need to decide how to respond to all these snippets.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whiplash: An injury to the neck caused by an abrupt jerking motion of the head, either backward or forward; And in the case of writing or speaking, can be caused by a rapid change of topic without prior notice. Whiplash! … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,4,9,7],"tags":[70,67,161],"class_list":["post-1608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-to-z-blog-challenge-2019","category-original-stories","category-personal-stories","category-story-writing","tag-a-to-z-blog-challenge","tag-harvey-heilbrun","tag-whiplash"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1608"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1612,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608\/revisions\/1612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}