Story 11: Holy Cannoli

A few years ago, I was driving my car in Corona, New York when all of a sudden my allergies started acting up, and I desperately needed a tissue. Fortunately for me, I always drive with a tissue box in my car. Without looking, I put my hand into the vertical box. Getting a tissue is usually a no-brainer, but after I found the box empty that’s when I

got into trouble.  

Not only were there no more tissues, but when I tried take my hand out, I realized that my hand was stuck.

     The car was traveling forty miles an hour, and I was on a fairly crowded side street.  I tried shaking my hand, but the box wouldn’t budge. I tried steering with one hand, turning the wheel with the tissue box, but nothing worked to dislodge it. It was at that moment that I had an epiphany. I put my foot on the brake, stuck my imprisoned hand under my armpit, and after a brief tug pulled my hand out.  I sighed with relief, but felt spent.

You would think that I would have learned my lesson, but a few months later I found myself back in Corona again and lightning struck twice. I picked up some chocolate mini cannoli’s from a store called Mama’s and some ices from Lemon Ice King, and proceeded to drive home. After a few minutes, my stomach started to growl. I should wait till I get home I thought, but as my stomach growled a few more times, I reasoned, I could just eat one. But as we all know one always leads to two, and so I devoured the delicious pastries, and before I knew it they were almost all gone.

The cannoli’s were tightly packed in a plastic clam shell case, but I was able to squeeze my hand in to get them though a small opening in the box. I ate five of the six cannoli’s, but the last one eluded me and required extra effort. I decided to go for the last one and squeezed my hand into the back of the box, but unfortunately my hand got stuck in the box again like a bear’s paw in a trap.

“Crap, not again.” I yelled.

I didn’t want to die because of a cannoli, so I started to shake my hand harder and harder until finally the box flew off and landed on the floor.

“Thank God.” I breathed, I smiled in triumph, and with a flourish ate the last cannoli.

Life Lesson Eleven: From the experience it made me realize how precious life is, how important it is to be careful while driving, to never multi-task behind the wheel, and when faced with a problem while driving or elsewhere, I should remember to “Think outside the box.” and keep your hands out of them too.