SOME EXCITEMENT

Last night at around 5am, the cat was putting her paw into my mouth to demand food when we were both startled by a metal-on-metal crash that shook the building. I got out of bed and peeked out my front window, where I saw a man in the street running circles around his car. Smoke was pouring out of the hood and the man alternated between lifting the hood to examine the damage, collecting bottles of water from his passenger seat and pouring them on the engine block, hauling ass back to the driver’s seat, trying to start the car. Every time he tried, the car produced a nasty grinding noise and died. The smoke was getting worse and I had a vision of him blowing himself up on the spot, so I called 911 and told them that a guy had ran his car into some parked cars on my street. By then, the guy was starting to run halfway down the street, turn, and run back to the car. He seemed to be having trouble making decisions. I told the lady on the phone that the guy appeared to be about to abandon the vehicle. The lady on the phone asked me if I had seen the crash. I said I hadn’t, and she said that if I hadn’t seen it, I couldn’t confirm that it had happened. I said, okay. The lady asked me if I could see flames. I said that it was just smoke, and she said that if I couldn’t see flames, it wasn’t on fire. I said, good point. The lady asked if anyone on the scene needed a paramedic. The guy ran down the street and around the corner. I said no and went back to bed. Today, the car is gone and there is a long skid mark starting from a line of parked cars totally crushed on their left side panels. I didn’t see it happen so I have no idea what to think.