Another Kevan story...

While working for my father's roofing company during the summer, I was often asked to drive to jobsites to pick up equipment, tools, etc., or to do final clean-up on a small project.

One Friday afternoon I was asked to go to a new house on which we had just installed a new tar and gravel roof. I simply had to drive a dumptruck to the site, do some minor clean-up on the roof, pick-up any debris, tools, wheelbarrows, etc., that were left on the roof, and come back to the shop. No big deal. It should only take a few minutes of work once I arrived.

Since it was a Friday, and since I was anxious to 'start my weekend', I was in a hurry to get done, and get home. As I pulled up to the subdivision, and to the house, I noticed that the house had a garage. The house was in the first stages of construction, and I noticed that the door to the garage was not installed-- which gave me an idea. Rather than take the time to set-up a ladder to the roof, I could back-up into the garage with my truck. Since the truck bed was high, I would be able to climb the truck, and jump-up onto the roof from the truck.

My well-thought-out plan firmly in place, I pulled up to the house, and quickly backed the truck bed into the garage... only to hear a loud crashing sound! It seems as though I had misjudged the height of the steel bed of the dumptruck I was driving... and as I backed into the garage, I had hit the main support beam over the garage door. I had not only hit the beam, I had completely destroyed it!

As a teenager, my first response was to make sure I did not get caught! So I quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard or seen what I had done. Since it was Friday, and since this was a brand-new subdivision, there were no residents, and all the workers had already left for the weekend. I was in luck...

I quickly finished my work of cleaning-up the roof, and loading the equipment and debris into the bed of the truck. Then, putting the truck in gear and racing the engine, I hit the clutch and zoomed out of the garage, into the street, and away from the scene of the crime... In my rear mirrors I could see the entire roof of the garage collapse into a heap on the ground!

To my surprise, I never heard anything more about this incident. I never knew what the poor contractor building this house was required to do to fix my error. I suppose one could say that by getting away with this, I learned I could do bad things and get away with them... Of course, like all people who do these types of things, we live with ourselves by finding ways to excuse our behavior and justify our actions! I'm sure that I simply told myself that it was just an accident--and since I did not do this on purpose, why should I turn myself in, and get into trouble, over a simple accident?

Fortunately, over time the example of integrity set by my father, and the development of my own conscience, eventually helped me to change this pattern of behavior and become what I hope is a responsible citizen. But, as will be seen, it would take a few years before my foolish behavior ended, as there are a lot more 'Kevan stories' yet to be told!