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A Curious Evening
Jun. 19th, 2023 09:12 amA CURIOUS EVENING
It was so dark as we stood there in the night that I could just barely make out our neighbors. The only sources of illumination were a distant streetlight, the stars spread above us in rural tapestry, and the blaring hazard lights of a truck in the distance.
In the shadows past the truck, we could just barely see the car that was inexplicably sideways on the road, its front end tipped precariously over the precipice.
...
It all started with Kimberly and I engaging in our mundane evening routine. Computers in our laps. Game play, magazine indexing, doom scrolling ... I'm not sure what was going on exactly.
And then we heard a screeching of tires and a crunch outside.
A few seconds later, we heard a car drive away.
I was immediately concerned that there might have been a hit and run, so we were out the door in a minute. Kimberly dressed and in her shoes. Me in my pajamas (because I'd been swimming that evening) and without shoes (because they were all downstairs by the garage). Fortunately, both the evening and the ground were mild.
With Kimberly's flashlight leading our way, we headed out to where we were certain we'd heard the crash, and there was nothing. So we headed the opposite direction. A neighbor from up our street joined us as we walked, and then we came to a stop in front of our next neighbor, A's, house, where she and her son were looking down the road.
That's where we saw the tableau of truck and precarious car, at least a hundred yards past where we thought we'd heard the crash.
Kimberly, with her shoes, headed up to the crash to make sure no one needed help. But some homeowners from the crash site were already out and someone had called the police. She returned, and we talked with our neighbors and watched for a while as cars threaded their way around the the stopped truck and the precarious car. It was maybe five minutes before police finally arrived. And after that fire trucks. And after that a tow truck. At that point, people stopped threading the needle and a line began to grow down the (fairly busy) street.
And soon after we headed home.
...
No idea what happened exactly. My best guess is that the car driver was drunk or falling asleep and smashed into the truck, and then trying to get away, ended up hanging over the edge of the road.
But we don't know. The position of the cars really didn't make sense, with the truck right where it belonged (stopped) on the road and then the car 20 or 30 feet past that, turned 90 degrees with its front end off the road. Nor does it make sense with what we heard, which seemed to be a smash-up in the opposite direction.
Nothing in the papers, unsurprisingly. Kimberly's post about the accident got removed from the traffic report FB page when the problem was cleared. Some mysteries endure.
...
And I should note the road, which has cars buzzing by our house every minute, is a source of accidents and mysteries. It's narrow, it's curvy, it's dark, and it's busy.
Just two weeks ago there was another accident in almost exactly the same place. There'd been an accident out on the highway, and so they were diverting ALL traffic through out neighborhood, and unshockingly that dark, curvy road wasn't up to it, especially at night (but that accident got cleared much more quickly, whereas this lingered for perhaps an hour).
But that road also seems to be a prime spot for couples to get into nasty fights. One of our first nights here, as we lay on a mattress, not even having acquired a bed, we were woken by a couple screaming out there on the street. We've heard other nighttime screaming on the road since. A's son, who apparently has more of a frontrow seat than us, says it's frequent.
Not sure why you'd stop to fight on a road where no one can see you around a curve. Perhaps that's how the accidents occur.
It was so dark as we stood there in the night that I could just barely make out our neighbors. The only sources of illumination were a distant streetlight, the stars spread above us in rural tapestry, and the blaring hazard lights of a truck in the distance.
In the shadows past the truck, we could just barely see the car that was inexplicably sideways on the road, its front end tipped precariously over the precipice.
...
It all started with Kimberly and I engaging in our mundane evening routine. Computers in our laps. Game play, magazine indexing, doom scrolling ... I'm not sure what was going on exactly.
And then we heard a screeching of tires and a crunch outside.
A few seconds later, we heard a car drive away.
I was immediately concerned that there might have been a hit and run, so we were out the door in a minute. Kimberly dressed and in her shoes. Me in my pajamas (because I'd been swimming that evening) and without shoes (because they were all downstairs by the garage). Fortunately, both the evening and the ground were mild.
With Kimberly's flashlight leading our way, we headed out to where we were certain we'd heard the crash, and there was nothing. So we headed the opposite direction. A neighbor from up our street joined us as we walked, and then we came to a stop in front of our next neighbor, A's, house, where she and her son were looking down the road.
That's where we saw the tableau of truck and precarious car, at least a hundred yards past where we thought we'd heard the crash.
Kimberly, with her shoes, headed up to the crash to make sure no one needed help. But some homeowners from the crash site were already out and someone had called the police. She returned, and we talked with our neighbors and watched for a while as cars threaded their way around the the stopped truck and the precarious car. It was maybe five minutes before police finally arrived. And after that fire trucks. And after that a tow truck. At that point, people stopped threading the needle and a line began to grow down the (fairly busy) street.
And soon after we headed home.
...
No idea what happened exactly. My best guess is that the car driver was drunk or falling asleep and smashed into the truck, and then trying to get away, ended up hanging over the edge of the road.
But we don't know. The position of the cars really didn't make sense, with the truck right where it belonged (stopped) on the road and then the car 20 or 30 feet past that, turned 90 degrees with its front end off the road. Nor does it make sense with what we heard, which seemed to be a smash-up in the opposite direction.
Nothing in the papers, unsurprisingly. Kimberly's post about the accident got removed from the traffic report FB page when the problem was cleared. Some mysteries endure.
...
And I should note the road, which has cars buzzing by our house every minute, is a source of accidents and mysteries. It's narrow, it's curvy, it's dark, and it's busy.
Just two weeks ago there was another accident in almost exactly the same place. There'd been an accident out on the highway, and so they were diverting ALL traffic through out neighborhood, and unshockingly that dark, curvy road wasn't up to it, especially at night (but that accident got cleared much more quickly, whereas this lingered for perhaps an hour).
But that road also seems to be a prime spot for couples to get into nasty fights. One of our first nights here, as we lay on a mattress, not even having acquired a bed, we were woken by a couple screaming out there on the street. We've heard other nighttime screaming on the road since. A's son, who apparently has more of a frontrow seat than us, says it's frequent.
Not sure why you'd stop to fight on a road where no one can see you around a curve. Perhaps that's how the accidents occur.