BRAD ADKINS MADE PEOPLE DRIVE BACKWARDS…

How Do You Know Your Reverse Lights Are Working?
Linda Hutchins
Brad Adkins was planning to show us how to make our fingers disappear. But as he was waiting for the bus, he saw something that changed his mind. A lone woman drove up to the stop sign, shifted into reverse and backed down the street. Van Halen blared through her open windows: “Runnin’ from the devil … runnin’ from the devil …” At 2:00, four of us gathered at TBA Central to recreate that moment: Brad, Brian Libby (on assignment for The Oregonian), Ann Hutchins (my mother, visiting from Florida), and myself. We walked to the only car at our disposal, my husband’s BMW, which was parked in front of the old funeral home on the other side of 405. I took the drivers seat while Brad, Brian and Mom buckled up (at my request) and slumped down in their seats (at Brad’s request) to simulate the passenger-less car he’d seen in the morning. While I backed the car down the empty block, Brian sang the Van Halen song along with his iPOD. The rest of us joined in on the refrain. When I saw a car approaching in the rear view mirror, I pulled over to the curb. A Volvo stopped alongside us, and the driver rolled down his window. “Did you know you don’t have any reverse lights?”