I picked the girls up from school as I normally would and called Jay to see if he'd like me to swing over to get him from work. He told me that he was walking to our last management company to drop off the keys of infestation and doom. I said that I'd meet him there.It was nearly 4 on a Friday, which is apparently rush hour in Philly? Who knew? I've lived here for two years and I had no idea.
Also, for unknown reasons, Philly was insanely busy today. There was auto and foot traffic everywhere. My destination was deep in the insanity of center city. The traffic was gridlock. I saw a parking spot ahead, put on my blinker, checked my mirror and slowly began veering to the left to pull into it.
That's when I hit a young hipster on his bike.
Obviously I stopped my car immediately.
I jumped out.
But he was already running away.
So, naturally, I chased him.
I was yelling, "Are you okay?" sort of repetitiously and frantically. Sporadically I'd add "I'm so sorry." And I remember blurting something out about my insurance.
Believe it or not, he never even turned to look at me.
He shouted, "Yeh. I'm great," sarcastically and kept going.
So, here's what I've gathered from the group of spectators that stood with their mouth agape (one even offered to run and get me some water. But that was after I started crying.)
I guess that he was weaving in and out of traffic, as bike riders in Philly are known to do. When I was pulling into my parking spot he was in my blind spot.
My life is so bad that it's becoming comical.
I'm reminded of that Ani Difranco lyric:
"Life just keeps getting harder and it just keeps getting harder to hide. The darker it is around me, the easier it is to see inside."
omg sweetie. i completely understand what you went through. a few years ago, i was driving through Hillside (which I never do) and was pulling up to a light while it was still yellow. A jogger came flying out of nowhere and bounced off the hood of the car while I was still in motion. He bounced off the hood and landed on his feet. I put the car in park as onlookers stopped in their tracks and started yelling at me in Spanish. As I chased him to the corner yelling "Are you ok?" and "I'm sorry let me buy you lunch or take you to the hospital or something" he seemed to have vanished.Being the speed demon that I am and I was driving an old american muscle car at the time, I thought he had to have been injured but there was nothing I can do. Between both your tale and mine, the lesson from these events should be that people who are athletic tend to survive things the average man would not. I am now definitely inspired to start biking and running more often.Don't worry, I'm sure the cyclist is fine and it was a mistake. You did nothing wrong.
ReplyDeletehere's what i'm getting out of the story: the unhappy hipster was not obeying traffic laws and you accidentally hit him. you tried to do the right thing and he was a sarcastic asshole. HE WAS STILL RIDING AWAY AS YOU WERE RUNNING AFTER HIM ASKING IF HE WAS OK AND SAYING SORRY. fuck him.
ReplyDeletei love you.
I'm with Laura!
ReplyDeleteThere's responsibility on his end too! If you're going to ride like a maniac you gotta expect you might get hurt.
What a dumbass! (Him not you!) :)
That's what Jay said. He was like, "this guy probably gets hit once a week."
ReplyDeleteStill, it's so unnerving to actually hit someone with your car.