Car Wreck! Where's my phone? Where's my phone? Where's my phone?

So here is what happened.

It's a football Saturday. There's more traffic in town than usual. I was out early this morning to stalk Curtis. I didn't find him. I then went to the bookstore and played with the iPod, getting my $15 iTunes gift card set up and downloading a couple things. Then I went to get food at Long John Silver's. I got the salmon platter and a milkshake. I drove towards town, thinking I might wander around and sit someplace to eat. Forgot it was a football day.

I drove into town and saw people and signs of football. Started cursing and swearing, and made a turnaround to go back out of town, since I don't know when the game starts, whether it's already started or not, when it's over, when the huge flood of traffic will happen. I knew nothing about the game at all.

I was driving back towards Barnes & Noble, thinking I might park there to eat my food. The milkshake was in the passenger seat because my cup holder is full of junk. I came over the top of the hill on College Avenue where you go down a hill to a Sheetz at the bottom of the hill. There are so many accidents on that hill that they installed these blinking bright lights on the stop lights to make it more visible.

The traffic was backed up the hill farther than usual. That wasn't my fault, and it wasn't the fault of the lady who rear ended me. We were all up farther than usual because so many people were in town for football. Usually, if the traffic is backed that high up the hill, they are moving. I know, it's hard to explain. But usually if cars are that high up on the hill, they are slowly moving, usually because they've come up behind people waiting at the stoplight, and the stoplight is usually over and done with by then, and everyone's starting up again.

But no, they were totally stopped, and backed far up the hill, and not moving *at all*. I expected the car ahead of me to be moving slowly very soon, so I didn't slow down very much. Also, I thought my milkshake would spill. That's all I was worried about. I had to stop quickly and I grabbed my milkshake to keep it from spilling. As I slowed down, I didn't push the brakes too hard, because I didn't want to skid. So I slowed down gently, but it wasn't enough. I had to push harder and risk skidding. The car in front of me was still totally stopped, even now. It really was a lot of traffic backed up the hill.

I stopped. It was okay. I didn't hit the van in front of me. The milkshake didn't spill. I thought it was okay now.

I looked in my rearview mirror. The white car behind me wasn't stopping fast enough either. She had the same problem, not expecting to see people backed so far up the hill at the stoplight. She wasn't stopping... she wasn't stopping... I could see her in my mirror. I had the *urge* to pull aside into the left turning lane. I contemplated this urge for a fraction of a second... *urge* go into that lane now go to the left get out of her way... I also thought she herself might choose to pull into the left turning lane to go past us. I sat there. ... BAM! too late. I got hit from behind. I bounced and hit the van in front of me, which was still stopped even now after all this time. Now we were all stopped.

Everything in my seats flew forward onto the floor. The milkshake had been okay, but now it's plastered all over my glove compartment and the dashboard. The cup full of coins is all over the floor. My bag of Long John Silver's food was now on the floor, although it was still closed and the food was okay. (I ate it later after this was all over.)

Here's the really stupid part.

Where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone? where's my phone?

Can you believe, I just sat there looking for my phone. Where's my phone? For like an entire minute. Where's my phone? Who cares that the traffic is now passing around us, and we are backed all the way up the hill and stopped, and more people will be coming and hitting us all from behind. Who cares, I just want my phone. I have to make a phone call. I have to call 911. Where's my phone?

I realized this was ridiculous. Forget the phone, it's in the car somewhere. It fell underneath something. Get off the road.

Where's my phone?
Get off the road.
Where's my phone?
Get off the road.
Get off the road.
Get off the road.

okay...

The lady behind me got out of her car and asked me if I was okay. 'It's all my fault!' she said. I said I was okay. The first thing I wanted to do, when I saw the lady who hit me, was I wanted to hug her. I didn't do it, but it was the first thing I wanted to do. She was a young girl in her early twenties.

I got out and walked up to the van in front of me. It was an older lady with her two young grandchildren, two girls about 4 and 6 years old I think. She was hugging them. Her door was open. She wanted to wait there for the cops. I tried to tell her that I couldn't find my phone. I could see that this girl behind me was already holding her phone in her hand, and she was already calling the cops, but for some reason, I felt like I had to make the same phone call and I had to call them too. I was telling the other van lady that too, the one in front of me. I told the lady who hit me, I know, it's okay, I'm all right, I just can't find my phone. I'm trying to find my phone because I wanted to call the police. But I can't find my phone. I was telling everybody this and apologizing that I couldn't call the police because I couldn't find my phone. I didn't seem to understand that the lady who hit me was already calling the police.

It was the lady who hit me who said it first. 'I'm going to Sheetz,' she said. She wanted to get out of the way. She was the last in line. Her car would get hit, and they'd be coming fast, as she was highest up the hill. More cars were coming behind us and they didn't understand that we were all stopped in the middle of the road. I looked up, and another car was coming right now. I waved my arms at it to say that we were stopped. It changed lanes and went past us. We would get hit from behind again and there would be another accident. I understood. So she went to Sheetz first.

So then I started telling the van lady that we were all going to get off the road and go to Sheetz. I tried to get the van lady to go. She thought we had to stay in position because the police would need to see where we were when the accident happened. I understood exactly what she was thinking, but I told her we had to get out of the way to make sure nobody else hit us. Then I told her I was going to Sheetz too, and the other lady had just now gone to Sheetz. She finally agreed, reluctantly. She just didn't know what to do. She was the farthest down the hill, the one in front, the safest, the one who wasn't going to get hit by the new traffic coming up over the hill, so it wasn't as obvious that she was in immediate danger from the traffic.

So I started my car. It started up without any problems. Nothing happened to my engine, just the back bumper. As soon as I left, the van lady really understood that she had to get off the road. Just as I started driving, the cop pulled up next to us and I shouted out to him that I was going to Sheetz. So then I went down there.

So we hung around at Sheetz, all of us, with the cop, and he filled out paperwork. We talked to each other a bit. I found my phone! It had flown underneath a piece of cardboard on the floor on the passenger side. I tweeted and took a picture and sent it to flickr. (I'm eagledove9 on flickr.) I laughed at myself as I described, to the girl who hit me, that for a whole minute after I got hit all I cared about was making a phone call, and that's all I could think about. Who cares about all the traffic, who cares that we're going to get hit, I just need to find my phone!

When all the paperwork was done and we had copied each other's names and numbers down, and the cop had given us an accident report, I hugged the lady who rear ended me, and then we left. I had wanted to hug her from the first moment that she got out of her car and checked on me, but I didn't do it then. In a way I felt worse for her than I felt for myself, because she was 'guilty,' although technically, it was also caused by having lots of football traffic backed higher up the hill than usual... *football*... I don't like football, and now I like football even less than usual.

My neck feels a little funny. I got whiplashed, but it was a gentle bump - actually, now that I think about it, I wasn't really whiplashed, because that's when you snap forward and then back with very strong force, and I didn't do that, I just went forward. I know it could've been much worse. She had mostly slowed down when she hit me. My neck is a little bit loose, like I've just ridden on a roller coaster. It doesn't hurt, but I can feel that something happened. I was jolted.

I couldn't wait to get home and blog about it. I actually was never very upset, and I didn't even cry. I was shaken. The young girl who hit me, she was crying and sniffling a little bit, and I felt bad for her. She felt like it was her fault, but she doesn't understand that the football traffic was backed higher up the hill than usual.

Now I need to call the insurance, and get my car fixed. I don't want to deal with that hassle.

I have to go to work tonight... the show must go on.