I don’t use the Lincoln Tunnel on a daily basis, but for those of you who do, this might not surprise you. But believe me, it scared the living beejeebies out of me! Up until “tunnel time,” I was enjoying my day, looking forward to seeing a matinee show on Broadway followed by a four-inch-high pastrami sandwich at my favorite New York City deli.

Normally I have no problem with the tunnel. I’ve passed through it on many other occasions because I love NYC and I visit from PA often. So, on this particular day, I sat chatting with my friend while gazing out the window. I have no idea why I thought looking out the window was a good idea because the only thing you can see is wall–large expanses of wall. Now that’s not so bad if all you see is wall but when you see leaking wall and you’re riding in a tunnel, it’s time to panic!

This is how the conversation inside the car sounded.

“Omigod this tunnel is leaking.”

“Stop smacking me. You want to get me into an accident?”

“In a minute it’s not going to matter because we’ll be crushed by the force of the river.”

My friend glanced over at my side of the tunnel wall. “Omigod the tunnel is leaking.”

“No kidding. Get us out of here.”

“Where do you think I can go? Maybe fly over all these cars?”

I took a moment to look inside some of those cars. No one seemed to be as terror-stricken as we were. Hadn’t they noticed the water? I wanted to scream. Then I looked out the window again to make sure the tunnel wasn’t cracking open. That’s when I saw the man and his mop. A few seconds later, I saw a man with a hose.

It took a minute to sink in, but I finally realized the tunnel was getting a bath.

How irritating! Couldn’t they put up a sign at the entrance telling travelers to expect to see water but to relax, it’s nothing to worry about? I could have had a heart attack. Worse still, my friend could’ve had one, then where would we be? Our car would’ve crashed into the wall of the tunnel and started a real honest-to-goodness leak.

Just think of the horror!