the death of bertha

I didn't feel up to posting about this until now. Maybe even now I'm not sure about it, but what the hell....

Last night, right after the crawfish boil rehearsal dinner, on our way home, Velinda and I were nearly killed.

We were violently hit on the side by a car who sped through a stop sign.

Thank God, that I saw a flash of light rushing toward us a second ahead of time, and was able to accelerate, so that he hit the rear side of my car, rather than the side. Or we would have surely been killed. We really would have been.

As it was, my car was spun violently around, 360 or more degrees and came to land on a fire hydrant, breaking a stop sign. My trunk was nearly knocked off completely. Everything in it was strewn from one part of the neighborhood to the next. There were tortilla chips and cheese (to be returned from the school fund raiser) everywhere, as well as paper and pieces of my car.

It's completely totalled, as was his car. Well, it was not "his" car at all, actually, but rather his step sister's car.

He was an 18 year old on a joy ride. He had taken the car off without her knowledge.

Soon the whole family was there, as were tens of neighbors. And soon guns were threatened to be pulled, in the drama that unfolded. It was really terrifying there.
I'm not joking when I say that we feared for our lives.

All in all the police were called 7 times. Two and a half hours later, after sitting in the darkness of a very sketchy area, they arrived.
Two and a half hours!

They'd been delayed by two robberies a few blocks away, a shooting and a suicide, all in the neighborhood.

Today I spent all day getting a rental car. I'm not sure what's going to happen now. The other parties admitted their guilt to the police and insurance agencies, so that's good, and the sister (owner of the car) has been nothing but kind. Turns out she's a graduate of my school. (small city)
I feel sorry for her actually, since she's having to cover for her step brother's irresponsibility, but she doesn't want him to go to jail. The family was completely crazy, threatening to kill the boy. She had to step in to protect him. It was unreal.

This morning on the phone with her she was in tears with me again. I'm trying to counsel her. Thank God for Velinda being there with me. She's a bit bruised up, and I'm a bit knocked about too, but we're safe, and that's all that matters.

I tell you, I have the worst luck with these cars. The battleship of a car I've long had is dead. Her iron sides have saved me more than once, actually.
I'm not sure what will happen now. I doubt I'll get much money from her insurance. Bertha was kind of old, and I certainly don't have the money for anything new, but I guess I'll worry about that later.