"How it happened" is a very short story written by Arthur
Conan Doyle, in 1918 and is part of a set of stories called Danger! and other
stories.
The story is a first person account of a man who
having bought a new car decides to go on his first drive as he returns one night from
London. In spite of his chauffeur warning him that the gear system of the car is quite
different from the older one he is willing to risk driving it for the first time at
twelve in the night. His 5-mile journey passes over some very hilly terrain and has many
sharp turns that he has to manage.
His drive starts
smoothly but just when he starts to feel he is in control, the new gear system gets
locked; the car is now hurtling down a very steep slope. On trying to slow down using
the brakes even they fail and he now only has the steering wheel to control the car and
manage some very sharp turns. He is successful with the first two but the last cannot be
managed. The car crashes and suddenly the story takes on a new
turn.
The narrator finds himself standing at a distance
looking at the helpers rescue the injured chauffeur and crying out for him. He responds
to their cries but don't seem to hear him and instead are bending over something lying
in front of the car.
It is evident that the narrator is
dead and is looking at all that is happening in a new form. He then sees his long dead
friend and exclaims in surprise that he died a long time back. The friend's response
provides the final confirmation to what had happened.
“Stanley!” I cried, and the words seemed to
choke my throat —“Stanley, you are dead.”
He looked at me
with the same old gentle, wistful smile.
“So are you,” he
answered.
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