A Real Update

Finally, let's see.

Friday before last Clint asked me to pick him up from work because I'd needed the car that day to run errands.  So I hopped in the car (this was right at midnight) and started to get him.  Less than a mile from my house someone in a black car decided they needed to make a left-hand turn in the space I was going to be occupying in the next 1 1/2 seconds.  The car was at a stop sign on my right, and would need to cross me in order to get onto the other side of the same road I was driving.

I swerved left at first, then realized immediately that THAT was a bad idea, since the car was going in that direction, so I quickly cut my wheel right to maybe go behind him, and I slammed hard on the brakes to maybe give him a little time.

No such luck.  The front driver side of my car smashed hard into the rear driver side of their car.  I probably would have T-boned him/her had I not swerved.  The action sent the other car spinning, while I jumped on the curb, took out some poor man's shrubbery, then fought to get the wheels back on the road.  I succeeded in doing that, and about the time I accomplished this, the brakes decided they'd had enough and allowed the car to stop.

The whole process took less than ten seconds.  I was mighty shaken at this point, and the only thing I could think to do was cut the ignition.  I couldn't see much of the damage, but I correctly guessed that the car was not in drivable condition.  Not that it would have mattered if it was, because it is, of course, the law to stop where you are whenever you have an accident.  I just kind of sat there for a second, relieved that other than being jostled a little bit, I hadn't suffered any injuries whatever.  Quite something considering the force of the impact.  I felt my stomach to make sure the baby was okay.  He was kicking and moving around a lot, so there couldn't be too much wrong, especially since I didn't hit anything with my stomach.

Next thing I know a couple of girls in a car pulled up beside me and asked if I was okay.  I said sure, just shaken up a bit, and asked if they saw all that.  They did.  Worse, at this point I decided to see why the other driver hadn't come up or whatever, then looked back.  Nothing.  The bastard had kept on driving.  Took off.  Never stopped.  The driver of the car who stopped to make sure I was okay said she had a cell phone and that she was going to call 911, since she didn't know the number for the local police.  By the time she'd been on the phone with the operator about five seconds a police car noticed us and put her lights on to take charge of the situation.  She had been less than a minute away from the accident when it happened.

I attempted to get out of my car, but the driver side door wouldn't open, so I just stayed in my seat and let the officer come to me, letting the rain fall into the window and soak my door (yay).  They asked me all kinds of questions about the other car, but the ONLY thing I knew about it for sure was that it was a black, older model with a red pinstripe.  I didn't even know how many doors it had, though I thought (and still think) that it had four.

The girl who saw the whole thing, and the only thing I know about her is that her name is Crystal, wrote out a witness report for me while she let me use her cell phone to call hubby at work to let him know he would be needing another person to take him home.

It is so nice when after you go through something like I did, with the jerk in the other car taking off, you have someone as kind as Crystal stop and do something so completely kind like that.  It's sort of a balancing--letting you keep your faith in people.

The bastard in the other car was never found (at least not yet, and I doubt they ever will be found).  Believe you me, I've been scouring the streets for a car like I remember with a fucked up rear driver side, but still with no luck.

I hope the jerk's car broke down and he or she had to walk miles to get to someone who could help, and that they couldn't afford to have that, their only car, repaired.  I really, really hope so.

-Ave