My Walk

Do you remember when I wrote about what I told I my co-workers about me walking to my apartment in the rain?

Well, it's raining today and guess what happened. About an hour-and-a-half ago.

It's not like I told my co-workers, though.

I was crossing a street, after looking both ways because people in this town who drive between five and six tend to ignore red lights, when I felt something slid along my front, and not in that sexy way, and then something hit me on my right side. That's when I saw the black hood of a car in front of me. I looked to the right and saw the white door and that the side mirror was folded back, like they're supposed to when they hit something. The something was me. I looked through the windshield and saw a guy, I think he had a cup to his lips but I'm not sure, with all the whites of his eyes showing. I either gave him a nasty look which said, "What the fuck do you think your fucking doing you fucking asshole!" or a pitiful look which said, "How could you hit me? What did I do to deserve this?" I took a step back from the car and saw the SR police logo on the door and it's motto (or whatever) which is "Community, Service, Integrity." I would have laughed if I wasn't feeling angry and sad. The door opened and I walked around the front and got off the road. The cop parked the car on the side of the road, got out, walked over, and talked to me.

First, he wanted to know if I was okay. Did I need an ambulance? I was okay. I didn't need an ambulance.

Then he started looking for something in his jacket, his pants pockets, on his belt. It wasn't there, so he headed back to his car. He came back with his cell phone.

He called someone. He took down my information. I couldn't remember my phone number. He said, "Can't see a thing in this rain." It wasn't raining that hard. He tried to make small talk. I just wanted to leave. I found myself wishing that he'd just driven off after he saw that I could walk.

I never thought I'd hope to be part of a hit and run.

Fifteen minutes after I first noticed the clock in the shop we were standing near, a cruiser pulled up. The guy got out and asked me for my information and my license. Once again, I couldn't remember my phone number. Another cop pulled up and took the one who hit me around the corner to speak with him. That's when the officer who just took my information asked me what happened. I told him. We stared out into the intersection. I saw a car run a red light, the fourth I'd seen since standing there waiting. He decided to make small talk. The same exact questions that the other guy had asked. Once he exhausted his questions, he went around the corner with my license then came back and wanted to take a picture of my translucent right love handle to show that I was okay.

And then we waited. At 5:55, I was watching the clock, I was finally given a card with the case number on it and asked to call and leave a message with my phone number.

Now I'm here.

I'm okay.

I'm not even bruised.

I'm not going to tell the ladies at work about this. They already don't like me walking in the rain.

I wonder what all the people walking past me were thinking about as I stood there with three cops.

How are you?