A block in the road
So I was turning onto Forest at about 2:30 a.m., and a little bit of something white caught my eye.
BANG! BOOM! Rattle. BANG! Lurch. BOOM!
The bottom of my car hit something hard, and with all the grace of an overweight elephant with vertigo, Ulysses heaved its way over the thing. (My car’s name is Ulysses. Long story.)
I stopped by the side of the road. I looked in my rear-view mirror trying to see what the hell I just hit, but instead just saw the police car that just happened to be around coming to a stop behind me.
I got out of the car and said to the policeman now examining the road, “What did I just hit?!”
At least, I think that’s what I said. That is, I’m pretty sure I did manage to keep phrases like “the fuck” and “the bloody goddamned hell” out of my question, which were more along the lines of what I was thinking at that point.
“Looks like a block,” he said.
And it was. A concrete block, painted white, at least a foot long on its longest side, was sitting smack dab in the middle of Forest Ave., just waiting for the next unlucky sedan to come clunking along.
We examined Ulysses for damage and didn’t find anything immediate. He asked if I wanted him to fill out an accident report in case I did find some damage, and I said that was probably a good idea. He asked for my license and registration.
It takes a policeman asking for my registration for me to discover just how much junk I have shoved into my glove compartment.
While he filled out the report in his car, I fished a Meijer bag out of my back seat and started filling it with piles of paper from my glove compartment. I think that rush of adrenaline put me in cleaning mode. I threw away Mapquest directions to the homes of very nearly everyone I knew, some people I don’t even see anymore. I found directions in there for routes I’ve had memorized for years.
So the officer finished and I went on my way. That block is probably still there. The officer just kicked it to the curb (ha) near the bus stop.
I’m okay, except maybe for a little stiffness. Plus it’s now almost 4:30 in the morning, and I’m still inconveniently wide awake.
So. The question of the night: What the hell was that thing doing there?
It was sabotage. You know how those concrete blocks are.
Comment by Kurt — April 28, 2006 @ 2:41 am
I’m not sure what the block was doing there, (although apparently it was sitting in the middle of the road) but, I think it’s really funny that the police officer just kicked it aside.
Comment by midnightpeapod — June 10, 2006 @ 6:32 pm
I read this to my family (well part of them, the people in the room anyway) and my sister’s friend, and they found your blog entry very amusing, esp the kicking of the block
BTW it isn’t amywhere near 6:30pm - it’s 2:40 pm
Comment by midnightpeapod — June 10, 2006 @ 6:40 pm
Kurt,
Yessss.
Peapod,
Happy to entertain! Yeah, I thought the officer’s reaction was pretty much the funniest thing about the whole thing. He was just like, “Umm…”
Comment by alexis — June 12, 2006 @ 11:46 am