(18
January 2001, New Zealand) The west coast of New Zealand is threaded with
narrow, windy roads that climb and descend the hills at improbable angles. A
Christchurch driver with little patience for those dangerous curves was
preparing a hot cup of tea in her car when she learned one last lesson about
respect for the road. Nothing, but nothing, could keep her from her afternoon
tea that day. Well all right, one thing could keep her from her tea. Karma.
While she was trying to brew a cuppa, her car plunged over a precipice and into
a creek.
The
woman was found dead three days later, still holding a box of teabags, with a
mug wedged against the steering wheel and a thermos of hot water beneath her
feet. There were no brake marks on the road.