Murphy's World

Morbid humor livens up life on the road

Dear Murphy,

We've all seen it in a bad movie or a cartoon. Well, here’s the real thing. I was sitting at a three-way stop at the SeaTac airport up at Seattle, and there was a hearse in front of me. It’s his turn to go, so he does. The next thing I know, my eyes are wide open, my jaw hits the floor, and I’m laughing so hard I can’t see straight.

Morbid humor, absolutely, but I couldn’t help myself. Apparently the driver failed to secure the casket and the door, and in one last defiant attempt, the casket made a run for it out the back of the hearse. Kind of like the left sock in a dryer, I guess.

I’ve seen a lot of odd things out there, but this one is always on the top of my story-telling list. And I have a picture to prove it. If not, I would never try to pass it off as a real story.

Regards,

Evertrucker

Dear Evertrucker,

You’re right, you do have a morbid sense of humor, but so does filmmaker Tim Burton (“Beetlejuice,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Corpse Bride,” etc.) and cartoonists Charles Addams (whose New Yorker cartoon characters inspired the popular TV series, “The Addams Family”) and Gary Larson (“Far Side”).

Morbid or not, if it’s good for a laugh, I say go for it. Burton, Addams and Larson did, and they all made a pretty decent living off of the creepy, the kooky, the mysterious and the spooky, not to mention, in at least Burton’s case, the living dead.

The bottom line is this: You’ve got a great story, complete with pictures, to share with your fellow over-the-road professionals. When you drive a truck for a living and you’re out running around in all of this craziness we call “Murphy’s World,” you look for humor anywhere you can find it, even in the back of a hearse.

Regards,

Murphy and Lucky Dog