Surreal but so real

I was helping Sweetie out of the car last night to take Her to Her hair salon appointment. A car passed behind us in the parking lot. Then, seconds later, we heard the awful sound of metal crushing into metal.

The car that had been behind us, as it turned right out of the parking lot, had collided with another car that was proceeding north. The second car was hit so hard that it was knocked out of its lane.

A crowd of people began to emerge from the surrounding stores and flow towards the area -- driven, I would hope, by the desire to help, not to gawk. Somewhere at the scene, a Woman began to wail.

I began to walk towards the scene, too, my heart heavy with dread but knowing that if I could help in some way, it was my duty to do so.

Some man shooed us all away; we weren't needed. Someone was giving CPR to a victim lying on the ground. Someone else was tending to a baby still in its car seat that had apparently been flung from the vehicle.

Quite rapidly, the police and ambulances arrived and began to work. Quick to arrive, too, were the reporters from Ch. 8, whose news office is a block or two away.

I helped Sweetie into the hair salon and sat down and tried to concentrate on reading -- Plutarch's account of the life of Crassus. It was hard to do. The wailing of that Woman was still on my mind. The horror of such an accident, so sudden, in such a banal, suburban place, was harsh in my mind.